ACTOR
Red Skelton
28 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (28)
- #001
One of Red Skelton's writers filled in for him one night when Skelton took a serious fall and injured himself. That writer was Johnny Carson.
- #002
On May 10, 1976, Skelton's former wife Georgia Davis committed suicide with a firearm on the 18th anniversary of the death of their son, Richard Freeman Skelton.
- #003
Skelton was said to be deeply offended by "blue humor," but that is not entirely accurate. In fact, as tapes of Martha Raye and Skelton telling bawdy jokes during rehearsals show, Red Skelton could be as raunchy as anyone. What truly bothered Skelton was that, as time went on, comedians began using language and shock value to entertain audiences instead of the genuine wit and sentimentality that Skelton believed were essential to a comedian's craft.
- #004
When Red Skelton was stationed at Camp Roberts in California in 1944, his fellow soldiers put a sign on the door of his barracks reading: "Tour a Movie Star's Home -- Twenty-Five Cents."
- #005
He often said that of all the characters he played, his favorite was Freddie the Freeloader. Asked why, he said Freddie was the purest spirit of his characters and a tribute to the clowns he knew and valued.
- #006
In 1989 he was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame.
- #007
He was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television, at 6650 Hollywood Boulevard, and one for Radio at 6763 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
- #008
For MGM, he used the comedy sketch "Guzzlers Gin" as his successful 1940 screen test. It was later filmed in Ziegfeld Follies (1945).
- #009
Just outside Skelton's hometown of Vincennes, Indiana, a bridge spanning the Wabash River, which separates Indiana and Illinois, was built on US 50 and named after him. The Red Skelton Performing Arts Center, located on the Vincennes University campus, was established in his memory.
- #010
In 1960 he bought the old Charles Chaplin Studios on La Brea Avenue, where he produced his weekly television programs. He founded Red-Eo-Tape (Bureaucracy) Video Productions. Its mobile unit with three RCA TK-41 cameras made it Hollywood's first live color production company.
- #011
Skelton's first wife, Edna Marie Stilwell, a former bailiff, negotiated his seven-year, $5 million Hollywood contract in 1951.
- #012
Although he was famous for his "drunk" comedy sketches, he never drank and in fact was allergic to alcohol.
- #013
According to Skelton, in a July 19, 2014 TCM rebroadcast of Johnny Carson's show, his real name was Richard Red Skelton -- Red was actually his middle name. When a teacher insisted he find a "real" middle name, he chose "Bernard" from the name of a local clothier, and the teacher was satisfied. Years later he was surprised when FBI director J. Edgar Hoover addressed him as "Bernard." It turned out Bernard was in his FBI file.
- #014
He was buried in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of the Holy Blessing, at Forest Lawn in Glendale, California, USA.
- #015
After his variety show The Red Skelton Hour (1951) was cancelled, Skelton earned more than $2.5 million a year as an artist. Clowns were his lifelong trademark. His clown paintings sold for more than $80,000.
- #016
The day after his wedding on March 9, 1945, Skelton went to the hospital for a tonsillectomy.
- #017
In an interview with People Magazine late in his life, Skelton admitted he had exaggerated his officially accepted birth year but did not go into detail. Sometimes 1910 is given instead of 1913, but Skelton's biographer Arthur Marx claims the comedian told close friends he was actually born in 1906.
- #018
In 1986, in the character of Clem Kaddiddlehopper, Skelton received an honorary Doctorate of Foolology from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Skelton was a member of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity and an honorary brother of the Phi Alpha Tau fraternity (based at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts), from which he received the prestigious Connor Award in 1961.
- #019
His third wife and widow, the former Lothian Toland, was the only daughter of the leading cinematographer Gregg Toland.
- #020
In 1994 he was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame.
- #021
Red Skelton's brother, Paul Skelton, worked as an uncredited actor on Irwin Allen series such as Lost in Space (1965).
- #022
Red Skelton appears as the character Freeloader Freddie on the 44¢ U.S. commemorative postage stamp issued in honor of The Red Skelton Hour (1951) as part of the Early TV Memories series. The stamp was issued on August 11, 2009.
- #023
Red Skelton was known as an outspoken advocate of adding the phrase "Under God" to the United States Pledge of Allegiance.
- #024
Red Skelton was the grandfather of Sabrina Alonso.
- #025
Skelton was a Mason and a member of Vincennes Lodge No. 1 in Indiana. He was also a member of both the Scottish and York Rites, and held the Gold Medal of the General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons. (Written by Fletcher L Gray Jr.).
- #026
In April 2025, Red Skelton was honored as Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month.
- #027
Early in his career as a performer, Skelton was a sought-after master of ceremonies at dance marathons. The winner of one of these marathons was a young girl named Edna Stillwell, an usher at the old Pantages Theatre. After the contest ended, Edna approached Skelton to criticize his supposedly lackluster jokes. She challenged him to write better jokes, and he came up with funnier ones. Skelton hired her as his head comedy writer, and the two began a romantic relationship. They married each other in 1931.
- #028
Red was born in the house at 111 East Lyndale Avenue, Vincennes, Indiana.
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