(CNN) -- Sid Caesar, whose clever, anarchic comedy on such programs as "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour" helped define the 1950s "Golden Age of Television," has died. He was 91.
A friend of the family, actor Rudy De Luca, did not know the exact cause of death, but said Caesar had respiratory problems and other health problems for several years.Caesar became famous for "Your Show of Shows," which went on the air in 1950. It lasted four years and was followed by "Caesar's Hour," which combined sketches, musical revues and situation comedy.Both shows featured writers who became famous in their own right, including Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Mel Tolkin, Lucille Kallen and Larry Gelbart. Woody Allen also contributed to Caesar's comedy as a writer for one of his specials.Brooks visited Caesar last night to say goodbye, De Luca told CNN.Share your memories of CaesarCaesar also appeared in a number of films, including "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (1963), "Airport 1975" (1974) and "Grease" (1978). He received a Tony nomination for his performance in the 1962 show "Little Me," with a book by Simon.if (typeof cnnArticleGallery == "undefined") {var cnnArticleGallery = {};}if(typeof cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList =="undefined"){cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList = [];}var expGallery81=new ArticleExpandableGallery();expGallery81.setImageCount(15);//cnn_adbptrackpgalimg("Comedy legend Sid Caesar", 1);
Caesar leans on table in front of Janet Blair and Alfred Drake in a scene from the 1946 film "Tars and Spars."cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":1,"pos":2,"title":"Comedy legend Sid Caesar"} 
Caesar and Imogene Coca wear Bavarian costumes during a promotional photo shoot for the 1950s television program "Your Show of Shows."cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":1,"pos":3,"title":"Comedy legend Sid Caesar"} 
Caesar poses for a portrait in 1953 with his wife, Florence, and their daughter, Karen.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":1,"pos":4,"title":"Comedy legend Sid Caesar"} 
Caesar and Imogene Coca act in a spoof of "From Here to Eternity" called "From Here to Obscurity" during an espisode of "Your Show of Shows."cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":1,"pos":6,"title":"Comedy legend Sid Caesar"} 
Caesar poses for a portrait in a scene from "Your Show of Shows."cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":1,"pos":7,"title":"Comedy legend Sid Caesar"} 
Imogene Coca feels Caesar's biceps as he mockingly flexes circa 1955. They are both dressed in period bathing suits.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":1,"pos":8,"title":"Comedy legend Sid Caesar"} 
In a scene from the 1966 film "The Busy Body," Caesar lays on top of a cop in a coffin.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":1,"pos":9,"title":"Comedy legend Sid Caesar"} 
Caesar guest stars on "The Carol Burnett Show" with Carol Burnett in 1967.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":1,"pos":10,"title":"Comedy legend Sid Caesar"} 
Caesar and Marlo Thomas star in a scene from the TV series "That Girl" in 1968.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":1,"pos":11,"title":"Comedy legend Sid Caesar"} 
Julie Andrews co-stars with Caesar in an episode of "The Julie Andrews Hour" in 1972.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":1,"pos":13,"title":"Comedy legend Sid Caesar"} 
Caesar plays a patient during the "Whiners" skit on a 1983 episode of "Saturday Night Live." Joe Piscopo, left, and Robin Duke play the parts of Doug and Wendy Whiner.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":1,"pos":14,"title":"Comedy legend Sid Caesar"} 
Billy Crystal presents Caesar with the Pioneer Award onstage at the 2006 TV Land Awards.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":1,"pos":15,"title":"Comedy legend Sid Caesar"} 
Photos: Comedy legend Sid Caesar if (typeof cnnArticleGallery == "undefined") {var cnnArticleGallery = {};}if(typeof cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList =="undefined"){cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList = [];}var expGallery82=new ArticleExpandableGallery();expGallery82.setImageCount(20);//cnn_adbptrackpgalimg("People we lost in 2014", 1);
Click through to see people who passed away in 2014.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":true,"x":8,"y":2,"pos":1,"title":"People we lost in 2014"} 
Hollywood child star Shirley Temple, who became diplomat Shirley Temple Black, died February 10 at her Woodside, California, home. She was 85.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":2,"pos":3,"title":"People we lost in 2014"} 
Joan Mondale, the wife of former Vice President Walter Mondale, died on February 3, according to a statement from the family's church.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":2,"pos":4,"title":"People we lost in 2014"} 
Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his Manhattan apartment of an apparent drug overdose, law enforcement sources said February 2.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":2,"pos":5,"title":"People we lost in 2014"} 
Maximilian Schell died on February 1 in a Austrian hospital with his wife by his side, his agent Patricia Baumbauer said. He was 83. Schell was nominated for an Oscar three times. He won in 1962 for "Judgment at Nuremberg."cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":2,"pos":6,"title":"People we lost in 2014"} 
Legendary folk singer Pete Seeger, known for classics such as "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)," died of natural causes in New York on January 27, his grandson told CNN. He was 94.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":2,"pos":7,"title":"People we lost in 2014"} 
Ruth Robinson Duccini, who played one of the Munchkins in the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz," died on January 16. She was 95. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":2,"pos":8,"title":"People we lost in 2014"}
Former Playboy centerfold Cassandra Lynn Hensley was found dead at a friend's home in Los Angeles, the coroner there said on January 17. Hensley was 34. Her cause of death was not immediately known.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":2,"pos":9,"title":"People we lost in 2014"} 
Hiroo Onoda, center, salutes after handing over his military sword on Lubang Island in the Philippines in March 1974. Onoda, a former intelligence officer in the Japanese army, had remained on the island for nearly 30 years, refusing to believe his country had surrendered in World War II. He died at a Tokyo hospital on January 16. He was 91.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":2,"pos":10,"title":"People we lost in 2014"} 
Ariel Sharon, whose half century as a military and political leader in Israel was marked with victories and controversies, died on January 11 after eight years in a coma, Israeli Army Radio reported. Sharon was 85.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":2,"pos":12,"title":"People we lost in 2014"} 
Larry Speakes, who served as President Ronald Reagan's press secretary, died January 10 at his home in Cleveland, Mississippi, following a lengthy illness, according to Bolivar County Coroner Nate Brown. He was 74.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":2,"pos":14,"title":"People we lost in 2014"} 
Poet Amiri Baraka, who lost his post as New Jersey's poet laureate because of a controversial poem about the 9/11 terror attacks, died on January 9, his agent said. Baraka was 79.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":2,"pos":15,"title":"People we lost in 2014"} 
Sir Run Run Shaw, the media tycoon who helped bring Chinese martial arts films to an international audience, died at his home in Hong Kong on January 7 at age 106, the television station he founded said.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":2,"pos":16,"title":"People we lost in 2014"} 
Stage, TV and film actress Carmen Zapata, who founded the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts as a means of of introducing "the rich and eloquent history of the diverse Hispanic culture to English-speaking audiences," died on January 5 at her Los Angeles home. She was 86.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":2,"pos":17,"title":"People we lost in 2014"} 
Portugal football legend Eusebio, who was top scorer at the 1966 World Cup, died from a heart attack on January 5 at age 71, said his former club, Benfica.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":2,"pos":18,"title":"People we lost in 2014"} 
Alicia Rhett, who had been one of the oldest surviving cast members of the classic film "Gone With the Wind," died on January 3 in her longtime hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, a retirement community spokeswoman said. She was 98.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":2,"pos":19,"title":"People we lost in 2014"} 
Singer Phil Everly, left -- one half of the groundbreaking, smooth-sounding, record-setting duo the Everly Brothers -- died on January 3, a hospital spokeswoman said. He was 74.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":8,"y":2,"pos":20,"title":"People we lost in 2014"} Photos: People we lost in 2014 Caesar, born Isaac Sidney Caesar in 1922, was part of a pioneering group of personalities who helped establish television in its early days. However, while comedians such as Jack Benny and Fred Allen more or less transferred their radio shows to the new medium and Milton Berle's "Texaco Star Theater" was essentially vaudeville on the small screen, Caesar's "Show of Shows" presented movie parodies, wordless pantomimes and brisk routines between the host and co-star Imogene Coca."Sid Caesar was a giant. If it weren't for Sid Caesar there might not be television as we know it. He and his co-stars and writers revolutionized television comedy, and really comedy in general," said biographer Eddy Friedfeld, a close friend of Caesar.It was comedy pitched at a high (or, just as often, low) level -- and it was done live, every Saturday night at 9.The versatile Caesar was game for whatever the writers came up with. "Caesar could take on many roles," wrote Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh in the reference "The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows," calling him a "comic genius." "He was the double-talking foreigner (he was a master of dialects), the henpecked husband or the greasy-haired cad."The words and comedy of Sid CaesarAmong the regular routines were a skit with Coca, "The Hickenloopers," and Caesar as a gibberish-singing opera singer. Reiner and Howard Morris -- later Ernest T. Bass on "The Andy Griffith Show" -- were frequent supporting players.The high-pressure hijinks of the writers' room inspired a number of other works, including "The Dick Van Dyke Show," created by Reiner; the 1982 film "My Favorite Year," produced by Brooks; and the 1993 play "Laughter on the 23rd Floor," by Simon."When we came in, we didn't have the slightest idea of what we were going to do. We christened the beginning of the week 'Bloody Monday' because we walked into the room with no material. We had three days to pitch lines and ideas and create six complete sketches," Caesar recalled in a 2011 interview.The high pressure also led to a drinking and drug problem for Caesar. It took him years to kick the habit, until finally he went blank one day while performing on stage in 1977. He checked into a hospital soon after and got clean."I couldn't stand me," he said in 2011. "That's why I drank and took pills. I couldn't stand to be around me.""Your Show of Shows" lasted just four years, but its impact was such that a best-of selection was turned into a 1973 movie, "Ten From Your Show of Shows."Caesar followed "Your Show of Shows" with "Caesar's Hour," which included Reiner and Morris but not Coca. Among the show's recurring sketches was one in which the trio played "The Three Haircuts," a rock 'n' roll group.Other regulars on "Caesar's Hour" included Nanette Fabray and Bea Arthur."Caesar's Hour" left the air in 1957. In the following decades, Caesar appeared in a handful of films, most notably the comic extravaganza "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," in which he played dentist Melville Crump. He did a number of his own stunt gags and hurt his back in the process.He appeared in films by his former writer Brooks, including 1976's "Silent Movie" and 1981's "History of the World Part I," and popped up in films such as "Grease" and "Grease 2" (as Coach Calhoun) and "Cannonball Run II."He hosted "Saturday Night Live" in 1983 and was named an honorary member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" at the conclusion of the show -- the only non-"SNL" cast member to earn the tribute.Among his honors were two Emmys, a lifetime achievement award from the Television Critics Association and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.He was married to Florence Levy for 67 years until her death in 2010. The couple had three children.Asked by the Archive of American Television how he'd like to be remembered, he responded with six words."I brought laughter to the world," he said.People we've lost in 2014CNN's Alan Duke contributed to this story./* push in config for this share instance */cnn_shareconfig.push({"id" : "cnn_sharebar2","url" : "http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/12/showbiz/sid-caesar-dead/index.html","title" : "Funnyman Sid Caesar dead at 91"});
February 12, 2014 -- Updated 2217 GMT (0617 HKT) 
Click through our gallery to remember those we lost this year.February 13, 2014 -- Updated 0111 GMT (0911 HKT) 
Sid Caesar, whose clever, anarchic comedy helped define the 1950s "Golden Age of Television," has died. He was 91.February 11, 2014 -- Updated 1912 GMT (0312 HKT) 
Shirley Temple Black, who rose to fame as arguably the most popular child star in Hollywood history, has died at age 85.February 3, 2014 -- Updated 2050 GMT (0450 HKT) 
Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead of an apparent drug overdose in his Manhattan apartment.
Joan Mondale, wife of former Vice President Walter Mondale, has died.February 1, 2014 -- Updated 2209 GMT (0609 HKT) 
Austrian-born actor Maximilian Schell, winner of an Academy Award for his portrayal of a defense lawyer in "Judgment at Nuremberg," has died. February 2, 2014 -- Updated 1709 GMT (0109 HKT) 
Anna Gordy Gaye, the sister of Motown's founder and ex-wife of late legendary singer Marvin Gaye, has died.January 17, 2014 -- Updated 2311 GMT (0711 HKT) 
Ruth Robinson Duccini, who played one of the Munchkins in the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz," has died. She was 95. January 18, 2014 -- Updated 0059 GMT (0859 HKT) 
Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier who refused to stop fighting World War II until the 1970s, has died in Tokyo at the age of 91.January 20, 2014 -- Updated 1845 GMT (0245 HKT) 
Former Playboy centerfold Cassandra Lynn Hensley was found dead at a friend's home in Los Angeles.January 17, 2014 -- Updated 2312 GMT (0712 HKT) 
Actor Russell Johnson, best known as Professor in the 1960s TV sitcom "Gilligan's Island," has died. Johnson was 89.January 12, 2014 -- Updated 0216 GMT (1016 HKT) 
Ariel Sharon, whose half century as a military and political leader in Israel was marked with victories and controversies, died after eight years in a coma at age 85.January 10, 2014 -- Updated 0029 GMT (0829 HKT) 
Poet Amiri Baraka, who lost his post as New Jersey's poet laureate because of a controversial poem about the 9/11 terror attacks, has died. He was 79.January 12, 2014 -- Updated 1800 GMT (0200 HKT) 
Five decades ago, Franklin McCain and three fellow African-American college students made history just by sitting down at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and waiting.January 12, 2014 -- Updated 1804 GMT (0204 HKT) 
Larry Speakes, who served as the acting White House press secretary under President Ronald Reagan, died following a lengthy illness at age 74. January 9, 2014 -- Updated 1417 GMT (2217 HKT) 
Actress Carmen Zapata, whose most visible film role was as a choir nun in "Sister Act," died at 86.January 8, 2014 -- Updated 1241 GMT (2041 HKT) 
Sir Run Run Shaw, the media tycoon who helped bring Chinese martial arts films to an international audience, died at the age of 107.January 5, 2014 -- Updated 2254 GMT (0654 HKT) 
Portugal football legend Eusebio, who was top scorer at the 1966 World Cup, died at the age of 71.January 4, 2014 -- Updated 1630 GMT (0030 HKT) 
Alicia Rhett, one of the oldest surviving cast member of the classic film "Gone With the Wind," died in her longtime hometown of Charleston, South Carolina.January 6, 2014 -- Updated 1446 GMT (2246 HKT) 
Singer Phil Everly -- one half of the groundbreaking, smooth-sounding, record-setting duo, the Everly Brothers -- has died.
Today's five most popular stories
No comments:
Post a Comment