Red Skelton (Actor)

Reviews of Red Skelton Movies

Looking for reviews of Red Skelton movies? Cinafilm has a total of 678 reviews across 29 movies.

Movies starring Red Skelton have generally received positive reviews and hold an average score of 60%.

That's Entertainment! - released in 1974 - is Red Skelton's highest rated movie, with a score of 77% based on 67 reviews.

The lowest rated film from Red Skelton is Texas Carnival - released in 1951 - with a score of 42% based on 2 reviews.

Actor Biography

The son of a former circus clown turned grocer and a cleaning woman, Red Skelton was introduced to show business at the age of 7 by Ed Wynn, at a vaudeville show in Vincennes. At age 10, he left home to travel with a medicine show through the Midwest, and joined the vaudeville circuit at age 15. At age 17, he married Edna Marie Stilwell, an usher who became his vaudeville partner and later his chief writer and manager. He debuted on Broadway and radio in 1937 and on film in 1938. His ex-wife/manager negotiated a seven-year Hollywood contract for him in 1951, the same year The Red Skelton Hour (1951) premiered on NBC. For two decades, until 1971, his show consistently stayed in the top twenty, both on NBC and CBS. His numerous characters, including Clem Kaddiddlehopper, George Appleby, and the seagulls Gertrude and Heathcliffe delighted audiences for decades. First and foremost, he considered himself a clown, although not the greatest, and his paintings of clowns brought in a fortune after he left television. His home life was not completely happy--two divorces and a son Richard who died of leukemia at age 9--and he did not hang around with other comedians. He continued performing live until illness, and he was a longtime supporter of children's charities. Red Skelton died at age 84 of pneumonia in Rancho Mirage, California, on September 17, 1997. Red is interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, California, in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Benediction.

Red Skelton has acted in films with Ann Miller, Esther Williams, Eleanor Powell and Virginia O'Brien.

Red Skelton has worked with these film directors: S. Sylvan Simon, George Sidney, Vincente Minnelli and Roy Del Ruth.