Sid Caesar, Yonkers native and TV comedy pioneer, dead at 91
Sid Caesar, the prodigiously talented pioneer of TV comedy who paired with Imogene Coca in sketches that became classics and who inspired a generation of famous writers, died early Wednesday. He was 91. Caesar, a Yonkers, N.Y., native, died at his home in the Los Angeles area after a brief illness, family spokesman Eddy Friedfeld said.
In his two most important shows, "Your Show of Shows," 1950-54, and "Caesar's Hour," 1954-57, Caesar displayed remarkable skill in pantomime, satire, mimicry, dialect and sketch comedy. And he gathered a stable of young writers who went on to worldwide fame in their own right - including Neil Simon and Woody Allen. "The one great star that television created and who created television was Sid Caesar," said critic Joel Siegel on the TV documentary "Hail Sid Caesar! The Golden Age Of Comedy," which first aired in 2001.
While best known for his TV shows, which have been revived on DVD in recent years, he also had success on Broadway and occasional film appearances, notably in "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World." If the typical funnyman was tubby or short and scrawny, Caesar was tall and powerful, with a clown's loose limbs and rubbery face, and a trademark mole on his left cheek. But Caesar never went in for clowning or jokes. He wasn't interested. He insisted that the laughs come from the everyday.
"Real life is the true comedy," he said in a 2001 interview with The Associated Press. "Then everybody knows what you're talking about." Caesar brought observational comedy to TV before the term, or such latter-day practitioners as Jerry Seinfeld, were even born. In one celebrated routine, Caesar impersonated a gumball machine; in another, a baby; in another, a ludicrously overemotional guest on a parody of "This Is Your Life." He played an unsuspecting moviegoer getting caught between feuding lovers in a theater. He dined at a health food restaurant, where the first course was the bouquet in the vase on the table. He was interviewed as an avant-garde jazz musician who seemed happily high on something.
A
ctor (65 credits)
2004 Comic Book: The Movie (Video)
Old Army Buddy
2000 Globehunters (TV Movie)
Jacob (voice)
1998 The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit
Sid Zellman
1997 Mad About You (TV Series)
Uncle Harold
- Citizen Buchman (1997) ... Uncle Harold
1997 Vegas Vacation
Old Guy
1997 Life with Louie (TV Series)
Marty Kazoo
- Kazoo's Coming to Dinner (1997) ... Marty Kazoo (voice)
1995 The Great Mom Swap (TV Movie)
Papa Tognetti
1995 Love & War (TV Series)
Mr. Stein
- At the Pantheon: Part 2 (1995) ... Mr. Stein
1988 Side by Side (TV Movie)
Louis Hammerstein
1988 Freedom Fighter (TV Movie)
Max
1987 The Emperor's New Clothes
The Emperor
1986 Christmas Snow (TV Movie)
Snyder
1986 Sesame Street (TV Series)
The Professor
- Episode #18.19 (1986) ... The Professor
- Uncle Wally recalls his sailor days (1986) ... The Professor
1985/II Alice in Wonderland (TV Mini Series)
The Gryphon
1985 Love Is Never Silent (TV Movie)
Mr. Petrakis
1985 Amazing Stories (TV Series)
Lou Bundles
- Mr. Magic (1985) ... Lou Bundles
1985 Stoogemania
Doctor Fixyer Mindyer
1984 Cannonball Run II
Fisherman #2
1984 Over the Brooklyn Bridge
Uncle Benjamin
1978-1984 The Love Boat (TV Series)
Bert Multon / Michael Harmon
- Aunt Emma, I Love You/Hoopla/The First Romance (1984) ... Bert Multon
- Julie Falls Hard/Double Wedding/The Dummies (1978) ... Michael Harmon
1983 Found Money (TV Movie)
Sam Green
1982 Matt Houston (TV Series)
Prince Sergei Polansky
- Recipe for Murder (1982) ... Prince Sergei Polansky
1982 Grease 2
Coach Calhoun
1981 History of the World: Part I
Chief Caveman
1981 The Munsters' Revenge (TV Movie)
Dr. Dustin Diablo
1981 The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo (TV Series)
The Bomber
- Another Day, Another Bomb (1981) ... The Bomber
1980 Nelvanamation (Video)
King Goochi (voice)
1980 Dorothy in the Land of Oz (TV Short)
Wizard / Mince Pie (voice)
1980 The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu
Joe Capone
1980 Pink Lady (TV Series)
Sid Caesar
- Episode #1.6 (1980) ... Sid Caesar
- Episode #1.4 (1980) ... Sid Caesar
- Episode #1.2 (1980) ... Sid Caesar
1979 Having Babies (TV Series)
- Captive (1979)
1979 Intergalactic Thanksgiving or Please Don't Eat the Planet (TV Movie)
King Goochi (voice)
1979 Barnaby and Me (TV Movie)
Leo Fisk
1979 America 2100 (TV Movie)
MAX (voice)
1978 Vega$ (TV Series)
The General
- Mother Mishkin (1978) ... The General
1978 W.E.B. (TV Series)
- The Great Clowns (1978)
1978 Grease
Coach Calhoun
1978 The Cheap Detective
Ezra Dezire
1977 Curse of the Black Widow (TV Movie)
Lazlo Cozart
1977 Fire Sale
Sherman
1977 Flight to Holocaust (TV Movie)
George Beam
1976 Good Heavens (TV Series)
Herman Meltzer
- The Queen's Rook Club (1976) ... Herman Meltzer
1976 Silent Movie
Studio Chief
1975 When Things Were Rotten (TV Series)
the Marquis de la Salle
- The French Dis-connection (1975) ... the Marquis de la Salle
1974 Airport 1975
Barney
1973 Ten from Your Show of Shows
1969-1971 Love, American Style (TV Series)
Bert (segment "Love and the Bowling Ball") / John Smith (segment "Love and Who?")
- Love and the Bowling Ball/Love and the Check/Love and the Hiccups/Love and the Liberated Lady Boss (1971) ... Bert (segment "Love and the Bowling Ball")
- Love and the Legal Agreement/Love and the Militant/Love and Who? (1969) ... John Smith (segment "Love and Who?")
1971 The Ed Sullivan Show (TV Series)
Max - scene from 'Four on a Garden'
- Episode #24.20 (1971) ... Max - scene from 'Four on a Garden'
1970 NBC Children's Theatre (TV Series)
Narrator
- Pets Allowed (1970) ... Narrator
1970 Make Room for Granddaddy (TV Series)
Habib
- Tonoose, the Exile (1970) ... Habib
1969 Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (TV Series)
Guest Performer
- Guest Starring Sid Caesar (1969) ... Guest Performer
1968-1969 That's Life (TV Series)
- You Never Take Me Anyplace (1969)
- Bringing Baby Home (1968)
- Buying a House (1968)
1968 That Girl (TV Series)
Marty Nickels
- The Drunkard (1968) ... Marty Nickels
1967 The Danny Thomas Hour (TV Series)
Gregory
- Instant Money (1967) ... Gregory
1967 The Spirit Is Willing
Ben Powell
1967 A Guide for the Married Man
Technical Adviser (uncredited)
1967 The Busy Body
George Norton
1966 The Mouse That Roared (TV Movie)
Grand Duchess Gloriana XII / Prime Minister Count Rupert of Mountjoy / Tully Bascombe
1963 It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
Melville Crump
1961 Checkmate (TV Series)
Johnny Wilder
- Kill the Sound (1961) ... Johnny Wilder
1961 General Electric Theater (TV Series)
Nick Lucifer
- The Devil You Say (1961) ... Nick Lucifer
1959 The United States Steel Hour (TV Series)
- Marriage... Handle with Care (1959)
1947 The Guilt of Janet Ames
Sammy Weaver
1946 Tars and Spars
Chuck Enders
1941 Shep Fields and His New Music with Ken Curtis (Short).
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