How much is Milton Berle worth?
| Net Worth: | $1.5 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional actor |
| Date of Birth: | 12 July 1908 |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 1.78 m |
About Milton Berle
In 1933, Berle was recruited by producer Jack White to play the lead role in the musical comedy Poppin’ the Cork, which was a theatrical featurette about the end of Prohibition. The film was a topical musical comedy. In addition, Berle collaborated with other composers to write the score for this movie, which was distributed by Educational Pictures. Berle continued to dabble in songwriting; he co-wrote the title song for the RKO Radio Pictures film Li’l Abner with Ben Oakland and Milton Drake (1940).
After winning a children’s Charlie Chaplin contest in 1913 when he was just five years old, Berle made his debut in the entertainment industry. In addition to that, he worked as a kid model and was the face of the “Buster Brown” brand of shoes. He began his acting career as a kid performer in silent films. He claimed that his first film performance was in The Perils of Pauline, where he played the role of a small kid; however, this has never been objectively verified.
Around the year 1920, when he was just 12 years old, Berle had his stage debut in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in a revival of the musical comedy Florodora, which was eventually transferred to Broadway. At the age of 16, he had already established himself in the vaudeville industry as a master of ceremonies. In the 1910s and 1920s, it is known that he appeared in a few silent films playing small parts during that time period.
During the years 1934 to 1936, Berle was a frequent guest on The Rudy Vallee Hour. He also became a regular cast member on The Gillette Original Community Sing, a Sunday night comedy-variety show that was aired on CBS from September 6, 1936 to August 29, 1937. During this time, Berle gained widespread recognition.
In order to further his career in radio, he decided to forgo certain high-paying nightclub appearances in the late 1940s. After the comic variety show known as Three Ring Time, which was supported financially by Ballantine Ale, came a show in 1943 that was funded by Campbell’s Soup.
Arnold Stang, who would eventually become well-known as Berle’s TV sidekick, appeared on The Milton Berle Show, which was written by Hal Block and Martin Ragaway and also included Arnold Stang. Pert Kelton, Mary Schipp, Jack Albertson, Arthur Q. Bryan, Ed Begley, Brazilian vocalist Dick Farney, and announcer Frank Gallop were a few of the other actors who appeared in the production. It began airing on NBC on March 11, 1947, and continued until April 13, 1948. Philip Morris was the show is sponsor.
Berle would bring back the structure and routines of his vaudeville act for his first appearance on commercial television, which was as the presenter of The Texaco Star Theatre, which aired on the NBC Television Network on June 8, 1948. It took some time before they decided to make Berle the show is permanent host; at first, he was just one of several hosts who took turns.
Berle was the undisputed king of Tuesday night television for the subsequent number of years, ascending to the top spot in the Nielsen ratings and capturing as much as 97% of the viewing public at its peak. After the completion of the first season, the Emmy Awards were given to both Berle and the show. Tuesdays saw a decrease in the number of ticket sales. There was a closure of several theaters, restaurants, and other businesses.
Berle was frustrated that NBC did not grant his request to replace live broadcasts with film transmissions, which would have enabled replays of his shows and provided him with more revenue from those shows. Nevertheless, NBC gave them approval for a kinescope to be made of each episode. Later on, the creator of the TelePrompTer, Irving Berlin Kahn, made an offer to Berle to replace cue cards with the new gadget on his program in exchange for a 25% ownership stake in the company that manufactured the device. He declined to take up the offer.
In 1951, NBC agreed to pay Berle one million dollars per year for an exclusive television contract that would span an extraordinary 30 years. Even though his final season was the one that hosted two of Elvis Presley‘s earliest television appearances (on April 3 and June 5, 1956), the show was once again renamed The Milton Berle Show when it finished its only full season in 1955–56. By this time, Berle had already cemented his place in history.
Previously, in 1953, Texaco withdrew their support of the show, but Buick stepped in to take over the sponsorship, which resulted in the show being rebranded as The Buick-Berle Show. In spite of this, by the year 1960, he was relegated to hosting a bowling program called Jackpot Bowling. In between the efforts of each week’s bowling competitors, he would deliver his quips and conduct interviews with famous people.
In addition to making regular appearances in clubs, Berle made his Broadway debut in the same year in Herb Gardner’s production of The Goodbye People. In addition to this, he took on the role as promotional spokesperson for the flourishing Lum’s restaurant chain.
Berle was offered a spot on a new weekly variety show on ABC in 1966, the same year that he was partially released from the obligations of his contract with NBC. After only one season, the show was discontinued since it was unable to attract a significant number of viewers. Later on, he made an appearance on the Batman series on ABC playing the role of the guest villain Louie the Lilac.
In 1974, when both Berle and the younger actor and comedian Richard Pryor appeared as guests on The Mike Douglas Show, a brief incident occurred between the two of them. Milton Berle was a founder member of the Friars Club of Beverly Hills, which was located at the historic Savoy Hotel on Sunset Boulevard at the time. The club was established in 1947. In 1961, the club relocated to its current location in Beverly Hills. The Friars is a private club in the entertainment industry that is noted for its celebrity members and for hosting roasts, which are events in which a club member is made fun of by his or her other club members.
In the music video for the 1980s metal band Ratt’s song “Round and Round” which was released in 1984, Berle can be seen performing drag his nephew Marshall Berle was then their manager. As a motorcycle rider, he also had a cameo appearance in the music video for the band’s song “Back For More”.
His role as the womanizing and wisecracking patient Max Jakey on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1992 was one of the most well-received performances he gave in his later years and remains one of the most memorable. The majority of his lines were improvised, and he stunned the crowd in the studio when he accidentally blurted out a curse word. In addition, he had a role on the television show Beverly Hills, 90210 that earned him praise and a nomination for an Emmy.
“Milton Berle’s Low Impact/High Comedy Workout” was the title of the fitness videotape that was distributed by Berle in 1994. The tape was intended for older citizens.
Summing-Up
His career as an entertainer extended over 80 years, beginning with silent films and on stage as a child actor, then moving on to radio, movies, and television in later years. He began his career in silent films. During the first Golden Age of Television, he was known to millions of viewers as “Uncle Miltie” and “Mr. Television” He became the first big American television star when he hosted NBC’s Texaco Star Theatre from 1948 to 1953. This position made him the first significant American television star. Berle passed away from colon cancer on March 27, 2002, in the city of Los Angeles. It was the same day that Dudley Moore and Billy Wilder passed away as well.
