Biography for
Sid Caesar More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

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Mini Biography

Comedian, saxophonist, composer, actor and musician, he performed within the orchestras of Charlie Spivak, Shep Fields and Claude Thornhill as saxophonist. Later, as super-hip jazz musician "Cool Cees" in television skits, he played tenor saxophone, and sang with the satirical trio "The Hair Cuts" (with Carl Reiner and Howard Morris). He sang the lead role in "Little Me" on Broadway. Joining ASCAP in 1955, his popular song compositions include "I Wrote This Song for Your Birthday" and "Was That You?".

Spouse

Trivia

Studied saxophone at the Julliard School of Music before becoming an actor.

Voted the United States' Best Comedian by Motion Picture Daily's TV poll in 1951 and 1952.

Also won Best Comedy Team (with Imogene Coca) in 1953.

Received the Sylvania Award in 1958 for his work in television.

Left-handed.

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. Pg. 84-86. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387

His children are Michele ("Shelly"), Rick (born February 18, 1952), and Karen (born in 1956).

His son Rick went to Yale University.

Was nominated for Broadway's 1963 Tony Award as Best Actor (Musical) for "Little Me."

Best remembered on 'Your Shows of Shows' and the movies, 'Grease' (1978) and Grease 2.

His father, Max Caesar, owned a restaurant in Yonkers, NY.

Caesar was assigned as a musician in the Coast Guard, taking part in the service show "Tars and Spars," where producer Max Liebman overheard him improvising comedy routines among the band members, and switched him over to comedy. Sid later made his film debut in the adaptation of his stage hit Tars and Spars (1946).

Sid gave up alcohol 'cold turkey'. His autobiography, Where Have I Been, published in 1983 and his second book, Caesar's Hours, both chronicle his struggle to overcome alcoholism and barbiturates.

In his book Caesar's Hours, Sid describes the essence of his comedy as 'working both sides of the street', the deliberate blending of comedy and pathos. His idols were Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Keaton, and W. C. Fields.

Caesar's appearance in his first series "The Admiral Broadway Revue" (1949) with Imogene Coca was a huge hit with TV audiences. Simultaneously broadcast on NBC and the Dumont network, its sponsor, Admiral Corporation, an appliance company, could not keep up with the demand for its new television sets, so the show was canceled on account of its runaway success.

Made his Broadway debut performing in the 1948 revue "Make Mine Manhattan," which featured The Five Dollar Date, one of Sid's first original pieces in which he sang, acted, double-talked, pantomimed, and wrote the music.

Played at the Vacationland Hotel in Swan Lake in the Catskills during his salad days. There, under the tutelage of Don Appel, the resort's social director, Caesar played in the band and learned to perform comedy, doing three shows a week.

Arrived in New York City penniless and tried to join the musician's union (later he audited classes at the famed Juilliard School of Music).

At fourteen, Caesar first went to the Catskills as a saxophonist with Mike Cifficello's Swingtime Six and would also occasionally perform in sketches.

Despite his apparent fluency in many languages, in reality Caesar can only speak English and Yiddish.

The son of Jewish immigrants Ida (née Raphael) and Max Caesar, who ran a 24-hour luncheonette, Sid would help his parents by waiting on tables and it was during this time that he learned to mimic many of the accents he would use throughout his long career.

His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 7000 Hollywood Blvd.

Personal Quotes

After all those years of doing a live, hour-and-a-half show every week, I've got nothing more I need to prove.

The things I see now on TV and in movies are so outlandish. Kids doing rude things with pies! And the language that they use! It's being outrageous for the sake of being outrageous. I can't watch it. It turns me off.

The trouble with telling a good story is that it invariably reminds the other fellow of a dull one.

Salary

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