MILTON BERLE

Milton Berle was a comedian and occasional actor from the 1910s to 2000s. He had a few minor roles as a child actor, and then acted in vaudeville starting in 1931, and he resurfaced in movies in the late 1930s, usually playing criminals' flunkies. He went on to great success in early television, sometimes appearing in drag, and he earned the nicknames "Uncle Miltie" and "Mr. Television". In 1951, NBC hired him to an amazing 30-year $1,000,000 per year contract! But by 1956, he was in a decline, and NBC decided to cancel his show, and they made the unusual decision to keep paying him his million dollars a year, rather than have him be on the air on an opposing network! Berle was also a legendary "joke thief", stealing jokes from every other successful comedian! He passed away in 2002 at the age of 93.