At the height of his career, Red Skelton’s radio comedy show rivaled Bob Hope's, and his mastery of mime and clowning instantly made him a Hollywood star. Saddened, but unwilling to change his gentler comedy, Skelton retreated to a quieter life until he passed away at age 84 in 1997. “He was heartbroken when CBS let him go because of demographics, and that was because of the change in comedy at the time,” his widow Lothian Skelton told Fox News on the occasion of the 20th anniversay of her husband's death. In 2013, the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy opened in his native Indiana where she donated numerous personal items belonging to her late husband. Skelton, who came from humble beginnings, also never took for granted where he came from.

Source: Fox News July 19, 2017 09:00 UTC