In 1947, Berle founded the Friars Club of Beverly Hills at the old Savoy Hotel on Sunset Boulevard. Other founding members included Jimmy Durante, George Jessel, Robert Taylor, and Bing Crosby. The club, which moved to Beverly Hills in 1961, is a private show business club famous for its celebrity members and roasts, where a member is mocked by their club friends in good fun.
In 1962, NBC tried to develop a TV series around incidents in his life, but the series never got beyond the planning stage.
In 1984 he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame, and in 1991 became the first entertainer inducted into the International Comedy Hall of Fame.
In May 1949, he hosted the world's first charity telethon, benefiting the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund. The program lasted 24 hours.
Milton Berle had begun his professional career at age five, working in motion pictures at the American Mutoscope and Biograph Co. studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Mother: Sarah (died 31. May 1954)
Siblings: Phil (b. 1901), Francis (b. 1904), Jack (b. 1905), Rosalind (b. 1913) (all deceased)
Stepfather-in-Law of Richard Moll.
Suffered a mild stroke at his home in California. [5 December 1999]
Uncle of Warren Berlinger.
Was a regular on the "Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts".
Was diagnosed with a slow-growing cancerous tumor in his colon. Doctors said he did not need surgery and the cancer would take 10 to 12 years to affect him. This turned out to be incorrect, as Berle died less than a year later. [April 2001]
Was well-known as an outrageous joke thief, which frequently rankled some of his fellow performers. One time, he said to Groucho Marx, "You know, Groucho, I've stolen some of my best jokes from you." Without missing a beat, Groucho replied, "Then you weren't listening."