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One of television's most popular comedians, Red Skelton is most fondly remembered for The Red Skelton Show, which ran on NBC from 1951-1953, and then on CBS from 1953-1970 (with a brief return to NBC for the 1970-1971 season). A very likeable personality and gifted pantomimist, Skelton also starred in a series of comedy films and had a career filled with contradictions. Noted writer Ross Wetzsteon once commented, Skelton was "a mime whose greatest success was on the radio. A folk humorist in the years when American entertainment was becoming urban....

