Comedian, saxophonist, composer, actor and musician, he performed within the orchestras of 'Charlie Spivak' . 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?".
Studied saxophone at the Julliard School of Music before becoming an actor.
Voted the United States Best Comedian by Motion Picture Dailys 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.
Biography in: "Whos 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.
His son Rick Caesar attended Yale University.
Was nominated for Broadways 1963 Tony Award as Best Actor for "Little Me".
Best remembered on "Your Show of Shows" and the movies Grease and Grease 2 .
His father, Max Caesar, owned a restaurant in Yonkers, New York.
He 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 .
He gave up alcohol "cold turkey". His autobiography, "Where Have I Been", published in 1983 and his second book, "Caesars Hours", both chronicle his struggle to overcome alcoholism and barbiturates.
In his book "Caesars Hours", he describes the essence of his comedy as "working both sides of the street", the deliberate blending of comedy and pathos. His idols were Charles Chaplin , Stan Laurel , Oliver Hardy , Buster Keaton and W.C. Fields.
Caesars appearance in his first series "The Admiral Broadway Revue" with Imogene Coca was a huge hit with television 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 Sids first original pieces in which he sang, acted, double-talked, pantomimed and wrote the music.
Has played at the Vacationland Hotel in Swan Lake in the Catskills during his salad days. There, under the tutelage of Don Appel, the resorts 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 musicians union (later he audited classes at the famed Juilliard School of Music).
At age 14 he first went to the Catskills as a saxophonist with Mike Cifficellos Swingtime Six and would also occasionally perform in sketches.
Despite his apparent fluency in many languages, in reality he can only speak English and Yiddish.
He was the son of Jewish immigrants, Ida (ne Raphael), from Russia, and Max Caesar, from Poland. The two 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.
Awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Blvd. on February 8, 1960.
Inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1985.
Following his death, he was interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
Infamous in his earlier years for an explosive temper and being quick to anger, one possibly apocryphal story has Caesar arguing with a cab driver over the fare and getting angrier by the moment. When the cabbie said "Ill remember you, pal", Caesar exploded, yelling "Ill give you something to remember! Remember birth?" and then proceeded to reach into the cab, grab the cabbie by the neck and pull him out of the cab though the window of the drivers door.
The trouble with telling a good story is that it invariably reminds the,other fellow of a dull one.
Comedy has to be based on truth. You take the truth and you put a little curlicue at the end.
