Sid Caesar

Born Isaac Sidney Caesar on September 8, 1922, in Yonkers, New York, Sid Caesar was the son of Max and Ida Ziser. At 14, he was hired to play saxophone in a summer band in the Catskills. He married Florence Levy in 1943 and served during World War II in the Coast Guard, stationed at the Brooklyn piers. A pioneer of television comedy, he created "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour," establishing himself as a defining sketch comic.

Film credits include "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World," "Grease," "Grease 2," "History of the World: Part I," "Vegas Vacation," "Airport 1975," "Cannonball Run II," "Silent Movie," "The Cheap Detective," and "A Guide for the Married Man." On television, he appeared in "Your Show of Shows," "Caesar's Hour," "Saturday Night Live," "The Love Boat," "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," "That Girl," "Mad About You," "Sesame Street," and "The Carol Burnett Show."

Among his honors: a 1952 Primetime Emmy for Best Actor, a 1957 Primetime Emmy for Best Continuing Performance by a Comedian in a Series for "Caesar's Hour," a star on the Walk of Fame in 1960, and induction into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1985.

Growing up around the multinational clientele at his parents' luncheonette, he developed his signature foreign-sounding "double talk" by listening to and observing the customers.