1. Edna Stillwell was a comedy and screenwriter best known for her work with Red Skelton.
18 Facts About Edna Stillwell
2.
Edna Marie Stillwell was born in Missouri to parents George Vincent Stillwell and Dollie Belle Tarwater.
3.
Edna Stillwell had three older siblings: Ethel, Orville, and Frances.
4.
Edna Stillwell was not only Skelton's manager but was a formidable comedy writer who wrote extensively for Skelton.
5.
Skelton repeatedly credited Edna Stillwell for helping him build his successful career.
6.
Edna Stillwell was the mastermind behind many of Skelton's most popular skits and characters.
7.
Skelton's famous "Doughnut Dunkers" routine, which helped him earn celebrity status, took shape after the couple had breakfast in a diner in Montreal where Edna Stillwell had the idea for the new routine as she and Skelton watched a man with his donuts and coffee.
8.
Edna Stillwell wrote a little skit about a little man dunking his doughnut in his coffee, with Skelton's exaggerated visual impressions of the different ways in which to dunk and eat a doughnut.
9.
Edna Stillwell is credited for dreaming up Skelton's famous Mean Widdle Kid character, known as "Junior," shortly after the couple married as Skelton performed the character at home with Edna Stillwell.
10.
When Skelton replaced Red Foley as the host of Avalon Time in 1938 on NBC, Edna Stillwell joined the show's cast in the role of heckler, throwing insults at Skelton.
11.
Edna Stillwell was a writer for the show and developed a system of selecting written materials from the other show writers, adding her own, and filing away unused gags and lines for later use.
12.
Edna Stillwell is credited as a writer on The Raleigh Cigarette Program radio show, which starred Skelton.
13.
Edna Stillwell was the chief writer on The Red Skelton Show which aired from 1951 to 1971.
14.
In 1942, Edna Stillwell announced she was filing for divorce from Skelton, but that she would remain as his manager and continue to write material for him.
15.
Edna Stillwell remained the manager of Skelton's financial accounts as Skelton was known to spend money with reckless abandon.
16.
Edna Stillwell managed Skelton's career until 1952, and in return she was paid a handsome weekly salary for her efforts.
17.
In November 1945, Edna Stillwell married Hollywood film director Frank Borzage.
18.
Edna Stillwell died on November 15,1982, at the Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance, California at the age of 67, from cancer.