1. Sheldon Leonard Berman was an American comedian, actor, writer, teacher, and lecturer.
17 Facts About Shelley Berman
2.
Shelley Berman was awarded three gold records for his comedy albums and he won the first Grammy Award for a spoken comedy recording in 1959.
3.
Shelley Berman taught humor writing at the University of Southern California for more than 20 years.
4.
Shelley Berman was born in Chicago, the son of Irene and Nathan Shelley Berman.
5.
Shelley Berman served in the Navy during World War II, after which he enrolled in Chicago's Goodman School of Drama at the Art Institute of Chicago as a drama student.
6.
Shelley Berman's career began with an acting company in Woodstock, Illinois, and in 1949 he and his wife made their way to New York City.
7.
Shelley Berman studied acting at the HB Studio and made ends meet as a social director, cab driver, speech teacher, assistant manager of a drug store, and a dance instructor at Arthur Murray Dance Studios.
8.
Later, Shelley Berman found work as a sketch writer for The Steve Allen Plymouth Show.
9.
Shelley Berman began as a straight actor, receiving his training at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, performing in stock companies in and around Chicago and New York City.
10.
In 1957, Shelley Berman was hired as a comedian at Mister Kelly's in Chicago, which led to other nightclub bookings, and a recording contract with Verve Records.
11.
Shelley Berman appeared on numerous television specials and all of the major variety shows of the day.
12.
Shelley Berman's voice was the inspiration for the voice of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Fibber Fox, performed by Daws Butler.
13.
Shelley Berman made some appearances as a panelist and one as the "Mystery Guest" on the CBS game show What's My Line in the early and mid-1960s.
14.
For over 20 years, Shelley Berman was a lecturer in humor writing in the Master of Professional Writing program at the University of Southern California.
15.
Shelley Berman was a teacher for the Improv Olympics program.
16.
Shelley Berman died from complications from Alzheimer's disease at his home in Bell Canyon, California, in the early morning of September 1,2017.
17.
Shelley Berman's archive was donated to the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York.