Sid Caesar | |
|---|---|
 Caesar in 1961 | |
| Born | Isaac Sidney Caesar (1922-09-08)September 8, 1922 Yonkers, New York, U.S. |
| Died | February 12, 2014(2014-02-12) (aged 91) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1941–2005 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
Isaac Sidney Caesar (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2014) was an American comic actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he was best known for two pioneering 1950s live television series:Your Show of Shows (1950–1954), which was a 90-minute weekly show watched by 60 million people, and its successor,Caesar's Hour (1954–1957), both of which influenced later generations of comedians.[1]Your Show of Shows and its cast received sevenEmmy nominations between 1953 and 1954 and tallied two wins. He also acted in films; he played Coach Calhoun inGrease (1978) and its sequelGrease 2 (1982) and appeared in the filmsIt's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963),Silent Movie (1976),History of the World, Part I (1981),Cannonball Run II (1984), andVegas Vacation (1997).
Caesar was considered a "sketch comic" and actor, as opposed to a stand-up comedian. He also relied more on body language, accents, and facial contortions than simply dialogue. Unlike the slapstick comedy which was standard on TV, his style was considered "avant garde" in the 1950s. He conjured up ideas and scene and used writers to flesh out the concept and create the dialogue. Among the writers who wrote for Caesar early in their careers wereMel Brooks,Neil Simon,Larry Gelbart,Carl Reiner,Michael Stewart,Mel Tolkin,Lucille Kallen,Selma Diamond, andWoody Allen. "Sid's was the show to which all comedy writers aspired. It was the place to be," saidSteve Allen.
His TV shows' subjects included satires of real life events and people, and parodies of popular film genres, theater, television shows, and opera. But unlike other comedy shows at the time, the dialogue was considered sharper, funnier, and more adult-oriented. He was "best known as one of the most intelligent and provocative innovators of television comedy," who some critics called "television'sCharlie Chaplin" andThe New York Times refers to as the "comedian of comedians from TV's early days."[2]
Honored in numerous ways over 60 years, he was nominated for 11Emmy Awards, winning twice. He was also an accomplishedsaxophonist, having played the saxophone since he was eleven years old, and was the author of several books, including two autobiographies in which he described his career and later struggle to overcome years of alcoholism and addiction to barbiturates.
Isaac Sidney Caesar (Yiddish:יצחק סידני קיסר) was born inYonkers, New York, to a Jewish family.[3][4][5] His father was Max Ziser (Yiddish:מאַח זיסער; 1874–1946) and his mother was Ida (née Raphael) (Yiddish:ידאַ ראַפּהאַעל זיסער; 1887–1975). They were probably fromDąbrowa Tarnowska, Poland.[6] Reports state that the surname "Caesar" was given to Max, as a child, by an immigration official atEllis Island.[7][8][9] According to Marian L. Smith, senior historian of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, there is no known case of a name changed at Ellis Island.[10]
Max and Ida Caesar ran a restaurant, a 24-hourluncheonette.[11]By waiting on tables, their son learned to mimic thepatois, rhythm, and accents of the diverse clientele, a technique he termeddouble-talk, which he used throughout his career. He first tried double-talk with a group of Italians, his head barely reaching above the table. They enjoyed it so much that they sent him over to a group of Poles to repeat his native-sounding patter in Polish, and so on with Russians, Hungarians, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Lithuanians, and Bulgarians. Sid Caesar's older brother, David, was his comic mentor and "one-man cheering section."[12] They created their earliest family sketches from movies of the day likeTest Pilot and the 1927 silent filmWings.[13]
As a boy, Caesar took saxophone lessons and played in small bands to make money during theGreat Depression. When he was 14, Caesar went to theCatskill Mountains as atenor saxophonist in the Swingtime Six band and occasionally performed in sketches in theBorscht Belt.[2]
After graduating fromYonkers High School in 1940,[14] Caesar left home, intent on a musical career. He arrived inManhattan and worked as an usher and then a doorman at theCapitol Theater.[2] He was ineligible to join theAmerican Federation of Musicians in New York City until he established residency, but he found work as a saxophonist at the Vacationland Hotel, a resort located in theCatskill Mountains ofSullivan County, New York. Mentored by Don Appel, the resort's social director, Caesar played in the dance band and learned to perform comedy, doing three shows a week.[13] Heaudited classes in clarinet and saxophone at theJuilliard School of Music.[15] In 1940, he enlisted in theUnited States Coast Guard, and was stationed inBrooklyn, New York, where he played in military revues and shows.[16][17] Caesar was discharged from the service in 1945.[18]Vernon Duke, the composer of "Autumn in New York", "April in Paris", and "Taking a Chance on Love", was at the same base and collaborated with Caesar on musical revues.[13]
During the summer of 1942, Caesar met his future wife, Florence Levy, at the Avon Lodge in the Catskills village ofWoodridge, New York. They were married on July 17, 1943,[19] and had three children: Michele, Rick and Karen.[14] After joining the musicians' union, he briefly played withShep Fields,Claude Thornhill,Charlie Spivak,Art Mooney andBenny Goodman.[14] Later in his career, he performed"Sing, Sing, Sing" with Goodman for a TV show.[20]
Still in the military, Caesar was ordered toPalm Beach, Florida, where Vernon Duke andHoward Dietz were putting together a service revue calledTars and Spars. There he met the civilian director of the show,Max Liebman. When Caesar's comedy got bigger applause than the musical numbers, Liebman asked him to do stand-up bits between the songs.Tars and Spars toured nationally, and became Caesar's first major gig as a comedian.[21] Liebman later produced Caesar's first television series.
After finishing his military service in 1945, the Caesars moved to Hollywood. In 1946,Columbia Pictures produced a film version ofTars and Spars in which Caesar reprised his role. The next year, he acted inThe Guilt of Janet Ames. He turned down the lead ofThe Jolson Story as he did not want to be known as an impersonator, and turned down several other offers to play sidekick roles.[13] He soon returned to New York, where he became the opening act forJoe E. Lewis at theCopacabana nightclub. He reunited with Liebman, who guided his stage material and presentation. That job led to a contract with theWilliam Morris Agency and a nationwide tour. Caesar also performed in a Broadway revue,Make Mine Manhattan, which featuredThe Five Dollar Date—one of his first original pieces, in which he sang, acted, double-talked, pantomimed, and wrote the music.[22] He won a 1948Donaldson Award for his contributions to the musical.[13][23]
Caesar's television career began with an appearance onMilton Berle'sTexaco Star Theater[21] in the fall of 1948.[24] In early 1949, Caesar and Liebman met withPat Weaver, vice president of television at NBC, which led to Caesar's first series,Admiral Broadway Revue withImogene Coca. The Friday show was simultaneously broadcast onNBC and theDuMont network, and it was an immediate success. However, its sponsor,Admiral, an appliance company, could not keep up with the demand for its new television sets, so the show was canceled after 26 weeks—ironically, on account of its runaway success.[22]
On February 25, 1950, Caesar appeared in the first episode ofYour Show of Shows, initially the second half of the two-hour umbrella showSaturday Night Review; at the end of the 1950–51 season,Your Show of Shows became its own, 90-minute program from theInternational Theatre at 5 Columbus Circle and later The Center Theatre at Sixth Avenue and 49th Street.[25]Burgess Meredith hosted the first two shows,[25] and the premiere featured musical guestsGertrude Lawrence,Lily Pons andRobert Merrill.[13] The show was a mix ofsketch comedy, movie and television satires, Caesar's monologs, musical guests, and large production numbers. Guests included:Jackie Cooper,Robert Preston,Rex Harrison,Eddie Albert,Michael Redgrave,Basil Rathbone,Charlton Heston,Geraldine Page,Douglas Fairbanks Jr.,Pearl Bailey,Fred Allen,Benny Goodman,Lena Horne and many other stars of the time. It was also responsible for bringing together the comedy team of Caesar, Coca,Carl Reiner, andHoward Morris. Many writers also got their break creating the show's sketches, includingLucille Kallen,Mel Brooks,Neil Simon,Michael Stewart,Mel Tolkin andSheldon Keller. Sid Caesar won his firstEmmy in 1952. In 1951 and 1952, he was voted the United States' Best Comedian inMotion Picture Daily's TV poll. The show ended after almost 160 episodes[13] on June 5, 1954.[25]
A few months later, Caesar returned withCaesar's Hour, a one-hour sketch/variety show with Morris, Reiner,Bea Arthur and other members of his former crew.Nanette Fabray replaced Coca, who had left to star in her own short-lived series. Ultimate creative and technical control was now in Caesar's hands, originating from theCenter Theater and the weekly budget doubled to $125,000. The premiere on September 27, 1954, featuredGina Lollobrigida.[13] Everything was performed live, including the commercials.[citation needed]
Caesar's Hour was followed by ABC's short-livedSid Caesar Invites You from January 26 to May 25, 1958. It briefly reunited Caesar, Coca, and Reiner, with Simon and Brooks among the writers.[26]
In 1963, Caesar appeared on television, on stage, and in films. SeveralAs Caesar Sees It specials evolved into the 1963–64Sid Caesar Show (which alternated withEdie Adams inHere's Edie).[27] He starred withVirginia Martin in the Broadway musicalLittle Me, with book by Simon, choreography byBob Fosse, and music byCy Coleman. Playing eight parts with 32 costume changes, he was nominated in 1963 for aTony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical.[28] On film, Caesar and Adams played a husband and wife drawn into a mad race to find buried loot inStanley Kramer's comedy ensembleIt's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) which became a box office success and earned sixAcademy Award nominations.
Caesar was not a stand-up comedian but a "sketch comic, and actor," wrote one historian. "He conjured up ideas and enhanced scenes, but never wrote a word," and thereby depended on his writers for dialogue.[29] Caesar was skilled atpantomime, dialects, monologs, foreign language double-talk and general comic acting.[30]
His sketches were often long, sometimes 10 or 15 minutes, with numerous close-ups showing the expressions on the faces of Caesar and other actors. Caesar relied more on body language, accents, and facial contortions than simply spoken dialogue. Unlike slapstick comedy, which was standard on TV, his style was consideredavant garde. Caesar "...was born with the ability to write physical poetry," notes comedianSteve Allen, a technique like that used for a silent film comedian.[29] An example of this "silent film" style is a live sketch withNanette Fabray, where they both pantomime an argument choreographed to the music ofBeethoven's Fifth Symphony.[31]
WriterMel Tolkin stated that Caesar "didn't like one-line jokes in sketches because he felt that if the joke was a good one, anybody could do it. One-liners would take him away from what drove his personal approach to comedy." Larry Gelbart called Caesar's style theatrical, and called him "...a pure TV comedian." In describing his control during the live performances, actress Nanette Fabray recalled that unlike most comedians, such asRed Skelton,Bob Hope orMilton Berle, Caesar always stayed in character: "He was so totally into the scene he never lost it."[29]
Caesar was able to pantomime a wide variety of things: a tire, a gumball machine, a lion, a dog, a punching bag, a telephone, an infant, an elevator, a railroad train, a herd of horses, a piano, a rattlesnake and a bottle of seltzer.[29] On theDick Clark show in 1978, he played a chewing gum machine and a slot machine.[32] He was also able to create imaginary characters.Alfred Hitchcock compared him toCharlie Chaplin, and critic John Crosby felt "he could wrench laughter out of you with the violence of his great eyes and the sheer immensity of his parody." In an article inThe Saturday Evening Post in 1953, show business biographerMaurice Zolotow noted that "Caesar relies upon grunts and grimaces to express a vast range of emotions."[29]
Of his double-talk routines,Carl Reiner said, "His ability to doubletalk every language known to man was impeccable,"[33] and during one performance Caesar imitated four different languages but with almost no real words.[34] Despite his apparent fluency in many languages, Caesar could actually speak only English andYiddish. In 2008, Caesar told aUSA Today reporter, "Every language has its own music ... If you listen to a language for 15 minutes, you know the rhythm and song."[35] Having developed this mimicry skill, he could create entire monologs using gibberish in numerous languages, as he did in a skit in which he played a German general.[36]
Among his primary subjects were parodies and spoofs of various film genres, including gangster films, westerns, newspaper dramas, spy movies and other TV shows. Compared to other comedy shows at the time, the dialogue on his shows was considered sharper, funnier and more adult oriented.[29] In his sketches forYour Show of Shows andCaesar's Hour, he would also typically "skewer the minutiae of domestic life" along with lampooning popular or classic movies.[2]
Contemporary movies, foreign movies, theater, television shows and opera were targets of satire by the writing team. Often the publicity generated by the sketches boosted the box office of the original productions. Some notable sketches included: "From Here to Obscurity" (From Here to Eternity), "Aggravation Boulevard" (Sunset Boulevard), "Hat Basterson" (Bat Masterson), and "No West for the Wicked" (Stagecoach).
They also performed some recurring sketches. "The Hickenloopers", television's first bickering-couple sketch, predatedThe Honeymooners. As "The Professor", Caesar was the daffy expert who bluffed his way through his interviews with earnest roving reporterCarl Reiner. In its various incarnations, "The Professor" could be Gut von Fraidykat (mountain-climbing expert), Ludwig von Spacebrain (space expert), or Ludwig von Henpecked (marriage expert). Later, "The Professor" was inspiration for Mel Brooks' "The Two Thousand Year Old Man".[citation needed] The most prominent recurring sketch on the show was "The Commuters", which featured Caesar, Reiner, and Morris involved with everyday working and suburban life situations. Years later, the sketch "Sneaking through the Sound Barrier", a parody of the British filmThe Sound Barrier, ran continuously as part of a display on supersonic flight at theNational Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Steve Allen claimed, "Sid's was the show to which all comedy writers aspired. It was the place to be." While Caesar did not write his dialogue, he made all final decisions. His writers, such asMel Brooks, felt they "had a great instrument in Caesar that we could all play, and we played it very well." As for Caesar, Nachman describes him basically as an "inspired idea man who allowed the writers to take more risks" than other TV shows.[29]Woody Allen remembers that "...you wrote situations," instead of jokes, as in "This Is Your Story" with Carl Reiner, a parody of the popular TV showThis Is Your Life.[37][38] It was said to be "Caesar's personal favorite" sketch.[29]
In many cases, sketch dialogue was not even written down, but simply indicated by describing a scene, as in, "Sid does man coming home from business mad." Sometimes, saidLarry Gelbart, it was "organized chaos," and when watching the writers create from offstage, felt, "...it was a religious experience." To Mel Brooks, "it was a zoo. Everyone pitched lines at Sid. Jokes would be changed fifty times." Naturally there were some explosive episodes: "Mr. Caesar once dangled a terrified Mr. Brooks from an 18th-story window until colleagues restrained him. With one punch, he knocked out a horse that had thrown his wife off its back, a scene that Mr. Brooks replayed in his movieBlazing Saddles."[29]
Neil Simon recalled that after writing out a sketch and giving it to Caesar, "Sid would make it ten times funnier than what we wrote. Sid acted everything out, so the sketches we did were like little plays." Simon also remembered the impact that working for Caesar had on him: "The first time I saw Caesar it was like seeing a new country. All other comics were basically doing situations with farcical characters. Caesar was doing life."[29]
Some of his writers, likeWoody Allen, initially didn't like being among the large team of writers coming up with routines for Caesar, feeling it was too competitive and contributed to hostility among writers. An Allen biographer wrote that Allen "...chafed under the atmosphere of inspired spontaneity", although Allen did say that, "Writing for Caesar was the highest thing you could aspire to—at least as a TV comedy writer. Only the presidency was above that."Neil Simon noted that "we were competitive the way a family is competitive to get dad's attention. We all wanted to be Sid's favorite."[29] As part of the competitive atmosphere inThe Writer's Room, as it was called, friendship was also critical.Larry Gelbart explained:
We were able to be urbane. Between us we read every book. Between us we saw every movie. Between us we saw every play on Broadway. You could make jokes about Kafka or Tennessee Williams. We also had dinner together. We went to movies together. We were all friends. And that was very important. We appreciated each other a lot.[39]
Nachman concludes that "the Caesar shows were the crème de la crème of fifties television," as they were "studded with satire, and their sketches sharper, edgier, more sophisticated than the other variety shows."[29] Likewise, historianSusan Murray notes that Caesar was "...best known as one of the most intelligent and provocative innovators of television comedy."[40]
According to actressNanette Fabray, who acted alongside Caesar, "He was the first original TV comedy creation."[29] His early shows were the "...gold standard for TV sketch comedy."[29] In 1951,Newsweek noted that according to "the opinion of lots of smart people, Caesar is the best that TV has to offer,"[29] while Zolotow, in his 1953 profile forThe Saturday Evening Post, wrote that "in temperament, physique, and technique of operation, Caesar represents a new species of comedian."[29]
However, his positive impact on television became a negative one for Broadway. Caesar fans preferred to stay home on Saturday nights to watch his show instead of seeing live plays. "The Caesar show became such a Saturday-night must-see habit—theSaturday Night Live of its day," states Nachman, that "...Broadway producers begged NBC to switch the show to midweek."[29] Comedy starCarol Burnett, who later had her own hit TV show, remembers winning tickets to seeMy Fair Lady on Broadway: "I gave the tickets to my roommate because I said,Fair Lady's gonna be running for a hundred years, but Sid Caesar is live and I'll never seethat again."[39]
After nearly 10 years as a prime-time star of television comedy withYour Show of Shows followed byCaesar's Hour, his stardom ended rapidly and he nearly disappeared from the spotlight. Nachman describes this period:
Caesar slid into a personal and career abyss ... [he] had no interest in movies ... He would live and die by the tube. His career was short-circuited by alcohol and pills ... The pressures of sudden stardom, of headlining and co-producing a weekly hit show, crushed him.[29]
Caesar himself felt, "It had all come too fast, was too easy, and he didn't deserve the acclaim."[29] WriterMel Brooks, who also became his close friend, said, "I know of no other comedian, including Chaplin, who could have done nearly ten years of live television. Nobody's talent was ever more used up than Sid's. He was one of the greatest artists ever born. But over a period of years, television ground him into sausages."[29]
In 1977, after blacking out during a stage performance ofNeil Simon'sThe Last of the Red Hot Lovers inRegina, Saskatchewan, Caesar gave up alcohol "cold turkey". In his 1982 autobiography,Where Have I Been?, and his second book,Caesar's Hours, he chronicled his struggle to overcome his alcoholism and addiction tosleeping pills.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Caesar continued to make occasional television and theatrical appearances and starred in several movies includingSilent Movie andHistory of the World, Part I (both reuniting him with Mel Brooks),Airport 1975, and as Coach Calhoun inGrease and its sequelGrease 2 in 1982. In 1971, he starred oppositeCarol Channing and a youngTommy Lee Jones in the Broadway showFour on a Garden.
In 1973, Caesar reunited withImogene Coca for the stage playThe Prisoner of Second Avenue, written in 1971 byNeil Simon. Their play opened in Chicago in August 1973.[41] That same year, Caesar and Max Liebman mined their own personalkinescopes fromYour Show of Shows (NBC had lost the studio copies) and they produced the feature filmTen From Your Show of Shows, a compilation of some of their best sketches. In 1974, Caesar said, "I'd like to be back every week" on TV and appeared in the NBC skit-based comedytelevision pilot calledHamburgers.[42]
In 1980, he appeared as a double-talking Japanese father for Mei and Kei's Pink Lady and opposite Jeff Altman in thePink Lady and Jeff show.
In 1983, Caesar hosted an episode ofSaturday Night Live, where he received a standing ovation at the start of the show and was awarded a plaque at the conclusion of the show declaring him an honorary cast member.[43] He released an exercise video,Sid Caesar's Shape Up!, in 1985.[44] In 1987–89, Caesar appeared as Frosch the Jailer inDie Fledermaus at theMetropolitan Opera in New York.[45] In 1987, Caesar starred in the David Irving filmThe Emperor's New Clothes withRobert Morse as the Tailor. Caesar remained active by appearing in movies, television and award shows, including the movieThe Great Mom Swap in 1995.
In 1996, theWriters Guild of America, West reunited Caesar with nine of his writers fromYour Show of Shows andCaesar's Hour for a two-hour panel discussion featuring head writerMel Tolkin, Caesar,Carl Reiner,Aaron Ruben,Larry Gelbart,Mel Brooks,Neil Simon,Danny Simon,Sheldon Keller, andGary Belkin. The event was taped, broadcast on PBS in the United States and the BBC in the UK, and later released as a DVD titledCaesar's Writers.[46]
In 1997, he made a guest appearance inVegas Vacation and, the following year, inThe Wonderful Ice Cream Suit based on aRay Bradbury novel. Also that year, Caesar joined fellow television iconsBob Hope andMilton Berle at the 50th anniversary of thePrimetime Emmy Awards.Billy Crystal also paid tribute to Caesar that night when he won an Emmy for hosting that year's Oscar telecast, recalling seeing Caesar doing a parody ofYul Brynner inThe King & I onYour Show of Shows. Caesar performed his double-talk in a "foreign dub" skit on the November 21, 2001, episode ofWhose Line Is It Anyway?
On September 7, 2001, Caesar, Carl Reiner and Nanette Fabray appeared onCNN's live interview programLarry King Live along with actor, comedian andimprovisationistDrew Carey.[47]
In 2003, he joinedEdie Adams andMarvin Kaplan at a 40th anniversary celebration forIt's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.[48] In 2004, Caesar's second autobiography,Caesar's Hours, was published, and in 2006,Billy Crystal presented Caesar with theTV Land Awards' Pioneer Award.[49] In whatTV Land called "...a hilarious, heartfelt, multilingual, uncut acceptance speech,"[49] Caesar performed his double-talk for over five minutes.[citation needed]
In a November 2009 article in theToluca Lake,California,Tolucan Times,columnist Greg Crosby described a visit with Caesar and his wife Florence at their home. Of the couple's meeting, Florence said, "Well, I thought he was nice for the summer ... I thought he would be just a nice boyfriend for the summer. He was cute-looking and tall, over six feet.... I was in my last year at Hunter College; we were still dating when Sid went into the service, the Coast Guard. Luckily he was stationed in New York so we were able to continue seeing each other, even though my parents weren't too happy about it. They never thought he would amount to anything, that he'd never have a real career or make any money. But we were married one year after we met, in July of 1943." She also pointed out, "You know, he's not funny all the time. He can be very serious." At the time of the interview, the couple had been married for 66 years.[50] Florence Caesar died on March 3, 2010, aged 88.[2][51]
Caesar was married to Florence Levy for 67 years until her death in 2010.[4] Caesar asserted that he was "proud to be Jewish" and that "Jews have a good sense of humor. Jews appreciate humor because in their life it's not too funny. We've been trodden down for a long time, thousands of years. So we've had to turn that around because if you take it all too seriously you're going to eat yourself. And we're very good at being self-deprecating. Either we do it or somebody's going to do it for us. We might as well do it first."[4]
Caesar died on February 12, 2014, at his home in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 91, after a short illness.[22][52]
On Caesar's death,Carl Reiner said, "He was the ultimate, he was the very best sketch artist and comedian that ever existed."Mel Brooks commented, "Sid Caesar was a giant, maybe the best comedian who ever practiced the trade. And I was privileged to be one of his writers and one of his friends."[33]Woody Allen stated, "He was one of the truly great comedians of my time".[53]Jon Stewart andThe Daily Show paid tribute to Caesar at the show's close on February 12, 2014.[54]Vanity Fair republished a brief tribute written byBilly Crystal in August 2005, in which he said of Caesar and his contemporaries:
I get nervous when I am with these giants. I always feel like I want to say, Thank you. I am blessed to have grown up in their time of perfection, to have witnessed the utter force of Sid. Live, uncut, daring but not risqué. Never stooping beneath themselves, Sid and this team of icons put forth a raucous, hilarious, and truthful brand of comedy that, 50 years later, is still funny and inspiring, and makes me think ... What kind of comedy would I be doing if I hadn't seen Sid Caesar? Would I be a comedian at all?[55]
His interment was atMount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery. He was predeceased by his wife, Florence (2010) and survived by his children Karen, Michelle, and Rick, and two grandsons. His son, Dr. Richard (Rick) Caesar died several months after his father on July 16, 2014.[56]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | Tars and Spars | Chuck Enders | |
| 1947 | The Guilt of Janet Ames | Sammy Weaver | |
| 1963 | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World | Melville Crump | |
| 1966 | The Mouse That Roared | Duchess / Mountjoy / Tully | Television film |
| 1967 | The Busy Body | George Norton | |
| A Guide for the Married Man | Man at Romanoff's | ||
| The Spirit Is Willing | Ben Powell | ||
| 1968 | The Lucy Show. Lucy and Sid Caesar | Himself | |
| 1973 | Ten from Your Show of Shows | Unknown | Also writer |
| 1974 | Airport 1975 | Barney | |
| 1976 | Silent Movie | Studio Chief | |
| 1977 | Flight to Holocaust | George Beam | Television film |
| Fire Sale | Sherman | ||
| Curse of the Black Widow | Lazlo Cozart | Television film | |
| 1978 | The Cheap Detective | Ezra Dezire | |
| Grease | Coach Calhoun | ||
| Barnaby and Me | Leo Fisk | Television film | |
| 1980 | The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu | Joe Capone | |
| Thanksgiving in the Land of Oz | Wizard / U.N. Krust | Voice | |
| 1981 | The Munsters' Revenge | Dr. Dustin Diablo | Television film |
| History of the World: Part I | Chief Caveman | ||
| 1982 | Grease 2 | Coach Calhoun | |
| 1984 | Over the Brooklyn Bridge | Uncle Benjamin | |
| Cannonball Run II | Fisherman No. 2 | ||
| 1985 | Love Is Never Silent | Mr. Petrakis | Television film |
| Alice in Wonderland | The Gryphon | ||
| 1986 | Stoogemania | Doctor Fixyer Mindyer | |
| Christmas Snow | Snyder | Television film | |
| 1987 | The Emperor's New Clothes | The Emperor | |
| 1988 | Freedom Fighter | Max | Television film |
| Side by Side | Louis Hammerstein | ||
| 1995 | The Great Mom Swap | Papa Tognetti | |
| 1997 | Vegas Vacation | Mr. Ellis | |
| 1998 | The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit | Sid Zellman | |
| 2000 | Globehunters | Jacob | Voice Television film |
| 2004 | Comic Book: The Movie | Old Army Buddy | (final film role) |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | Admiral Broadway Revue | Regular Performer | 19 episodes |
| 1950–54 | Your Show of Shows | Himself (Regular Performer) | 139 episodes |
| 1954 | Producers' Showcase | Napoleon Bonaparte / Himself | Episode: "Dateline" |
| 1954–1957 | Caesar's Hour | Himself (Host) | 70 episodes |
| 1958 | Sid Caesar Invites You | Himself | 13 episodes |
| The All-Star Christmas Show | Television special | ||
| 1959 | Some of Manie's Friends | Television special | |
| The United States Steel Hour | Unknown | 2 episodes | |
| 1961 | General Electric Theater | Nick Lucifer | Episode: "The Devil You Say" |
| Checkmate | Johnny Wilder | Episode: "Kill the Sound" | |
| 1962 | As Caesar Sees It | Himself | Television special |
| 1963–1964 | The Sid Caesar Show | Himself (Host) | |
| 1966–1970 | The Hollywood Palace | ||
| 1965–1973 | The Dean Martin Show | Himself | 4 episodes, also composer |
| 1967 | The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special | Himself (Co-host) | Television special |
| The Carol Burnett Show | Himself | Season 1, episodes 2 & 14 | |
| The Danny Thomas Hour | Gregory | Episode: "Instant Money" | |
| 1968 | That Girl | Marty Nickels | Episode: "The Drunkard" |
| 1969–1971 | Love, American Style | Bert / John Smith | 2 episodes |
| 1975 | When Things Were Rotten | Marquis de la Salle | Episode: "The French Dis-connection" |
| 1976 | Good Heavens | Herman Meltzer | Episode: "Herman Meltzer" |
| 1978 | Vega$ | The General | Episode: "Mother Mishkin" |
| 1978–1984 | The Love Boat | Bert Multon / Michael Harmon | 2 episodes |
| 1979 | Intergalactic Thanksgiving | King Goochi | Voice; television special |
| 1981 | The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo | The Bomber | Episode: "Another Day, Another Bomb" |
| 1982 | Matt Houston | Prince Sergei Polansky | Episode: "Recipe for Murder" |
| 1983 | Saturday Night Live | Host[57] | Episode: "#8.12" |
| 1985 | Amazing Stories | Lou Bundles | Episode: "Mr. Magic" |
| 1986 | Sesame Street | Himself | Episode: "#18.19" |
| 1995 | Love & War | Mr. Stein | 2 episodes |
| 1997 | Life with Louie | Marty Kazoo | Voice |
| Mad About You | Uncle Harold | Episode: "Citizen Buchman" | |
| 2001 | Whose Line Is It Anyway? | Himself | Season 4 Episode 15 |
| Year | Award | Category | Project | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | Donaldson Award | Male Debut in a Musical | — | Won | [23] |
| 1951 | Primetime Emmy Award | Most Outstanding Personality | — | Nominated | [58] |
| Best Actor | — | [58] | |||
| Look magazine | Best Comedian on TV | — | Won | [14] | |
| 1952 | Primetime Emmy Award | Best Actor | — | [58] | |
| Best Comedian or Comedienne | — | Nominated | [58] | ||
| 1953 | Best Comedian | — | [58] | ||
| 1954 | Best Male Star of Regular Series | Your Show of Shows | [58] | ||
| 1956 | Best Comedian | — | [58] | ||
| 1956 | Look magazine | Best Comedian on TV | — | Won | [14] |
| 1957 | Primetime Emmy Award | Best Actor in a Comedy Series | Caesar's Hour | [58] | |
| 1958 | Nominated | [58] | |||
| 1963 | Tony Award | Best Actor in a Musical | Little Me | [28] | |
| 1987 | British Comedy Awards | Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy | — | Honored | |
| 1995 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Guest Actor - Comedy Series | Love & War | Nominated | [58] |
| 1997 | Mad About You | [58] | |||
| 2001 | Television Critics Association | Career Achievement Award | — | Honored | [59] |
| 2006 | TV Land Award | Pioneer Award | — | [60] | |
| 2011 | Television Critics Association | Lifetime Achievement Award | — | [61] |
In 2005,The Humane Society of the United States honored Caesar by establishing the "Sid Caesar Award for Television Comedy" among theGenesis Awards given annually to individuals in major news and entertainment media who produce outstanding works that raise public awareness of animal issues.[64] In announcing the 2014 Genesis Award winners on February 14, 2014, the Society paid special homage to Caesar, whom the Society credited as one of its most dedicated supporters.[65]
Tomorrow night he will be the host ofSaturday Night Live.It will be the first time I've gone on live since 1962, he said matter-of-factly.
