|
Wladziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987), better known by
only his last name Liberace (LIB-ber-RAH-chee), was an American entertainer.
Early life and stage name
Liberace, known as “Lee” to his friends, was born in West Allis, Wisconsin to
Frances Zuchowski, a Polish American, and Salvatore ("Sam") Liberace, an immigrant
from Formia, Italy. He grew up in a musical family. He had a twin who died at
birth. He was classically trained as a pianist and gained wide experience playing
popular music. Lee followed the advice of famous Polish pianist and family friend
Paderewski and billed himself under his last name only. As his classical career
developed he found that his whimsical encores, in which he played pop songs and
marches, went over better with audiences than his renditions of classical pieces,
so he changed his act to "pop with a bit of classics". At other times, he referred
to his act as "classical music with the boring parts left out." During the mid- and
late 1940s he performed in dinner clubs and night clubs in major cities around the
United States.
In his early career days he used the stage name Walter Busterkeys.
In 1943, he appeared in a couple of Soundies (the 1940s precursor to music videos).
He re-created two flashy numbers from his nightclub act, "Tiger Rag" and "Twelfth
Street Rag." In these films he was billed as Walter Liberace. Both Soundies were
later released to the home-movie market by Castle Films.
 Television
He had a network television program, The Liberace Show, beginning on July 1, 1952.
Producer Duke Goldstone mounted a filmed version for syndication in 1955, and sold
it to scores of local stations. The widespread exposure of the syndicated Liberace
series made the pianist more popular and prosperous than ever. His brother George
often appeared as guest violinist. Liberace signed off each broadcast with the song
"I'll Be Seeing You." This show was also one of the first to be shown on UK
commercial television in the 1950's where it was broadcast on Sunday afternoon's by
Lew Grade's ATV company. This exposure gave Liberace a dedicated following in the
UK.
Liberace became known for his extravagant costumes, personal charm, and
self-deprecating wit. His public image became linked with one ever-present stage
prop, a silver candelabrum perched on his piano. By 1955 he was making $50,000 per
week at the Riviera nightclub in Las Vegas and had over 160 official fan clubs with
a quarter of a million member fans (who throughout his career were mostly
middle-aged women). He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 for
his contributions to the television industry.
In 1966 he appeared in two highly-rated episodes of the U.S. television series
Batman. During the 1970s his appearances included guest roles on episodes of Here's
Lucy and Kojak. In a cameo on The Monkees he appeared at an avant-garde art gallery
as himself, gleefully smashing a grand piano with a sledgehammer as Mike Nesmith
looked on and cringed in mock-agony.
Liberace was also the guest star in an episode of The Muppet Show. His performances
included a "Concerto for the Birds" and an amusing rendition of "Chopsticks." In
the 1980s he guest starred on television shows such as Saturday Night Live (on a
10th-season episode hosted by Hulk Hogan and Mr. T), The Tonight Show and the 1984
film Special People.
Recordings
He released several recordings through Columbia Records (later on Dot and through
direct television advertising) and sold over 2,000,000 records in 1953 alone.
Liberace's highly colored style of piano playing was characterized by some critics
as fluid and lyrical but technically careless.
Films
Liberace appeared as a guest star in two compilation features for RKO Radio
Pictures. Footlight Varieties was an imitation-vaudeville hour released in 1951; a
little-known sequel, Merry Mirthquakes (1953), featured Liberace as master of
ceremonies.
He was at the height of his career in 1955 when he starred in the Warner Brothers
feature Sincerely Yours with Dorothy Malone, playing 31 songs. The film (about a
concert pianist who loses his hearing) was a commercial and critical failure, which
was attributed in part to his having been overexposed on television.
In 1965, he had a small part in the movie When the Boys Meet the Girls starring
Connie Francis, essentially playing himself.
In 1966, Liberace received kudos for his brief role as a casket salesman in the
film adaptation of The Loved One, Evelyn Waugh's satire of the funeral business and
movie industry in Southern California. It was the only film Liberace made in which
he did not play the piano.
Lawsuits
His fame in the U.S. was paralleled for a time in the UK. In 1957 an article in The
Daily Mirror by veteran columnist Cassandra (William Connor) mentioned that
Liberace was "...the summit of sex--the pinnacle of masculine, feminine, and
neuter. Everything that he, she, and it can ever want... a deadly, winking,
sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering,
giggling, fruit-flavored, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love," a description
which did everything it could to imply he was homosexual without saying so.
Liberace sued the newspaper for libel, testified in a London court that he was not
a homosexual, had never taken part in homosexual acts, and won the suit. But he did
acknowlege his homosexual orientation and told his lifetime partner to keep it a
secret until he died.
For years Liberace had joked, "I don't mind the bad reviews, but George (his
brother and business partner) cries all the way to the bank." The £8,000 ($22,400)
damages he received from The Daily Mirror led Liberace to alter this catchphrase to
"I cried all the way to the bank!"
In 1982, Liberace's live-in boyfriend of some five years, Scott Thorson, sued the
pianist for $113 million in palimony after an acrimonious split-up. Liberace
continued to publicly deny that he was homosexual. In 1984, most of Thorson's claim
was dismissed although he received a $95,000 settlement. Later in the decade
Thorson emerged as a pivotal witness in the prosecution of reputed gangster Eddie
Nash in the 1981 quadruple murders of the Wonderland Gang.
Later
career
In 1960 Liberace performed at the London Palladium with Nat King Cole and Sammy
Davis Jr. (this was the first televised "command performance", now known as "The
Royal Variety Show" for Queen Elizabeth II). His career then went into a slump but
he skillfully built it back up by appealing directly to his fan base through live
appearances in Las Vegas and elsewhere. Liberace was a favorite subject of tabloid
magazines throughout his life and he published an autobiography in 1973. Liberace
owned an antique store for some years in Beverly Hills, California. In 1982 he
guest starred on one of his own favorite television programs, "Lives...of the
curious" on the renowned two parted, "The Mystery of Mother's Murder." He had a
keen interest in cooking, often preparing meals for friends and associates. In
addition, he owned a restaurant in Las Vegas for many years and even published
cookbooks, the most famous of these being Liberace Cooks, with co-author cookbook
guru Carol Truax. The book features recipes "from his seven dining rooms" (of his
Hollywood home).
Throughout the 1970s Liberace's live shows were major box office attractions in Las
Vegas at the Las Vegas Hilton and Lake Tahoe where he would earn $300,000 a week.
These glitzy shows were a continued success for the next eleven years, helped along
by infrequent but flamboyant television appearances and the opening of a
promotional museum of his extravagant jewelry and stage costumes in 1979.
Death
Liberace's final stage performance was at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
November 2, 1986. He died of complications related to AIDS at the age of 67 on
February 4, 1987 at his winter house in Palm Springs, California. His obvious
weight loss in the months prior to his death was attributed to a "watermelon diet"
by his longtime and steadfast manager Seymour Heller. But he had been in ill health
since 1985 with other health problems including emphysema from his daily smoking
off-stage, as well as heart and liver troubles.
How and exactly when he became HIV+ has never been determined, as Liberace
vehemently denied that he had AIDS or that he was homosexual. At the end of his
life, still convinced that his fans were unaware of his sexuality or the disease he
was battling, he confided in Heller his belief that if his fans knew, "that's all
they'll remember about me." He is entombed in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills
Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Source : Some of the information on this page came
from a Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU Documentation
License. ©2008 www.geneticmatrix.com.
|
.png "USA")
Liberace
- Manifesting Generator - Biography
