Shecky Greene
| Shecky Greene | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Fred Sheldon Greenfield April 8, 1926 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation | Comedian |
| Spouse(s) | Nalani Kele (1972-82; divorced) Marie Musso (1985-present) |
Shecky Greene (born Fred Sheldon Greenfield; April 8, 1926) is an American comedian. He is known for his nightclub performances in Las Vegas, where he has been a headliner for more than thirty years. He has appeared in several films, including Tony Rome, History of the World, Part I and Splash, and has guest starred on such television shows as Mad About You, Laverne & Shirley, Love, American Style, and Combat!
Greene was born in 1926, and grew up on the North Side of Chicago and served in the United States Navy during World War II. Greene had planned to become a gym teacher, but had been performing comedy at various venues in the upper Midwest, and started his comedy career at the Prevue Lounge in New Orleans, where he worked for six years. From there he went on to showrooms in Miami, Chicago, and Reno/Lake Tahoe before an agent persuaded him to move to Las Vegas and open for Dorothy Shay, "the Park Avenue Hillbillie," at the Last Frontier. His act was held over for 18 weeks, a first for the Strip.
Offstage, his main passion was horse racing. A thoroughbred horse named Shecky Greene was the frontrunner for nearly seven furlongs in the 1973 Kentucky Derby until Secretariat ran off with the race. Arlington Park in Illinois still runs a Shecky Greene Handicap. When the MGM Grand Hotel opened in 1975, starring Dean Martin, the second headline act was Shecky Greene, whose salary at one point climbed to $150,000 a week ($125,000 went to "my bookmaker," Greene cracks).
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