Victor Borge born 3 January 1909

Victor Borge (January 3, 1909 – December 23, 2000) was a Danish-American actor, comedian, and pianist who achieved great popularity in radio and television in both North America and Europe. His blend of music and comedy earned him the nicknames "The Clown Prince of Denmark," "The Unmelancholy Dane," and "The Great Dane." 

Born Børge Rosenbaum in Copenhagen, Denmark, into a Jewish family, his parents, Bernhard and Frederikke Rosenbaum, were both musicians. His father was a violinist in the Royal Danish Chapel, and his mother played piano.Borge took up piano like his mother at the age of 3, and it was soon apparent that he was a prodigy. He gave his first piano recital when he was 8 years old, and in 1918 was awarded a full scholarship at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, studying under Olivo Krause. Later on, he was taught by Victor Schiøler, Liszt's student Frederic Lamond, and Borge played his first major concert in 1926 at the Danish concert-hall Odd Fellow Palæet (The Odd Fellow Mansion).

After a few years as a classical concert pianist, he started his now famous "stand up" act, with the signature blend of piano music and jokes. He married American Elsie Chilton in 1933, the same year he debuted with his revue acts. Borge started touring extensively in Europe, where he began telling anti-Nazi jokes. When the Nazis occupied Denmark during World War II, Borge was playing a concert in Sweden, and managed to escape to Finland. He traveled to America on the USS American Legion, the last passenger ship that made it out of Europe prior to the war, and arrived August 28, 1940 with only 20 dollars, three of which went to the customs fee. 

Even though Borge didn't speak a word of English upon arrival, he quickly managed to adapt his jokes to the American audience, learning English by watching movies. He took the name of Victor Borge, and, in 1941, he started on Rudy Vallee's radio show, but was hired soon after by Bing Crosby for his Kraft Music Hall. From then on, it went quickly for Borge, who won Best New Radio Performer of the Year in 1942. Soon after the award, he was offered film roles with stars such as Frank Sinatra (in Higher and Higher). 

                                     

While hosting The Victor Borge Show on NBC from 1946, he "developed many of his trademarks, including repeatedly announcing his intent to play a piece but getting "distracted" by something or other, making comments about the audience, or discussing the usefulness of Chopin's Minute Waltz as an eggtimer. Or he would start out with some well-known classical piece like Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" op. 27 and suddenly drift into a harmonically suitable pop or jazz tune like "Night and Day" (Cole Porter)." 

Borge appeared on Toast of the Town hosted by Ed Sullivan several times during 1948, and became a naturalized citizen of the United States the same year. He started the Comedy in Music show at John Golden Theatre in New York City on October 2, 1953. Comedy in Music became the longest running one-man show with 849 performances when it closed on January 21, 1956, which feat placed it in the Guinness Book of World Records. 

After divorcing his wife Elsie, he married Sarabel Sanna Scraper in 1953. Continuing his success with several tours and shows, Borge played with some of the world's most renowned orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic and London Philharmonic. Always modest, he felt very honored when he was invited to conduct the Danish Royal Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1992. 

His later television appearances included his use of his "Phonetic Punctuation" routine on The Electric Company in a filmed sketch; He would also use it on the record to follow during the "Punctuation" song. He guest starred many times on Sesame Street and was the star guest on the fourth season of The Muppet Show. 

Aside from his musical work, Borge wrote two books, My Favorite Intermissions and My Favorite Comedies in Music (with Robert Sherman), and the autobiography Smilet er den korteste afstand ("The Smile is the Shortest Distance") with Niels-Jørgen Kaiser. Victor Borge continued to tour until his last days, performing up to 60 times per year when he was 90 years old.  

Borge died in Greenwich, Connecticut, after more than 75 years of entertaining. He died peacefully, in his sleep, the day after returning from a concert in Denmark. In accordance with Borge's wishes, he had part of his ashes interred at Putnam Cemetery in Greenwich, with a replica of the iconic Danish statue The Little Mermaid sitting on a large rock at the grave site, and the other part in the Western Jewish Cemetery (Mosaisk Vestre Begravelsesplads), in Copenhagen. (Edited from Wikipedia)