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Victor Borge
'The smile is the shortest way between people.'
Victor Borge, the Danish comedian, pianist, conductor, composer, actor and writer, died in his sleep at home in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA on 23 December 2000, aged ninety-one. Famous for his 'phonetic punctuation' and classical music sketches (funny even to professional musicians, because of a natural insight into music and its pitfalls), Borge will be missed by millions all over the world.
Known variously as 'the clown prince of Denmark', 'the comedian of the keyboard', 'the unmelancholy Dane' and 'the funniest man in the world', Børge Rosenbaum was born in Copenhagen on 3 January 1909, son of a Jewish violinist from the Royal Danish Chapel. He adopted the name Victor Borge when (as a Jew telling jokes about Hitler ... 'What is the difference between a Nazi and a dog? The Nazi lifts his arm'), he fled to the USA in 1940. Borge taught himself English, first performed in Bing Crosby's radio show in 1941, and soon became very popular in the USA and internationally.