Victor Borge

Actor · born 3 January 1909 · København

Victor Borge, born Børge Rosenbaum, was a Danish- American comedian, conductor and pianist, affectionately known as "The Clown Prince of Denmark", "The Unmelancholy Dane", and "The Great Dane".

He was born in Copenhagen and started out as a classic concert pianist, having his first major concert in 1926. In 1933 he started his now famous "stand up" act, with the signature blend of piano music and jokes, and married American Elsie Chilton the same year. Borge started touring extensively in Europe, where he began telling anti-Nazi jokes. When Germany invaded Denmark on 9 April 1940, he was touring Sweden, and fled via finland to the USA with his American wife.

Where to start: The King of Comedy (1982).