Profile
Liberace
Musician and Entertainer
Male
Born
May 16, 1919
Hometown
West Allis, Wisco...
Died
Feb 4, 1987
Death Place
Palm Springs, Cal...
Instruments
Baldwin Piano + P...
Performed With
Ignacy Paderewski...
Record Label
Columbia Records
Wladziu Valentino Liberace, best known simply as Liberace, was a famous American pianist and vocalist. In a career that spanned four decades of concerts, recordings, motion pictures, television and endorsements, Liberace became world-renowned. During… Read More
Romance
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Timeline
Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Liberace.
CHILDHOOD
1919
Birth
Born on May 16, 1919.
TEENAGE
1934
15 Years Old
He played jazz with a school group called the "Mixers" in 1934, then other groups later.
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1937
18 Years Old
In a formal classical music competition in 1937, Liberace was praised for his "flair and showmanship".
TWENTIES
1939
20 Years Old
At the end of a traditional classical concert in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1939, Liberace played his first requested encore, "Three Little Fishes", which he played in the style of several different classical composers.
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1942
23 Years Old
Between 1942 and 1944, Liberace moved away from straight classical performance and reinvented his act to one featuring "pop with a bit of classics" or as he also called it "classical music with the boring parts left out."
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1943
24 Years Old
In 1943, he appeared in a couple of Soundies (the 1940s precursor to music videos).
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1944
25 Years Old
In 1944, he made his first appearances in Las Vegas, which later became his principal venue.
1945
26 Years Old
He was playing at the best clubs, finally appearing at the celebrated Persian Room in 1945, with Variety proclaiming, "Liberace looks like a cross between Cary Grant and Robert Alda.
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By 1947, he was billing himself as "Liberace—the most amazing piano virtuoso of the present day."
THIRTIES
1956
37 Years Old
In 1956, Liberace had his first international engagement, playing successfully in Havana, Cuba.
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1957
38 Years Old
On July 19, 1957, hours after Liberace gave a deposition in his $25 million libel suit against Confidential magazine, two masked intruders attacked his mother in the garage of Liberace's home in Sherman Oaks.
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1958
39 Years Old
…
A new Liberace Show premiered on ABC's daytime schedule in 1958, featuring a less flamboyant, less glamorous persona, but it failed in six months, as his popularity began slumping.
FORTIES
1960
41 Years Old
Liberace received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 for his contributions to the television industry.
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In 1966, Liberace appeared in the highly popular TV show Batman with Adam West and Burt Ward, playing a dual role as concert pianist Chandell and his gangster-like twin Harry, who was extorting Chandell into a life of crime as "Fingers," in the episodes "The Devil's Fingers" and "The Dead Ringers," both of which were written by Lorenzo Semple Jr., who had developed Batman for television.
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FIFTIES
1970
51 Years Old
In 1970, Liberace appeared on an episode of Here's Lucy, in which Craig (Desi Arnaz Jr.) borrows a candelabra for a high school club initiation.
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1978
59 Years Old
Television specials were made from Liberace's show at the Las Vegas Hilton in 1978 and 1979 which were broadcast on CBS.
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LATE ADULTHOOD
At the 1982 Academy Awards ceremony, presenting the award for Best Original Score and performing selections from each nominee, Liberace prefaced his performance by joking, "I'm very proud of my contribution to motion pictures.
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1986
67 Years Old
Liberace's final stage performance was at New York's Radio City Music Hall on November 2, 1986; the 18th show in 21 days, the series grossing $2.5 million.
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1987
68 Years Old
Liberace died of pneumonia caused by AIDS on February 4, 1987, age 67, at his winter home in Palm Springs, California.
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Original Authors of this text are noted on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberace.
Text is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Text is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.