Sid Caesar: Stars react to death of TV comedy legend
The loss of comedy legend Sid Caesar is being felt throughout Hollywood.
Caesar died at his home in the Los Angeles area after a brief illness, family spokesman Eddy Friedfeld said on Wednesday. He was 91.
The talented pioneer of TV comedy was infamous for his sketches with Imogene Coca that became classics and inspired a generation of famous writers. He also appeared in films like 1963's "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and the 1978 classic musical, "Grease."
Cesar's influence is shown by the stars who are publicly mourning his loss:
"Sid Caesar set the template for everybody. He was without a doubt, inarguably, the greatest sketch comedian-monologist that television ever produced," Caesar's longtime collaborator and friend Carl Reiner on CBS Radio. "He could ad-lib, he could do anything that was necessary to make an audience laugh."
"He was a genius at everything," Larry King told CBS Radio.
Arnold Schwarzeneger, Whoopi Goldberg, Joan Rivers and film critic Richard Roeper took to Twitter to mourn:
We’ve lost one of the greats. Sid Caesar was a fantastic comedian and entertainer. His quadlingual schtick was always a hit. We’ll miss him.
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) February 12, 2014
Life...doing her thing, another great has passed Sid Caesar. Funny man We honored him at the very first Comic Relief. RIP turn turn turn
— Whoopi Goldberg (@WhoopiGoldberg) February 12, 2014
Saddened by the death of Sid Caeser. He was one of the greats. When you watch him today, he still makes you laugh like he did 60 years ago.
— Joan Rivers (@Joan_Rivers) February 12, 2014
RIP to legendary comedy pioneer Sid Caesar. http://t.co/hKVim0uEyG
— Richard Roeper (@richardroeper) February 12, 2014