Nickname:	Mr. Showmanship / Lee
Known for:	Another World, Liberace: A Valentine Special, The Liberace Show: Christmas Show
Birth name:	Wladziu Valentino Liberace
Birthday:	16 May 1919, West Allis, Wisconsin, USA
Height:	5' 10" (1.78 m)

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Free Image Hosting - Upload your favorite celebrity pictures. Liberace's father was a French horn player for the Milwaukee Symphony. His brother, George Liberace played the violin. Classical debut was at age 14 as soloist with the Chicago As a young man he worked the night club circuit under another name - "Walter Busterkeys." In the 70s Liberace spent at least $100,000 a year on his sparkling, brocaded, diamond and jewelled costumes. Successfully sued the London "Daily Mirror" in 1959 after it published an article by columnist "Cassandra" which said that Liberace was "fruit-flavoured" (gay), which he strongly denied in court and insisted that homosexuality was an "abomination." He was publicly sued in 1982 by Scott Thorson (one of his many ex-lovers) for $110 million in palimony. After his death in 1987, Thorson reluctantly settled for $95,000. Was parodied in Al Capp's comic strip "L'il Abner" as "Loverboynik". Owned pianos previously owned by Frederic Chopin and George Gershwin, as well as an inlaid and ormolued Louis XV desk that may have been owned by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Closed his concerts with the song "I'll Be Seeing You". At the insistance of Polish piano virtuoso Paderwski, he dropped his first names and performed under his last name only. In 1976, during the height of the American Bicentennial, he once performed wearing red, white and blue hot pants. It made headlines around the world. When he opened Las Vegas' Riviera Casino-Hotel in 1954, he was the city's highest paid entertainer. That concert was the first one where he wore extravagant costumes (He wore a gold llame jacket). The episodes of the TV series "Batman" (1966) on which Liberace guest starred as "Chandel"/"Harry", "Batman: The Devil's Fingers (#2.15)" (1966) and "Batman: The Dead Ringers (#2.16)" (1966), were the highest-rated in the show's history. By all accounts, he got along well with the cast and crew and would play impromptu recitals at the end of each day's filming. The British Flag car, the "Shaguar" used in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery was a take off on Liberace's American Flag car. There is a reference later on in the film to Liberace: "Who'd have thought Liberace was gay?" Was parodied in several Bugs Bunny cartoons. When filming a TV special in England he made a point of learning the name of all the production crew, years later when he returned to make another show he was still able to greet every crew member by name. While wildly successful and good natured outwardly, Liberace was a complicated man whose political, social and religious conservatism existed side-by-side with a lifetime of secretive homosexuality. He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6527 Hollywood Boulevard and for Television at 6739 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

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