Liberace - Biography - IMDb Biography Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Trade Mark (3) | Trivia (46) | Personal Quotes (15) Overview (5) 5' 10" (1.78 m) Mini Bio (1) Most remembered for his extravagant costumes and trademark candelabra placed on the lids of his flashy pianos, Liberace was loved by his audiences for his music talent and unique showmanship. He was born as Wladziu Valentino Liberace on May 16, 1919, into a musical family, in Wisconsin. His mother, Frances Liberace (née Zuchowski), whose parents were Polish, played the piano. His father, Salvatore Liberace, an immigrant from Formia, Italy, played the French horn. His siblings, George Liberace , Angie Liberace and Rudy Liberace , also had musical ability. Liberace's own extraordinary natural talent became evident when he learned to play the piano, by ear, at the age of four.

Although Salvatore tried to discourage his son's interest in the piano, praises from Ignacy Jan Paderewski , a famous Polish pianist, helped the young musician follow his musical career. As a teenager, Liberace earned wages playing popular tunes at movie theaters and speakeasies. Despite being proud of his son's accomplishments, Salvatore strictly opposed Liberace's preference for popular music over the classics. Pianist Florence Bettray Kelly took control of Liberace's classical training when he was 14. He debuted as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony, under the direction of Dr. Frederick Stock. At age 17, Liberace joined the Works Progress Administration Symphony Orchestra. He received a scholarship to attend the Wisconsin College of Music. In 1939, after a classical recital, Liberace's audience requested the popular tune, "Three Little Fishes". Liberace seized the opportunity and performed the tune with a semi-classical style which the audience loved. Soon, this unique style of playing the piano got Liberace bookings in large nightclubs. By 1940, Liberace was traveling with his custom-made piano, on top of which he would place his candelabrum.

He then took Paderewski's advice and dropped Wladziu and Valentino to become simply Liberace. South Sea Sinner (1950), a movie with Shelley Winters , was Liberace's film debut. He played a honky tonk pianist in the movie, which opened in 1950. In 1952, The Liberace Show (1952), a syndicated television program, turned Liberace into a musical symbol. It began as a summertime replacement for The Dinah Shore Show (1951), but after two years, the show was one of the most popular on TV. It was carried by 217 American stations and could be seen in 20 foreign countries. Sold-out live appearances at Madison Square Garden enhanced the pianist's popularity even more. Soon, Liberace added flamboyant costumes and expensive ornaments to his already unique performances. His second movie, Sincerely Yours (1955), opened in 1955, and Liberace wrote his best-selling autobiography, "Liberace", in 1972. His first book, "Liberace Cooks", went into seven printings.

In 1977, Liberace founded the non-profit "Liberace Foundation for the Performing and Creative Arts". The year 1978 brought the opening of "The Liberace Museum" in Las Vegas, Nevada, which serves as key funding for the Liberace Foundation. The profits from the museum provide scholarship money for financially needy college musicians. He continued performing until the fall of 1986, despite suffering from heart disease and emphysema during most of the 1980s. A closeted homosexual his entire life, Liberace was secretly diagnosed with AIDS sometime in August 1985, which he also kept secret from the public until the day he died. His last concert performance was at Radio City Music Hall on November 2, 1986. He passed away in his Palm Springs home on February 4, 1987 at age 67. Liberace was bestowed with many awards during his lifetime including: Instrumentalist of the Year, Best Dressed Entertainer, Entertainer of the Year, two Emmy Awards, six gold albums, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In The Guinness Book of World Records, he has been listed as the world's highest paid musician and pianist. Liberace was an extremely talented and versatile man. He not only played the piano, but sang, danced and joked during his performances. In fact, one of Liberace's biggest accomplishments was his ability to turn a recital into a show full of music, glitter and personality. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Gilbert Lee Trade Mark (3) Candlelabra that he placed on his piano His Baldwin piano decorated with small mirrors. Trivia (46) His mother, Frances Liberace , played piano as did his sister, Angie Liberace . His older brother, George Liberace played the violin. At age four, Liberace could play almost any tune by ear. Classical debut was at age 14 as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony. In high school, Liberace had a musical combo called "The Mixers". As a young man, he worked the night club circuit as a pianist under the name: "Walter Busterkeys". In 1969, Liberace was named one of the five highest paid entertainers in show business.

In the 1970s, Liberace spent at least $100,000 a year on his sparkling, brocaded, diamond and jeweled costumes. Liberace's favourite song was "The Impossible Dream", because he truly mastered the art of believing. He made a dream come true. During his career, Liberace earned two Emmy Awards and five gold million best-selling albums. 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". Was parodied in Al Capp 's comic strip, "L'il Abner", as "Loverboynik". Many of his pianos, cars, jewelry and costumes are on display in the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada, a short drive from the Las Vegas Strip. Funds from the admissions to the non-profit museum go to The Liberace Foundation for the Performing and Creative Arts, which awards music scholarships.

Owned pianos previously owned by Frédéric 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. His final performance was on November 2, 1986 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Closed his concerts with the song "I'll Be Seeing You". While born "Wladziu Valentino Liberace", he later changed his first name to "Walter", but his friends and relatives knew him as "Lee". At the insistence of Polish piano virtuoso, Ignacy Jan Paderewski , he dropped his first names and performed under his last name, only. As reported in the June 2001 issue "A&E Biography" Magazine, Liberace was so vain about his baldness that he would even go to bed wearing one of his hairpieces, even on hot nights. According to the same article, he once almost refused to have a facelift when the doctor asked him to take his toupee off. 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. License plate on one of his Rolls-Royces: "88 KEYS" 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). According to his cook, his last meal was Cream of Wheat hot cereal, made with half and half, and seasoned with brown sugar. The episodes of the television series Batman (1966) on which Liberace guest starred as Chandel/Harry, Batman: The Devil's Fingers (1966) and Batman: The Dead Ringers (1966), were the highest-rated in the series' 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. Liberace owned a 1961 Rolls-Royce Phantom V. This car resides in the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas, and of only seven built by coachbuilder James Young that year, it is the only one with left-hand drive (the steering wheel on the American side), making it even more rare.

The entire car is covered with small mirrored tiles, and with classic horses etched into them along the running boards. When he first got the got, it had a black and gray paint job. He also had a 1950s Rolls-Royce convertible painted with an American flag design. Would often remark that he would like the viewer/audience member to "Meet my brother George". Was parodied in several Bugs Bunny cartoons. The phrase "I cried all the way to the bank!" was said to be first coined by him after he sued and won a $22,000 settlement from the London Daily Mirror in 1959. When filming a television 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. Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 533-535. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.

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. Mentioned in the song "Mr. Sandman" written by Pat Ballard : "And [give him] lots of wavy hair like Liberace.". In 1982, 24-year-old Scott Thorson , Liberace's former bodyguard, limo driver, and alleged live-in lover of five years, sued the pianist for $110 million in palimony after an acrimonious split-up. Liberace continued to publicly deny that he was homosexual and insisted that Thorson was never his lover. In 1984, most of Thorson's claim was dismissed, although he received a $95,000 settlement. Shortly after Liberace's death the London Daily Mirror asked for a refund of the $24,000 libel settlement it had paid him in 1959.

Wladziu Valentino Liberace biography, birth date, birth place and pictures Wladziu Valentino Liberace biography Birthplace : West Allis, Wisconsin, United States Nationality : American Credited as : Pianist , vocalist, entertainer on television 0 votes so far Email Print Wladziu Valentino Liberace, born May 16, 1919 in West Allis, Wisconsin, United States - died February 4, 1987 in Palm Springs, California, United States was an American pianist, vocalist, and entertainer best known for his flamboyant showmanship in rendering classical and pop music in nightclubs and on television. Sidelights One of the most flamboyant and popular entertainers in show business, Liberace was known as much for his wild stage costumes and theatrics as for his flowery piano playing. He was, David Richards noted in the Washington Post, "the Lord High Poobah of Glitz, the King of Conspicuous Consumption, [and] the Emperor with the New Clothes." Liberace's gaudy theatrics upset many critics, but his millions of fans loved him.

He was one of the biggest acts in the Las Vegas nightclubs, had an award-winning television program, grossed some five million dollars a year for nearly three decades, and sold over sixty million records. Born into a musically talented family--his father played French horn with the Milwaukee Philharmonic Orchestra and his mother was a pianist--Liberace first worked as a piano player in Milwaukee speakeasies and as an accompanist to silent films in local theaters. He played under the stage name of "Walter Busterkeys" because his father disapproved of his work. But Liberace's skill as a pianist was soon appreciated in wider circles. After his teachers at the Wisconsin College of Music recommended him to the conductor, Liberace was hired by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the age of sixteen. For several years Liberace worked with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and supplemented his income with evening and weekend shows at local nightclubs. His career took a dramatic turn one evening when, for a nightclub encore, he decided to play something a little different.

"I played a novelty tune, `Three Little Fishes,' that was very popular at the time," Ted Thackrey, Jr., of the Los Angeles Times quoted Liberace as explaining, "and followed with `Mairsy Doats,' another well-known novelty, dressing them up in arpeggios and flourishes to give the impression that I was trying to pass them off as classics." The audience laughed, and Liberace incorporated such classical-style novelty songs into his act, combining them with light classical tunes and a self-deprecating line of banter. "It was," Bill Barol wrote in Newsweek, "a winning formula--a few light classics, a few pop tunes, all folded together with winks and smiles." During the 1940s and 1950s, Liberace toured the nation's supper clubs and hotels with his act. The 1945 movie "A Song to Remember," the story of composer Frederic Chopin, inspired him to display a candelabra atop his piano while performing; the fixture fast became a trademark. Another trademark was acquired accidently.

During an engagement at a Las Vegas club in the late 1940s, someone dared Liberace to wear a gold lame jacket onstage. He did so only as a joke. But the costume was a hit with the audience, and flashy costumes were soon an integral part of the Liberace act, growing more outrageous with each passing year. He was to wear a fur coat with a sixteen-foot train, a cape decorated with pink feathers, a tuxedo with his name spelled out in diamond buttons, and many other lavish costumes. "Liberace's wardrobe," James Barron reported in the New York Times, "eventually filled rack after rack in his mansions." Liberace's stage theatrics were as dramatic as his costumes. He sometimes played a glass piano, or rose into the air on an elevated stage, or swung above the crowd while suspended from wires. He usually arrived on stage for a concert in a white limousine covered in rhinestones. "His act was based on excess," Richards acknowledged. "But the man himself was without pretense.

Underneath the feathers and the finery and the trains fit for a coronation, he remained an eternal child, as dazzled by the wonderland he inhabited as the tourists who regularly paraded before his many houses." (In 1958, attempting to rid himself of the costumes, Liberace switched to a formal black tuxedo. Ticket sales fell dramatically, and the costumes returned.) Offstage, Liberace's life was also flamboyant. His Las Vegas mansion featured a master bedroom decorated with a reproduction of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling. Other houses included piano-shaped swimming pools, musical water fountains, and marble bathtubs surrounded by Doric columns and lit by chandeliers. He wore a ring depicting one of his beloved poodles (Liberace owned over twenty dogs) in emeralds and rubies. He acquired collections of antique cars and unique pianos. His extravagance extended to his gift-giving as well. When his housekeeper of thirty years retired, Liberace bought her a house. But his critics argued that Liberace's flamboyance was used to conceal his modest musical abilities.

"Few dispute the fact," Michelle Green explained in People, "that he possessed talent; but the consensus is that it was showmanship, rather than technique, that was his forte." Critics pointed out that Liberace shamelessly condensed classical pieces of twenty or thirty minutes length down to three or four minutes, eliminating the less popular passages and bridging the gaps with his own flourishes. As Henry Mitchell of the Washington Post put it, Liberace "hammered away at the fringes of music, embellishing it with cornball flourishes as if to say, `Well, we all love Chopin, but upon my word nobody has the patience to sit through the B Minor Sonata. But we're all very cultured lads, so let's have six bars of the prelude you all know and love." But Liberace defended what he termed his "Reader's Digest versions" of the classics. His audience enjoyed them, and that was what mattered most. He routinely joked about the critical attacks on his music, often claiming during concerts that he had "cried all the way to the bank." In later years he further explained: "You know that bank I cried all the way to?

I bought it." He once boasted tongue-in-cheek that his version of Chopin's "Minute Waltz" was only thirty-seven seconds long because he had cut out "all the dull parts." "The Liberace Show" of the 1950s first brought the entertainer to national attention. A syndicated television show featuring Liberace playing the piano and telling jokes, the program was carried on more television stations than were the popular "I Love Lucy" and "Dragnet" shows. It also earned Liberace two Emmy Awards in 1952. Because of the nationwide exposure provided by his own television program, Liberace became, Barnes reported, "the biggest solo attraction in American concert halls" during the 1950s. By the 1960s, he was the highest-paid performer in the world, earning some $400,000 a week for his Las Vegas show. He set a record at the Radio City Music Hall in 1984 by selling out a series of fourteen appearances and grossing $2.5 million. But Liberace's career had its problems too. In 1959, a London newspaper columnist suggested that Liberace was a homosexual.

Liberace sued for libel and won. But in 1982, Scott Thorson, Liberace's personal chauffeur and companion for nearly ten years, alleged in a palimony suit that he and the entertainer had been lovers. He asked for a $113 million settlement after the pair broke up. The case was settled quietly out of court. "Liberace's homosexuality," Green commented, "had been one of the worst-kept secrets in show business, but he had guarded it until the end." Yet another scandal broke when Liberace died in February of 1987. Several reports maintained that he had died of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), a disease especially prevalent among homosexuals. "California state law," Ronald Clarke of the Toronto Globe and Mail reported, "requires county coroners' offices to investigate any deaths suspected of being caused by contagious diseases." But the reports were denied by Liberace's family and friends, who attributed his death to such causes as emphysema, heart failure, and encephalopathy. A court-ordered autopsy revealed that Liberace had indeed died of AIDS. Overviews of Liberace's career cite him as an enormously influential performer.

As Green reported, "the critics allow that he was a seminal influence in popular music. He paved the way for flamboyant figures like Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, and Boy George, all of whom adopted the Liberace formula of high costume and camp." Richards believed that by the 1980s, "the outrageousness of his act seemed curiously appropriate in the high-gloss age of rock stars who routinely wear sequined gloves and high drag and gleefully turn our notions of gender inside out. Liberace was, arguably, their spiritual granddaddy." But Liberace's self-mocking and extravagant stage show was the key to his long-lasting popularity. He knew, Larry Kart wrote in the Chicago Tribune, "how to create an aura of extravagant glamor and wink about what he was up to at the same time." "It was hard to make fun of him," Barron admitted, "because he seemed to have so much fun making fun of himself." Richards maintained that "with an ingenuousness that remained fresh to the end, [Liberace] incarnated the spirit of joyful indulgence: high calories without the usual guilt trip." William A.

Henry III, writing in Time, characterized Liberace as "a synonym for glorious excess." Many of the extravagant trappings of Liberace's life and career are on display in the Liberace Museum, which contains a collection of his cars, stage costumes, pianos, gifts from fans, and career memorabilia. Founded by Liberace in 1975, the museum is located in Las Vegas and is open to the public for a nominal fee. In the same year Liberace also founded the Liberace Foundation for the Creative and Performing Arts, an organization providing scholarships for art and music students at twenty-two colleges in the United States. The bulk of the entertainer's estate was left to the foundation, while funds raised by the Liberace Museum are used to support the foundation's work. Speaking of Liberace's flamboyant stage personality, Alan Pearson of the Toronto Globe and Mail remarked that it blended "naivete and shrewdness, vulnerability and strength. He was a quite simple yet larger-than-life person; improbably, he was an enduring all-American folk hero." Barol saw Liberace as a unique entertainer on the cultural scene.

"It is a measure of his talent," Barol wrote, "that he made the two biggest celebrity cliches ring quite true: there was no one else like him, and he will never be replaced." Pearson concluded that Liberace's was "a wonderful, outrageous life that was harmless and glittered like a never-ending rainbow." PERSONAL INFORMATION Family: Known professionally by his surname only; born May 16, 1919, in West Allis, WI; died February 4, 1987, from complications caused by acquired immune deficiency syndrome, in Palm Springs, CA; buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, CA; son of Salvatore (a musician) and Frances Liberace. Education: Attended Wisconsin College of Music. Memberships: American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. AWARDS Two Emmy Awards, American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 1952, for best entertainment program and for outstanding male personality; San Fernando Criminal Bar Association award for philanthropic work, 1983; honorary doctorate of music degree, Alliance College, 1983. CAREER Pianist and composer.

Performer with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, beginning 1935; solo pianist, 1939-87; host of television program "The Liberace Show," 1952-59; actor in motion pictures, including "Sincerely Yours," 1955, and "The Loved One," 1965. Founder of the Liberace Museum and of the Liberace Foundation for the Creative and Performing Arts, both 1975. WRITINGS BY THE AUTHOR * (With Carol Truax) Liberace Cooks!: Recipes from His Seven Dining Rooms, Doubleday, 1970. * Liberace: An Autobiography, Putnam, 1973. * The Things I Love, edited by Tony Palmer, Grosset, 1976. * The Wonderful Private World of Liberace, Harper, 1986. Also composer of songs, including "Rhapsody by Candlelight" and "Boogie Woogie Variations." 13 Fabulous Facts about Liberace | Mental Floss 13 Fabulous Facts about Liberace Getty Like us on Facebook Known as Mr.

Showmanship, Wladziu Valentino Liberace made millions of dollars entertaining audiences with his flamboyant performances. Although his epic materialism is often most remembered, there’s a lot more to Lee—as his friends called him—than rhinestone costumes and his love of candelabrums on pianos. In honor of what would have been his 97th birthday, here are 13 facts about the entertainer. 1. HE WAS A CHILD PRODIGY. If YouTube existed in the 1920s, videos of a young Liberace expertly playing the piano would definitely have gone viral. Born in Wisconsin on May 16, 1919, Liberace started playing the piano when he was just 3 years old , and began proper lessons soon after. He quickly learned to play by ear, replicating the songs his older siblings were playing. It became obvious that he was a prodigy, and by the time he was 7, his father—who himself was a professional musician who once toured with John Philip Sousa's concert band playing the French horn—enrolled him at the Wisconsin College of Music. 2. WALTER BUSTERKEYS WAS HIS TEENAGE STAGE NAME.

As a teenager, Liberace played piano in clubs, movie theaters, symphonies, and classical music competitions around Wisconsin and the Midwest. Because his full name—Wladziu Valentino Liberace—wasn’t the most stage-friendly name, he performed using the name Walter Busterkeys. But around 1940, he decided to go mononymous—he told people that it was because his idol, the Polish pianist Ignacy Paderewski, only went by his last name . 3. DESPITE HIS SUCCESS, CRITICS DISPARAGED HIS PIANO PLAYING ABILITIES. Liberace described his songs as classical music without all the boring parts. Because he incorporated aspects of pop music into his classical piano playing, classical music purists didn’t like him. And because his shows relied heavily on showmanship and spectacle—gimmicks, costumes, and jokes—critics disparaged his talent as a pianist, arguing that he opted for easy piano trills and showy techniques rather than artistry. 4.

HE POPULARIZED THE PHRASE “LAUGH ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK.” In 1954, Liberace wrote a letter to a critic who had written a scathing review of his show. He (sarcastically) thanked the reviewer and said that he and his brother “laughed all the way to the bank” after reading it. 5. HIS HOUSE REALLY DID HAVE A PIANO-SHAPED POOL. Getty Because he was raking in the dough, Liberace’s homes featured elaborate designs and ostentatious furniture. His Sherman Oaks, California home, which he lived in with his mother in the 1950s, was no exception. The whole house had a music theme—musical notes on the iron fence, musical staffs above the front door, and his famed piano-shaped swimming pool. The pool had black and white piano keys painted on the concrete, making it look like a giant grand piano. 6. HE PLAYED A PAIR OF TWINS ON BATMAN IN THE 1960S. After his variety television show (called The Liberace Show) aired, he appeared in two episodes of Batman in 1966.

Liberace portrayed a concert pianist and his evil twin, making for some delightfully campy viewing . 7. HE WAS AN EARLY CHAMPION OF BARBRA STREISAND. In 1963, Liberace invited a 21-year-old Barbra Streisand to be his opening act for a month of shows in Las Vegas. He was a big fan of hers, but when his audience didn't respond to her after her first two nights, Liberace took matters into his own hands. In a move that was mostly unheard of for marquee acts, he went on stage each night before her set to introduce her. He warmed the audience to her, and when they realized the young songstress had been personally chosen by Liberace, they paid more attention. Soon, Streisand was winning rave reviews. 8. ONE OF HIS COSTUMES ALMOST KILLED HIM. During a Pittsburgh show in late 1963, Liberace was rushed to the emergency room after collapsing. His costume, which he had cleaned himself with carbon tetrachloride prior to the show, leached the chemical into his skin, and he had been breathing it all day in an unventilated room.

“By the time I got through my first number,” Liberace later wrote in his autobiography, “everything began going in circles … I had never felt so terrible in my life. I rushed offstage.” Although doctors gave him a 20 percent chance of surviving—he even received his last rites—he managed to survive the health crisis. 9. HE PUBLICLY DENIED HIS HOMOSEXUALITY FOR DECADES. Getty Although Liberace was gay and promiscuous in his private life, he publicly denied his homosexuality. When a newspaper and tabloid published articles implying he was gay in the late 1950s, he sued them for libel and won . Even after his former lover Scott Thorson sued him for palimony, Liberace denied that he was gay. When he died in February 1987 at age 67, his spokesman announced that Liberace died due to congestive heart failure , but the county coroner’s autopsy proved that he died of AIDS-related pneumonia. 10. BETTY WHITE WAS A CLOSE FRIEND.

In 2011, Betty White revealed to CNN that when they were starting their careers, sometimes the television producer whom they were both working with would have Liberace escort her to events (which many have interpreted as White acting as a beard for the closeted Liberace). White recalled an incident when he accompanied her to a movie premiere one windy night, and instead of reaching his hand out to help her get out of the car, Liberace was focused on keeping his hair in place. She called him a sweetheart and a “great and dear personal friend.” 11. HE PUBLISHED A COOKBOOK. Liberace owned Tivoli Gardens, a restaurant in Las Vegas, and he turned his love of food into a successful cookbook. 1970’s Liberace Cooks! featured recipes for pierogi, squid casserole, braised oxtails, and even calves’ brains in black butter. 12. HIS FIRST (AND ONLY) STARRING FILM ROLE WAS A MASSIVE FAILURE. Sincerely Yours was a 1955 film starring Liberace as a successful concert pianist who goes deaf. But the movie, distributed by Warner Brothers, was a huge flop .

It was so bad that at the 1982 Academy Awards, Liberace joked that “I’ve done my part for motion pictures—I’ve stopped making them.” 13. HE INVENTED A DISAPPEARING TOILET. Liberace designed a retracting toilet that folded into the wall of a bathroom. “There's just no reason why you should walk into a bathroom and see a toilet," he told Rolling Stone in 1981. "It's unglamorous.” Although he had a patent on the rotating toilet, it didn’t take off. More from mental_floss... Liberace Net Worth 2017-2016, Biography, Wiki - UPDATED! - Celebrity Net Worth He smoked 2-3 packs of cigarettes a day. 2 Is mentioned by name in Nina Simone 's rendition of "My Baby Just Cares for Me". 3 He was posthumously awarded a star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 1, 2005. 4 He was posthumously awarded a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars on January 7, 1994.

5 Is mentioned by name in the song "My Baby Just Cares for Me" by Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson . 6 In his biography and in the HBO program Behind the Candelabra (2013), Liberace insisted that his first lover, to whom he lost his virginity, was a professional American football player, a member of the Green Bay Packers team, "the most intimidating man I'd ever seen". According to Liberace's ex-lover Scott Thorson , the pianist had revealed to him that the affair had taken place when Liberace was playing a club called the Wunderbar in Wausau, Wisconsin in 1939, and that the player became Liberace's "first confidant". 7 Brother of George Liberace , Rudy Liberace and Angie Liberace . 11 Made his very last public appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show: Episode dated 25 December 1986 (1986) almost six weeks before his death. 12 Shortly after Liberace's death the London Daily Mirror asked for a refund of the $24,000 libel settlement it had paid him in 1959.

13 In 1982, 24-year-old Scott Thorson , Liberace's former bodyguard, limo driver, and alleged live-in lover of five years, sued the pianist for $110 million in palimony after an acrimonious split-up. Liberace continued to publicly deny that he was homosexual and insisted that Thorson was never his lover. In 1984, most of Thorson's claim was dismissed, although he received a $95,000 settlement. 14 Mentioned in the song "Mr. Sandman" written by Pat Ballard : "And [give him] lots of wavy hair like Liberace.". 15 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. 16 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. 17 Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives".

Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 533-535. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999. 18 When filming a television 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. 19 The phrase "I cried all the way to the bank!" was said to be first coined by him after he sued and won a $22,000 settlement from the London Daily Mirror in 1959. 20 Was parodied in several Bugs Bunny cartoons. 21 Would often remark that he would like the viewer/audience member to "Meet my brother George". 22 Liberace owned a 1961 Rolls-Royce Phantom V. This car resides in the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas, and of only seven built by coachbuilder James Young that year, it is the only one with left-hand drive (the steering wheel on the American side), making it even more rare.

The entire car is covered with small mirrored tiles, and with classic horses etched into them along the running boards. When he first got the got, it had a black and gray paint job. He also had a 1950s Rolls-Royce convertible painted with an American flag design. 23 The episodes of the television series Batman (1966) on which Liberace guest starred as Chandel/Harry, Batman: The Devil's Fingers (1966) and Batman: The Dead Ringers (1966), were the highest-rated in the series' 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. 24 According to his cook, his last meal was Cream of Wheat hot cereal, made with half and half, and seasoned with brown sugar. 25 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).

26 License plate on one of his Rolls-Royces: "88 KEYS" 27 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. 28 As reported in the June 2001 issue "A&E Biography" Magazine, Liberace was so vain about his baldness that he would even go to bed wearing one of his hairpieces, even on hot nights. According to the same article, he once almost refused to have a facelift when the doctor asked him to take his toupee off. 29 At the insistence of Polish piano virtuoso, Ignacy Jan Paderewski , he dropped his first names and performed under his last name, only. 30 While born "Wladziu Valentino Liberace", he later changed his first name to "Walter", but his friends and relatives knew him as "Lee". 31 Closed his concerts with the song "I'll Be Seeing You". 32 His final performance was on November 2, 1986 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

33 Owned pianos previously owned by Frédéric 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. 34 Many of his pianos, cars, jewelry and costumes are on display in the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada, a short drive from the Las Vegas Strip. Funds from the admissions to the non-profit museum go to The Liberace Foundation for the Performing and Creative Arts, which awards music scholarships. 35 Was parodied in Al Capp 's comic strip, "L'il Abner", as "Loverboynik". 36 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". 37 Liberace's favourite song was "The Impossible Dream", because he truly mastered the art of believing. He made a dream come true. During his career, Liberace earned two Emmy Awards and five gold million best-selling albums.

38 In the 1970s, Liberace spent at least $100,000 a year on his sparkling, brocaded, diamond and jeweled costumes. 39 In 1969, Liberace was named one of the five highest paid entertainers in show business. 40 As a young man, he worked the night club circuit as a pianist under the name: "Walter Busterkeys". 41 In high school, Liberace had a musical combo called "The Mixers". 42 Classical debut was at age 14 as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony. 43 At age four, Liberace could play almost any tune by ear. 44 His older brother, George Liberace played the violin. 45 His mother, Frances Liberace , played piano as did his sister, Angie Liberace . 46 I've done my part for motion pictures. I've stopped making them. 2 [to his manager Seymour Heller in late 1986] If my fans or the public ever found out that I'm gay or that I have AIDS... that's all they'll ever remember about me. 3 The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.

4 Of course, I couldn't go out in the street in clothes like this, I'd get picked up. Come to think of it, it might be fun. 5 Gee, you've been such a wonderful audience that I don't like to take your money. But I will! 6 [in 1959, he won a libel case against the London "Daily Mirror" tabloid. What did he do with his damages?] I cried all the way to the bank! 7 At the 1982 Academy Awards: I made my greatest contribution to motion pictures years ago. I stopped making them. 8 What's better than roses on your piano? Tulips on your organ. 9 [When asked how he could play the piano while wearing so many rings]: Very well, thank you. 10 [on playing Radio City Music Hall in the Easter show]: You can have either the Resurrection or you can have Liberace. But you can't have both.

11 Wladziu Valentino Liberace - Famous Figures biography Wladziu Valentino Liberace Birthplace : West Allis, Wisconsin, United States Nationality : American Category : Famous Figures Last modified : 2010-08-24 Wladziu Valentino Liberace, born May 16, 1919 in West Allis, Wisconsin, United States - died February 4, 1987 in Palm Springs, California, United States was an American pianist, vocalist, and entertainer best known for his flamboyant showmanship in rendering classical and pop music in nightclubs and on television. Sidelights One of the most flamboyant and popular entertainers in show business, Liberace was known as much for his wild stage costumes and theatrics as for his flowery piano playing. He was, David Richards noted in the Washington Post, "the Lord High Poobah of Glitz, the King of Conspicuous Consumption, [and] the Emperor with the New Clothes." Liberace's gaudy theatrics upset many critics, but his millions of fans loved him.

He was one of the biggest acts in the Las Vegas nightclubs, had an award-winning television program, grossed some five million dollars a year for nearly three decades, and sold over sixty million records. Born into a musically talented family--his father played French horn with the Milwaukee Philharmonic Orchestra and his mother was a pianist--Liberace first worked as a piano player in Milwaukee speakeasies and as an accompanist to silent films in local theaters. He played under the stage name of "Walter Busterkeys" because his father disapproved of his work. But Liberace's skill as a pianist was soon appreciated in wider circles. After his teachers at the Wisconsin College of Music recommended him to the conductor, Liberace was hired by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the age of sixteen. For several years Liberace worked with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and supplemented his income with evening and weekend shows at local nightclubs. His career took a dramatic turn one evening when, for a nightclub encore, he decided to play something a little different.

"I played a novelty tune, `Three Little Fishes,' that was very popular at the time," Ted Thackrey, Jr., of the Los Angeles Times quoted Liberace as explaining, "and followed with `Mairsy Doats,' another well-known novelty, dressing them up in arpeggios and flourishes to give the impression that I was trying to pass them off as classics." The audience laughed, and Liberace incorporated such classical-style novelty songs into his act, combining them with light classical tunes and a self-deprecating line of banter. "It was," Bill Barol wrote in Newsweek, "a winning formula--a few light classics, a few pop tunes, all folded together with winks and smiles." During the 1940s and 1950s, Liberace toured the nation's supper clubs and hotels with his act. The 1945 movie "A Song to Remember," the story of composer Frederic Chopin, inspired him to display a candelabra atop his piano while performing; the fixture fast became a trademark. Another trademark was acquired accidently.

During an engagement at a Las Vegas club in the late 1940s, someone dared Liberace to wear a gold lame jacket onstage. He did so only as a joke. But the costume was a hit with the audience, and flashy costumes were soon an integral part of the Liberace act, growing more outrageous with each passing year. He was to wear a fur coat with a sixteen-foot train, a cape decorated with pink feathers, a tuxedo with his name spelled out in diamond buttons, and many other lavish costumes. "Liberace's wardrobe," James Barron reported in the New York Times, "eventually filled rack after rack in his mansions." Liberace's stage theatrics were as dramatic as his costumes. He sometimes played a glass piano, or rose into the air on an elevated stage, or swung above the crowd while suspended from wires. He usually arrived on stage for a concert in a white limousine covered in rhinestones. "His act was based on excess," Richards acknowledged. "But the man himself was without pretense.

Underneath the feathers and the finery and the trains fit for a coronation, he remained an eternal child, as dazzled by the wonderland he inhabited as the tourists who regularly paraded before his many houses." (In 1958, attempting to rid himself of the costumes, Liberace switched to a formal black tuxedo. Ticket sales fell dramatically, and the costumes returned.) Offstage, Liberace's life was also flamboyant. His Las Vegas mansion featured a master bedroom decorated with a reproduction of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling. Other houses included piano-shaped swimming pools, musical water fountains, and marble bathtubs surrounded by Doric columns and lit by chandeliers. He wore a ring depicting one of his beloved poodles (Liberace owned over twenty dogs) in emeralds and rubies. He acquired collections of antique cars and unique pianos. His extravagance extended to his gift-giving as well. When his housekeeper of thirty years retired, Liberace bought her a house. But his critics argued that Liberace's flamboyance was used to conceal his modest musical abilities.

"Few dispute the fact," Michelle Green explained in People, "that he possessed talent; but the consensus is that it was showmanship, rather than technique, that was his forte." Critics pointed out that Liberace shamelessly condensed classical pieces of twenty or thirty minutes length down to three or four minutes, eliminating the less popular passages and bridging the gaps with his own flourishes. As Henry Mitchell of the Washington Post put it, Liberace "hammered away at the fringes of music, embellishing it with cornball flourishes as if to say, `Well, we all love Chopin, but upon my word nobody has the patience to sit through the B Minor Sonata. But we're all very cultured lads, so let's have six bars of the prelude you all know and love." But Liberace defended what he termed his "Reader's Digest versions" of the classics. His audience enjoyed them, and that was what mattered most. He routinely joked about the critical attacks on his music, often claiming during concerts that he had "cried all the way to the bank." In later years he further explained: "You know that bank I cried all the way to?

I bought it." He once boasted tongue-in-cheek that his version of Chopin's "Minute Waltz" was only thirty-seven seconds long because he had cut out "all the dull parts." "The Liberace Show" of the 1950s first brought the entertainer to national attention. A syndicated television show featuring Liberace playing the piano and telling jokes, the program was carried on more television stations than were the popular "I Love Lucy" and "Dragnet" shows. It also earned Liberace two Emmy Awards in 1952. Because of the nationwide exposure provided by his own television program, Liberace became, Barnes reported, "the biggest solo attraction in American concert halls" during the 1950s. By the 1960s, he was the highest-paid performer in the world, earning some $400,000 a week for his Las Vegas show. He set a record at the Radio City Music Hall in 1984 by selling out a series of fourteen appearances and grossing $2.5 million. But Liberace's career had its problems too. In 1959, a London newspaper columnist suggested that Liberace was a homosexual.

Liberace sued for libel and won. But in 1982, Scott Thorson, Liberace's personal chauffeur and companion for nearly ten years, alleged in a palimony suit that he and the entertainer had been lovers. He asked for a $113 million settlement after the pair broke up. The case was settled quietly out of court. "Liberace's homosexuality," Green commented, "had been one of the worst-kept secrets in show business, but he had guarded it until the end." Yet another scandal broke when Liberace died in February of 1987. Several reports maintained that he had died of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), a disease especially prevalent among homosexuals. "California state law," Ronald Clarke of the Toronto Globe and Mail reported, "requires county coroners' offices to investigate any deaths suspected of being caused by contagious diseases." But the reports were denied by Liberace's family and friends, who attributed his death to such causes as emphysema, heart failure, and encephalopathy. A court-ordered autopsy revealed that Liberace had indeed died of AIDS. Overviews of Liberace's career cite him as an enormously influential performer.

As Green reported, "the critics allow that he was a seminal influence in popular music. He paved the way for flamboyant figures like Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, and Boy George, all of whom adopted the Liberace formula of high costume and camp." Richards believed that by the 1980s, "the outrageousness of his act seemed curiously appropriate in the high-gloss age of rock stars who routinely wear sequined gloves and high drag and gleefully turn our notions of gender inside out. Liberace was, arguably, their spiritual granddaddy." But Liberace's self-mocking and extravagant stage show was the key to his long-lasting popularity. He knew, Larry Kart wrote in the Chicago Tribune, "how to create an aura of extravagant glamor and wink about what he was up to at the same time." "It was hard to make fun of him," Barron admitted, "because he seemed to have so much fun making fun of himself." Richards maintained that "with an ingenuousness that remained fresh to the end, [Liberace] incarnated the spirit of joyful indulgence: high calories without the usual guilt trip." William A.

Henry III, writing in Time, characterized Liberace as "a synonym for glorious excess." Many of the extravagant trappings of Liberace's life and career are on display in the Liberace Museum, which contains a collection of his cars, stage costumes, pianos, gifts from fans, and career memorabilia. Founded by Liberace in 1975, the museum is located in Las Vegas and is open to the public for a nominal fee. In the same year Liberace also founded the Liberace Foundation for the Creative and Performing Arts, an organization providing scholarships for art and music students at twenty-two colleges in the United States. The bulk of the entertainer's estate was left to the foundation, while funds raised by the Liberace Museum are used to support the foundation's work. Speaking of Liberace's flamboyant stage personality, Alan Pearson of the Toronto Globe and Mail remarked that it blended "naivete and shrewdness, vulnerability and strength. He was a quite simple yet larger-than-life person; improbably, he was an enduring all-American folk hero." Barol saw Liberace as a unique entertainer on the cultural scene.

"It is a measure of his talent," Barol wrote, "that he made the two biggest celebrity cliches ring quite true: there was no one else like him, and he will never be replaced." Pearson concluded that Liberace's was "a wonderful, outrageous life that was harmless and glittered like a never-ending rainbow." PERSONAL INFORMATION Family: Known professionally by his surname only; born May 16, 1919, in West Allis, WI; died February 4, 1987, from complications caused by acquired immune deficiency syndrome, in Palm Springs, CA; buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, CA; son of Salvatore (a musician) and Frances Liberace. Education: Attended Wisconsin College of Music. Memberships: American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. AWARDS Two Emmy Awards, American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 1952, for best entertainment program and for outstanding male personality; San Fernando Criminal Bar Association award for philanthropic work, 1983; honorary doctorate of music degree, Alliance College, 1983. CAREER Pianist and composer.

Performer with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, beginning 1935; solo pianist, 1939-87; host of television program "The Liberace Show," 1952-59; actor in motion pictures, including "Sincerely Yours," 1955, and "The Loved One," 1965. Founder of the Liberace Museum and of the Liberace Foundation for the Creative and Performing Arts, both 1975. WRITINGS BY THE AUTHOR * (With Carol Truax) Liberace Cooks!: Recipes from His Seven Dining Rooms, Doubleday, 1970. * Liberace: An Autobiography, Putnam, 1973. * The Things I Love, edited by Tony Palmer, Grosset, 1976. * The Wonderful Private World of Liberace, Harper, 1986.

Also composer of songs, including "Rhapsody by Candlelight" and "Boogie Woogie Variations." Liberace - IMDb IMDb Soundtrack | Actor | Music Department Most remembered for his extravagant costumes and trademark candelabra placed on the lids of his flashy pianos, Liberace was loved by his audiences for his music talent and unique showmanship. He was born as Wladziu Valentino Liberace on May 16, 1919, into a musical family, in Wisconsin. His mother, Frances Liberace (née Zuchowski), whose parents ... See full bio » Born: a list of 47 people created 21 Aug 2012 a list of 38 people created 21 Nov 2013 a list of 2346 people created 02 Jan 2016 a list of 23 images created 2 months ago a list of 48 images created 1 week ago Do you have a demo reel? Add it to your IMDbPage How Much Have You Seen? How much of Liberace's work have you seen? User Polls 2 wins & 1 nomination.

See more awards » Known For Another World Himself (1985, 1986) (1999) 2015 Sleeping with Other People (performer: "MOONLIGHT SONATA LIBERACE") 2013 Behind the Candelabra (TV Movie) (performer: "Tico Tico", "Nola", "When Liberace Winks at Me", "Love is Blue", "Kitten on the Keys") / (writer: "The Liberace Boogie", "Sincerely Yours") 2010 On Tour (performer: "Moon River") 2001 Ocean's Eleven (performer: "Misty", "Moon River") 2000 Cecil B. DeMented (performer: "Ciao!") / (writer: "Ciao!") 1998 Celebrity (performer: "Fascination" (1932)) - Beavis and Butt-head Are Dead (1997) ...

(performer: "I'll Be Seeing You") 1994 Bert (TV Series) (1 episode) - Min älskling du är som en tulipan (1994) ... ("TICO TICO") 1990 Alice (performer: "O Tannenbaum", "We Wish You a Merry Christmas") 1990 Misery (arranger: "TCHAIKOVSKY PIANO CONCERTO #1", "MOONLIGHT SONATA") / (performer: "TCHAIKOVSKY PIANO CONCERTO #1", "MOONLIGHT SONATA", "I'LL BE SEEING YOU") 1989 Crimes and Misdemeanors (performer: "I'll Be Seeing You" (1938)) 1978 The Muppet Show (TV Series) (performer - 2 episodes) - Liberace (1978) ... (performer: "Chopsticks", "Misty", "Nocturne No.

5 in F-sharp Major") / (performer: "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue" - as "Eight Foot Two, Eyes of Blue") 1967 The Danny Kaye Show (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode) - Episode #4.17 (1967) ... (performer: "All the Things You Are") 1966 The Dean Martin Show (TV Series) (performer - 2 episodes) - Episode #2.15 (1966) ... (performer: "Forty-Second Street", "You Are My Lucky Star", "Flirtation Waltz", "Lullaby of Broadway", "Empty Saddles" - uncredited) - Episode #2.2 (1966) ... (performer: "Mack the Knife", "It's Better with a Union Man" - uncredited) 1966 Batman (TV Series) (performer - 2 episodes) 1959 The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode) - Salute to the U.S. Army (1959) ...

(performer: "Warsaw Concerto", "There'll Be No New Tunes on This Old Piano" - uncredited) 1956 The Jimmy Durante Show (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode) - Episode #2.23 (1956) ... (performer: "The Second Boy From The Right" - uncredited) 1955 Sincerely Yours (music: "Sincerely Yours") / (performer: "El Cumbanchero" (uncredited), "Rhapsody in Blue" (uncredited), "Beer Barrel Polka" (uncredited), "Sincerely Yours", "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie", "Chopsticks") 1954 The Jack Benny Program (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode) - Liberace Show (1954) ... (performer: "September Song", "Piano Concerto No.

1" (excerpt) (uncredited)) The Liberace Show (TV Series) (performer - 6 episodes, 1953 - 1954) (writer - 2 episodes, 1954) - Great Personalities (1954) ... (performer: "Love in Bloom", "Tip-Toe thru' the Tulips with Me", "The Minuet Antique", "St. Louis Blues", "Vesti la giubba" - uncredited) - Great Ladies in Theatre Tribute (1954) ... (performer: "Daisy Bell", "A Bird in a Gilded Cage", "The Band Played On", "He's Funny That Way", "Brazil", "Dedication") - Thanksgiving (1954) ... (performer: "I Don't Care", "Turkey in the Straw", "Shine on Harvest Moon", "Bless This House", "The Maiden's Wish", "Ritual Fire Dance", "Come on-a My House", "I'll Be Seeing You") / (writer: "The Maiden's Wish") - Christmas Show (1953) ...

(performer: "I Don't Care", "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", "Here Comes Santa Claus", "White Christmas", "Adeste Fideles", "Silent Night", "Sleigh Ride", "Christmas Annual", "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen", "O Holy Night", "Jingle Bells", "I'll Be Seeing You") - Tribute to Hawaii ... (performer: "Aloha Oe", "Lovely Hula Hands", "The Rosary", "The Cockeyed Mayor of the Town of Kaki", "Hawaiian War Chant") 1000+ images about Liberace on Pinterest | Behind the candelabra, Scott thorson and Candelabra Liberace Liberace May 1919 - February 1987 The renowned pianist died in 1987 of AIDS-related pneumonia, after years of battling gossip magazines that printed gay-baiting articles about him and his former lover Scott Thorsen.

( See More Behind the Candelabra: The Real Story of Liberace and Scott Thorson - Movie Mom Behind the Candelabra: The Real Story of Liberace and Scott Thorson Posted by Nell Minow Behind the Candelabra premieres this weekend on HBO. It is based on the hard to believe but true story of one of the most popular and flamboyant stars of the 1950’s and 60’s, who went by just one name: Liberace. Wladziu Valentino Liberace was an American of Polish/Italian heritage, a gifted classical pianist, a masterful showman, and a pioneer in the art of celebrity branding and marketing. He was multi-platform before the term was invented For decades he was the highest-paid entertainer in the world. He had record albums, endorsements, and movie and television appearances and his own series, but it was his live stage show that was what people loved most. He never tried for a career as a serious classical musician, performing with orchestras in concert halls. He liked to play what he called “classical music with the boring parts left out.” And the show was as important as the music, from the flashy pianos to costumes Lady Gaga would envy.

Ermine capes. Crystal-encrusted tuxes. Feather boas. Chandeliers and of course candelabras. Excess was not enough. It was a different era. Liberace was not openly gay. On the contrary, when a British newspaper called him “a deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavoured, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love,” he sued under their notoriously strict libel laws. testified under oath that he was not a homosexual, and won. In the late 70’s, Liberace met a handsome teenager named Scott Thorson. They were together for five years, and after they broke up (and Thorson was “fired” as Liberace’s chauffeur), Thorson sued him for “palimony.” It was settled out of court. Thorson is now in jail, charged with identity theft. He has had removed the plastic surgery prosthetic Liberace paid for so that Thorson would look more like an idealized version of himself when young.

Thorson’s book, Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace , tells the story of their love affair and the unimaginable excesses of their life together and is the inspiration for this film. It is in competition at Cannes and will be released theatrically overseas, but in the US no studio would back it, so it is on HBO. Steven Soderbergh (“Oceans 11,” “Traffic,” “Erin Brockovich”) directed and it stars Michael Douglas as Liberace, Matt Damon as Thorson, and Debbie Reynolds, who knew Liberace, as his mother. Liberace Knowingly Infected Three Young Men With AIDS, Former Lover Claims | Radar Online Liberace Knowingly Infected Three Young Men With AIDS, Former Lover Claims Getty Images Getty Images Liberace , the garish entertainer profiled in the recent HBO film Behind the Candelabra , was aware he had AIDS when he infected at least three of his young sex partners with the incurable disease, according to his former lover, Scott Thorson. “Liberace was a sex addict: He never used a condom, nor practiced safe sex,” Thorson tells this week’s edition of The ENQUIRER.

“His lovers Cary James, Chris Adler and all died because of him — and there could be several others. “ Liberace’s dead today because of his lifestyle , his sexual addiction, and he had this weakness for young men I know because I was one of them. I was very lucky that I didn’t contract the AIDS virus.” Thorson said that the debaucheries went on AFTER Liberace knew he was dealing with a serious sickness. He said that Liberace reached out to confidante Rock Hudson — who was also one of the first highly-publicized AIDS cases — for guidance and support. “Liberace asked Rock a lot of questions about having and living with AIDS,” Thorson said. “Like, what sort of pain was he experiencing? What sort of medicine was he taking? How did he feel?” Beginning when he was still a teen, Thorson (played by Matt Damon in the movie) dated Liberace for six years, from 1976 until 1982. Thorson, who’s currently awaiting sentencing on a credit card burglary conviction, is currently in the advanced stages of anal cancer.

Question: Which late ostentatious US pianist's first names were Wladziu Valentino?
Answer: Liberace