Sid Caesar led 'Your Show of Shows', the live weekly comedy programme that ran from 1950 and became a training ground for a remarkable writers' room — Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Carl Reiner and Woody Allen among them. Caesar himself worked in long sketches, double-talk foreign accents and silent pantomime rather than one-liners, closer to a character actor than a gag comic. Later film roles included 'It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World' and 'Grease'. Read more