Valentina Marie Skelton has lived a story rooted in entertainment and family love. Valentina was born into a family that has made America laugh for generations, but she has had to carry that heritage forward while making her own way.
Early Life
Valerie Jean Skelton was born May 5, 1947 in Santa Monica, California, to Richard Red Skelton and Georgia Maureen Davis. She had a popular comic father and a supportive mother. The entertainment world had a huge impact in Valentina’s early years. Her father’s humor was always a backdrop.
Educational Background
Details about Valentina’s education are not available to the public, but her upbringing in an artistic household indicated a likely early exposure to art. Arts and culture probably influenced her education.
Career
Valentina worked in the entertainment industry on such productions as “The Red Skelton Hour” (1951), “The Wizard of Oz” (1959) and “America’s Clown: An Intimate Biography of Red Skelton” (2014). Her career reflects her family’s entertainment roots and her own artistic pursuits.
Personal Life
Valentina wed Carlos Jose Alonso on July 14, 1969 in Los Angeles. Even though her personal life was intertwined with public figures, she still managed to keep it private – focused on family and close relationships.
Net Worth
Valentina has no publicly known net worth. But her greatest wealth is the laughter she brought to audiences and family.
Online Presence
Amid digital omnipresence, Valentina maintained a modest online profile. But her legacy lives on in the memories and works she left behind – loved by those who knew her and by Skelton fans.
Her Father, Red Skelton
Red Skelton was an American entertainer, born Richard Red Skelton (1913- 1997). He had more than seven decades of laughter and heartwarming moments in the entertainment industry.
Skelton developed a comedic spark early. By ten he was doing medicine shows with pantomime and slapstick. Vaudeville beckoned in his teens and by the 1930s he was making a comedic duo with his wife Edna. Then radio came along with shows like “The Raleigh Cigarette Program,” where he developed characters like Clem Kadiddlehopper and bumbling salesman Willy Lumpkin.
Television in the 1950s made Skelton a national superstar. The Red Skelton Show was a ratings monster for two decades. Physical comedy, comedic monologues and touching routines made Skelton’s characters popular – including hobo Freddie the Freeloader. Then he would dip into the emotional well – offering touching moments between the silliness and the seriousness.
Skelton had a less sunny private life. Two divorces and the death of a son to leukemia affected him greatly. Despite these difficulties he was a great philanthropist, especially of children’s charities.
No one can say what Skelton made financially during his long career. But his real riches were the thousands of homes he filled with laughter and the lasting influence he had on American comedy. Red Skelton remains a comedic giant even after his death in 1997.