45. He Faced A Tragedy
Sadly, Berle’s second wife Ruth Cosgrove passed in 1989. That same year, Berle opened up about his mother’s negative influence on his love life. He said that his mother never liked him dating a woman more than about three times. After that, she disapproved. Well, this fact didn’t stop Berle from wedding again. She was Lorna Adams and 30 years his junior.
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46. RuPaul Destroyed Him
Just because Berle married someone young, didn’t mean he fit in with young people. During the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards, Berle appeared with drag queen extraordinaire RuPaul. Berle made a comment about how he used to wear dresses too and RuPaul dryly replied that sure Berle had worn dresses, but now he was in diapers. Berle wasn’t about to let this one go.
47. He Wasn’t Very PC
Berle followed up to RuPaul’s insult wasn’t pretty. He groped RuPaul’s chest, and then went ahead and ran wild with his use of pronouns, calling RuPaul a she-he. When they were ready to leave the stage, Berle tried to grab RuPaul’s elbow in order to walk off together. RuPaul was having none of that and swiped her elbow away.
Honestly, that ended about as well as it could have.
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48. He Was A Lousy Father
In 1999, Berle’s adopted son wrote a tell-all memoir about him called My Father, My Uncle. In it, William Berle seems intent on rattling off a rather long list of grievances—mostly that his father lacked involvement in his life. But he did go into specifics on one story—and it was pretty disturbing. William shared the story of his father paying for his first intimate experience with a woman—so I guess he showed a little interest in his son’s life.
49. He Went Mum
William aired his displeasure with his father in his memoir—but he was just getting started. He seemed to enjoy poking fun at his father as he aged, calling him “a pathetic has-been". He even described the layers of makeup Berle hid behind as he got older. And what was Berle’s response to this memoir? He resolved to never speak to his son again as long as he lived—which wouldn’t be that long.
50. He Made An Announcement
In 2001, Berle made a sad announcement. He said that doctors had found a malignant tumor in his colon. Apparently, the tumor was growing so slowly that Berle refused to have surgery. His wife, who clearly wasn’t a doctor, said that the tumor wouldn’t impact Berle’s life for another 10 to 12 years. Boy, did she get that wrong.
51. He Didn’t Get His Wish
Almost one year to the day of Berle’s colon cancer announcement, Berle passed in Los Angeles. The doctors and his wife had somehow gotten it wrong. In what must’ve been an affront to his current wife, Berle had stated that he wanted his remains laid to rest alongside his second wife—Ruth Cosgrove. In fact, he’d put Cosgrove's remains in a double crypt just for that purpose.
Sadly, that didn’t happen. Berle’s current wife, Adams, put her foot down: The burial would take place at Hillside Cemetery.
52. He Doesn't Rest Easy
At the time of his demise, Berle was still not speaking to his son William because of the hurtful remarks in William’s memoir. So, it was a shock when it was William who contested the Hillside burial site. William Berle gave two reasons for his opposition: His father couldn’t possibly reside next to or even near his nemesis Al Jolson and, in what sounded a little like one of Berle’s typical one-liners: It was too close to the airport. What, the planes are going to keep him awake?
Milton Berle’s burial site is at Hillcrest Memorial Park, conveniently located just eight minutes from LAX.
