59 American Burlesque performers

Abbott and Costello were an American comedy duo composed of comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work on radio and in film and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and early 1950s and the highest-paid entertainers in the world during World War II. Their patter routine "Who's on First?" is considered one of the best-known comedy routines of all time. Their popularity waned in the early 1950s due to overexposure and changing tastes in comedy, and their film and television contracts lapsed. The partnership ended soon afterwards.

William Alexander "Bud" Abbott was an American comedian, actor and straight man half of the comedy duo Abbott and Costello.

Robert Alda was an American theatrical and film actor, a singer, and a dancer. He was the father of actors Alan and Antony Alda. Alda was featured in a number of Broadway productions, then moved to Italy during the early 1960s. He appeared in many European films over the next two decades, occasionally returning to the U.S. for film appearances such as The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1969).

Alice Atherton, was a dancer, comedian, actress, and theatrical performer during the late 19th century.

Faith Bacon was an American burlesque dancer and actress. During the height of her career, she was billed as "America's Most Beautiful Dancer".

Josephine Baker was an American-born French entertainer, French Resistance agent, freemason and civil rights activist. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted France. She was the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 silent film Siren of the Tropics, directed by Mario Nalpas and Henri Étiévant.

Candy Barr, born as Juanita Dale Slusher, was an American stripper, burlesque dancer, actress, and adult model in men's magazines of the mid-20th century.

Virginia Bell was a topless model and actress.

Milton Berle was an American comedian and actor. Berle's career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and television. As the host of NBC's Texaco Star Theatre (1948–1955), he was the first major American television star and was known to millions of viewers as "Uncle Miltie" and "Mr. Television" during the first Golden Age of Television. He was honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in both radio and TV.

Fania Borach, known professionally as Fanny Brice or Fannie Brice, was an American comedienne, illustrated song model, singer, and theater and film actress who made many stage, radio, and film appearances. She is known as the creator and star of the top-rated radio comedy series The Baby Snooks Show.

Edith Zack, better known by the stage name Sherry Britton, was an American burlesque performer of the 1930s and early 1940s. The 5-foot-3-inch (1.60 m) Britton had an 18-inch (46 cm) waist, and was once said to have a "figure to die for." She got her stage name from a liquor store on a bottle of Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry.

Jack Cameron was an American actor, singer, and acrobatic comedian whose career spanned almost five decades. He appeared in vaudeville, burlesque, film, radio, and television. Cameron was best known for his vaudeville performances, first as part of the Kammerer & Howland musical comedy act, and later as a principal comedian on the Keith-Albee circuit. He appeared in several motion pictures and could be heard on WPRO (AM) radio as the “Singing Salesman.”

Carmen Carrera is an American reality television personality, model, burlesque performer, and actress, known for appearing on the third season of the Logo reality television series RuPaul's Drag Race, as well as its spin-off series RuPaul's Drag U. Carrera is a transgender woman and a transgender rights activist.

Chippendales is a touring dance troupe best known for its male striptease performances and for its dancers' distinctive upper body costume of a bow tie, collar, and shirt cuffs worn on an otherwise bare torso.

Ann Corio was a prominent American burlesque stripper and actress. Ann Corio's original surname was Coiro. She changed her name to Corio for stage purposes and because some family members did not approve of her profession.

Louis Francis Cristillo, professionally known as Lou Costello, was an American actor, best known for his film comedy double act with straight man Bud Abbott and their comedy routine "Who's on First?"

Peter Francis Dailey was an American burlesque comedian and singer who became popular during the era remembered as the Gay Nineties.

Dora Dean was an African-American vaudeville dancer and entertainer. She was part of one of the most popular vaudeville acts of the pre-World War I period. She was best known for popularizing the cakewalk dance internationally, with her husband and dance partner Charles E. Johnson, as part of the act Dean and Johnson.

Henry E. Dixey was an American actor and theatre producer.

James Francis Durante was an American actor, comedian, singer, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and prominent nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s. He often referred to his nose as the schnozzola, and the word became his nickname.

Toni Elling, also known by her stage name Satin Doll, is an American burlesque dancer.

Leon Errol was an Australian comedian and actor in the United States, popular in the first half of the 20th century for his appearances in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in films.

Mary Lee "Dixie" Evans was an American burlesque dancer and stripper.

Billy Hagan was a burlesque comedian whose catchphrase was "cheese and crackers". When Hagan died, Milton Berle called him "one of the funniest men on the burlesque circuit. I learned a lot of my expertise from him." According to Ralph G. Allen, one of Hagan's most famous sketches was "Meet Me Around the Corner," which he performed on the Mutual wheel.

Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope was a British-American stand-up comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer, dancer, and author. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 54 feature films with Hope as star, including a series of seven "Road" musical comedy movies with Bing Crosby as Hope's top-billed partner.

Edna Howland was an American vaudeville artist. She was best known for her piano playing and soprano voice. Between 1910 and 1920, she toured with Jack Kammerer, an acrobatic comedian. Billed as Kammerer & Howland, the duo described themselves as a “Classical Comedy Singing and Talking Act,” and as performers of “Jollity and Jingles Mirthfully Mingled.” Howland retired from show business in the early 1920s.

Frederick Roger Imhof was an American film actor, vaudeville, burlesque and circus performer, sketch writer, and songwriter.

Bambi Jones, also known as Doris Kotzan was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts. She is known for being the Original Burlesque dancer, Vedette and author of her new book My Journey BURLESQUE The Way It Was. She appeared in the documentary "Exotic World & The Burlesque Revival".

Barbara La Marr was an American film actress and screenwriter who appeared in twenty-seven films during her career between 1920 and 1926. La Marr was also noted by the media for her beauty, dubbed as the "Girl Who Is Too Beautiful," as well as her tumultuous personal life.

Irving Lahrheim, known professionally as Bert Lahr, was an American actor of stage and screen, vaudevillian and comedian. Lahr is best known for his role as the Cowardly Lion, as well as his counterpart Kansas farmworker "Zeke", in the MGM adaptation of The Wizard of Oz (1939). He was well known for his quick-witted humor and his work in burlesque, vaudeville, and on Broadway.

Gypsy Rose Lee was an American burlesque entertainer and vedette famous for her striptease act. Also an actress, author, and playwright, her 1957 memoir was adapted into the 1959 stage musical Gypsy.

Ada Leonard was an American bandleader.

Paul Johnston McCullough was an American actor and comedian who was one half of the comedy duo Clark and McCullough, along with fellow comedian Bobby Clark.

Ken Murray was an American comedian, actor, radio and television personality and author.

Kitten Natividad is a Mexican American film actress, exotic dancer and porn star, noted for her 44-inch chest and appearances in cult films by her ex-partner, director Russ Meyer.

Bettie Mae Page, known professionally as Bettie Page, was an American model who gained notoriety in the 1950s for her pin-up photos. Often referred to as the "Queen of Pinups", her shoulder-to-armpit-length jet-black hair, blue eyes, and trademark bangs have influenced artists for generations. "I think that she was a remarkable lady, an iconic figure in pop culture who influenced sexuality, taste in fashion, someone who had a tremendous impact on our society," said Playboy founder Hugh Hefner to the Associated Press in 2008.

Rags Ragland was an American comedian and character actor.

Sally Rand was an American burlesque dancer, vedette, and actress, most noted for her ostrich feather fan dance and balloon bubble dance. She also performed under the name Billie Beck.

Amanda E. Randolph was an American actress, singer and musician. She was the first African-American performer to star in a regularly scheduled network television show, appearing in DuMont's The Laytons.

Al Reeves (1864–1940) was an American vaudeville and minstrel show entertainer, vocalist, and banjo player.

Pearl Elizabeth Dobbins, known as Liz Renay, was an American author and actress who appeared in John Waters' film Desperate Living (1977).

Shirley Jean Rickert was an American child actress who was briefly the "blonde girl" for the Our Gang series in 1931, during the Hal Roach early talkie period.

Rose Sydell was an American burlesque actress. She starred in her own show, Rose Sydell and the London Belles, which toured the United States and Europe for 26 years. Sydell’s penchant for wearing great quantities of valuable jewels and ostrich plumes secured her reputation as America’s first Burlesque Queen.

Charles Joseph "Charlie" Kelly, known professionally as Charles J. Ross, was a Canadian-American entertainer, composer and theatrical producer who performed in vaudeville, burlesque, and on the stage. Ross and his wife, Mabel Fenton, became popular for their parodies of classical plays.

Angel Cecelia Helene Walker was an American exotic dancer specializing in stripping and burlesque under her stage name Satan's Angel.

Tura Satana was a Japanese American actress, vedette and exotic dancer. From 13 film and television credits, some of her work includes the exploitation film Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965), and the science fiction horror film The Astro-Zombies (1968).

Truly Shattuck was a soubrette star of vaudeville, music halls, and Broadway whose career began in tragedy and ended in relative obscurity.

Phil Silvers was an American entertainer and comedic actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah". His career as a professional entertainer spanned nearly sixty years. Silvers achieved major popularity when he starred in The Phil Silvers Show, a 1950s sitcom set on a U.S. Army post in which he played Master Sergeant Ernest (Ernie) Bilko. He also starred in the films It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966). He is a winner of two Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on The Phil Silvers Show and two Tony Awards for his performances in Top Banana and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Richard Red Skelton was an American comedy entertainer. He was best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.

Phyllis Smith is an American actress and casting associate. She is best known for playing Phyllis Vance in the television series The Office and her critically acclaimed voice role as Sadness in the film Inside Out. She has a regular role on the Netflix series The OA.

Willis Marie Van Schaack, known professionally as Lili St. Cyr, was a prominent American burlesque stripteaser.

Blaze Starr was an American stripper and burlesque star. Her vivacious presence and inventive use of stage props earned her the nickname "The Hottest Blaze in Burlesque". She was also known for her affair with Louisiana Governor Earl Kemp Long. Based on her memoir Blaze Starr! My Life as Told to Huey Perry, the 1989 film Blaze told the story of latter affair starring Paul Newman as Long and Lolita Davidovich as Starr, with Starr herself acting in a cameo role and as a consultant.

Tempest Storm, also dubbed "The Queen Of Exotic Dancers," is an American burlesque star and motion picture actress. Along with Lili St. Cyr, Sally Rand, and Blaze Starr, she was one of the best-known burlesque performers of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Her career as an exotic dancer spanned more than 60 years and she was still performing in the early 21st century.

Noel Toy was an American burlesque performer famous for her fan dance and bubble dance, initially at the Forbidden City nightclub in San Francisco, California. Later, she acted in films and on television.

Hinda Wausau (1906–1980) aka Hinda Wassau or Hinda Wasau, was a star stripteaser in burlesque. She claimed, and has been credited with, inadvertently inventing the striptease around 1928 at either the Haymarket or State-Congress Theater in Chicago when her costume started coming off during a shimmy dance.

Evelyn West, a.k.a. Evelyn "$50,000 Treasure Chest" West, and "The Hubba-Hubba Girl", was a vedette and burlesque legend of the forties, fifties, and sixties.

Mae West was an American actress, singer, playwright, screenwriter, comedian, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades. She was known for her lighthearted, bawdy double entendres and breezy sexual independence, and often used a husky contralto voice. She was active in vaudeville and on stage in New York City before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the film industry.

Mollie Williams was an American burlesque artist and producer. She was best known for producing, writing, and starring in her own revue, The Mollie Williams Show.

Mary Augusta "May" Yohé was an American musical theatre actress. After beginning her career with the McCaull Comic Opera Company in 1886 in New York and Chicago, and after other performances in the United States, she quickly gained success on the London stage beginning in 1893. The following year, in London, she created the title role in the hit show Little Christopher Columbus.