Biography
Karno was born in Exeter, Devon, England, in 1866. He worked as a cabinet maker with a workshop in Waterbeer Street. He married Edith and in 1896 his son, Fred Karno, Jr. was born.
In 1904 he visited Tagg's Island and in 1912 he bought the island and the existing hotel. He demolished the original hotel and hired architect Frank Matcham to build The Karsino.
With the advent of cinema, the music hall's popularity declined. As a result of this decline, Karno went bankrupt in 1925.
On 24 May 1927 his wife Edith, from whom he had been separated since 1904, died in her sleep of diabetes. Three weeks later, Karno married his second wife, his long-time partner, Marie Moore.
Karno went to the US in 1929, and was hired by the Hal Roach Studios as a writer-director, and was reunited with one of his former protogės, Stan Laurel. However, his stay at the studio was brief and unsuccessful as Hal Roach found out Karno's main abilities were as a producer, and he departed in February 1930. On his return to Britain, Karno helped to write and produce several short films and in 1936 returned to the theatre with a show called Real Life.
Karno spent his last years in the village of Lilliput, Dorset, and died there in 1941 from diabetes, aged 75.
Read more about this topic: Fred Karno
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