Several friends have written to say that they also doubt the tale Milton Berle told in his autobiography about having fathered an illegitimate child. I should have mentioned another reason I find it questionable. In the book, Berle makes a big deal of saying that he will take the secret to his grave; that the young man in question will never know he was sired from the loins of Mr. Television. But Berle tells enough of the story that if it is true and his son or some friend of his read it, they could easily figure it out. If you really want to carry a secret to your grave, you don't divulge any part of it…and certainly not as much as Uncle Miltie did.
A reader of this site named Ray sent me this link to a story I'd never heard. A man in Arizona named Bob Williams found out one day he was the illegitimate son of Milton Berle. This is a different illegitmate son than the one Berle wrote about in his book. He didn't mention this one there. He also didn't feel the need to take this secret to his grave as he told this son and admitted it to a reporter. Make of that what you will.