While applying for a passport when he was 21, he learned that he was adopted
and that his birth name was Benjamin Augustus Middleton. After many decades
of searching, he finally traced his mother, Essie May Middleton (Pearson). She
was already deceased, but he did meet his blood family, including an older
sister living in New Haven, Connecticut.
If we plant the right seeds, tomorrow will be better. If you put out
good things, then you'll get good things back. That's part of our
responsibility as entertainers.
