- Borge publicly derided Adolf Hitler in his native Denmark just before World War II. When the Germans invaded that country, he managed to escape to America because, since he was married to an American women, he got an American visa.
- One of his famous skits involves "phonetic punctuation", in which he accents commas, question marks and periods with sound effects.
- Borge, almost single-handedly, developed the Rock Cornish game hen industry in America. He owned a very large farm where he raised Rock Cornish hens.
- His son, Ronald Borge, appeared many times on stage with his father as the timid page turner.
- He hosted the first US telecast of the Danny Kaye film, Hans Christian Andersen (1952).
- His Comedy in Music one-man show on Broadway reached 849 performances, the longest solo run in Broadway history.
- He is the founder of the Thanks to Scandinavia Foundation.
- In 1953, he starred in the one-man Broadway production "Comedy in Music", with which he toured off and on until his retirement. This was a show in which Borge often announced he was going to play a piece, but seldom actually got around to doing it because of his hilarious comments to the audience. The show went through several editions over the years, but always retained some of the same comic remarks.
- He was the voiceover artist for the Heineken beer adverts in the UK during the 1970s. 'Heineken does this because it refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach.'
- Recipient of 22nd Annual Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime contribution to arts and culture, presented by President Bill Clinton in Washington, DC, Dec. 5, 1999.
- Became a U.S. citizen after his move there, but remained popular in his native Denmark and often performed there.
- Attended Øster Borgerdyd High School in Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald S. Smith, pg. 57-58. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
- Recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor by the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation in 1986.
- Died exactly 30 years after Charles Ruggles.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content