Sir Norman Wisdom – Comic Actor and Singer
I have just heard about the death of Sir Norman Wisdom one of the great English Comedians and I thought I would write an Englishman’s view of his career. During the 1960′s while growing up here in England one of the most popular films we used to watch on a Saturday Morning at the cinema was a Norman Wisdom Comedy. Norman was a great singer and musician apart from also being a Genius Comic Actor. Norman J. Wisdom was born on Feb 04, 1920 in Maryleborne, London, England. If you have never seen his films can I recommend that readers go out and buy one of his very funny films – you won’t regret it.
After a difficult and poverty-stricken childhood he joined the 10th Hussars and began to develop his talents as a musician and stage entertainer. Wisdom’s mother left when he was nine, and he and his brother were left in the charge of their father.
Wisdom ran away from home when he was 11, but returned to become an errand boy with a grocery store on leaving school at 13. Later he was a coal-miner, a waiter, a pageboy and a cabin-boy, before joining the army and seeing service in India.
After leaving the army in 1946, he made his debut as an entertainer at the advanced age of 31 – but his rise to the top was phenomenally fast. A West End star within two years, he made his TV debut the same year and was soon commanding enormous audiences. By this time, he had adopted the suit that would remain his trademark – tweed cap askew with peak turned up, too-tight jacket, barely-better trousers, crumpled collar and tie awry. The character known as “the Gump” was to dominate Wisdom’s film career during the 1950′s and 1960′s..
In 1966, Norman went to America to star on Broadway in the James Van Heusen-Sammy Cahn musical comedy Walking Happy. His highly-acclaimed performance was Tony nominated. He also completed his first American film as a vaudeville comic in The Night They Raided Minsky’s is a 1968 film that purports to show the story of how striptease was invented at Minskys Burlesque circa 1927. Any opportunities which might have opened up by this Stateside success were cut short when he had to return to London owing to a family crisis.
His subsequent career was largely confined to television and he also toured the world with his successful cabaret act.
He won critical acclaim in 1981 for his dramatic role of a dying cancer patient in the play Going Gently. On 11th February 1987 Norman Wisdom was the subject of Thames television’s ‘This Is Your Life’ for the second time.
He became prominent again in the 1990′s when helped by the young comedian Lee Evans, whose act was heavily influenced by Wisdom’s work. The highpoint of this new popularity was the knighthood which he received in 1999 from Queen Elizabeth II and after he was knighted, true to his accident-prone persona, he couldn’t resist pretending to trip off the platform on his way out.
Also in the 1990s he appeared in the recurring role of Billy Ingleton in the long-running BBC comedy Last Of the Summer Wine. He also appeared in the Detective Series called “The last Detective” which also starred Peter Davidson.
In 2004 he made a cameo appearance in Coronation Street playing fitness fanatic pensioner Ernie Crabbe.
Norman Wisdom is a well-known and loved Film Icon especially in Albania and was the only Western actor whose films were allowed in the country during the Communist Dictatorship of Enver Hoxha. He is known as “Mr. Pitkin” in Albania, after the character he played in his films. The archetypal Wisdom plot where the common working man gets the better of his bosses was considered ideologically sound by Hoxha. In 1995 he visited the post-Stalinist country, where to his surprise he was greeted by many appreciative fans including the then-president of Albania, Sali Berisha. His fondness for Brighton & Hove Albion is renowned in Albania and subsequently there are many ‘Seagulls’ fans in Albania.
When England played Albania in 2001 during the World Cup qualifying round Norman Wisdom visited the England Team training ground where he was quickly surrounded by film fans including the England team of David Beckham, David James etc.
Norman Wisdom announced his retirement from the entertainment industry on his ninetieth birthday, on the 4th February, 2005. He spent his retirement spending more time with his family, playing golf and driving around the Isle of Man where he now lives (being a neighbour of John Rhys-Davies from Sliders).
In mid-2006 he was admitted to hospital after he suffered an irregular heart rhythm. He was in hospital for a few days after he was fitted with a pacemaker device to steady his heartbeat.
In 2007 he made his return to acting in the independent movie Expresso, premiering at the Cannes Film Festival on the 27th May.
List of Films:
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1948: A Date with a Dream
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1948-50: Wit and Wisdom (TV)
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1953: Trouble in Store
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1954: One Good turn
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1955: As Long as They’re Happy
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1955: Man of the Moment
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1956: Up in the World
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1957: Just My Luck
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1958: The Square Peg
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1959: Follow a Star
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1960: There Was a Crooked Man
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1960: The Bulldog Breed
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1962: On the Beat
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1962: The Girl on The Boat
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1963: A Stitch in Time
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1965: The Early Bird
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1966: The Sandwich Man
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1966: Press for Time
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1967: Androcles and the Lion (TV)
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1968: The Night They Raided Minsky’s (The Night They Invented Striptease)
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1969: What’s Good for the Goose (Girl Trouble)
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1970: Norman (TV)
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1970: Music Hall (TV)
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1973: Nobody Is Norman Wisdom (TV)
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1974: A Little Bit of Wisdom (TV)
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1981: BBC PlayHouse: Going Gently (TV)
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1983: BBC Bergerac: “Almost Like a Holiday”(TV)
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1988: The 1950s: Music, Memories & Milestones (TV)
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1992: Double X: The Name of the Game (Double X, Run Rabbit Run)
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1995: Last of The Summer Wine (TV): episode “The Man Who Nearly Knew Pavarotti”
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1996: Last Of The Summer Wine (TV): episode “Extra, Extra!”
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1998: Where on Earth Is … Katy Manning (TV)
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2000: Last of the Summer Wine (TV): episode “The Coming of the Beast”
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2002: Last of the Summer Wine (TV): episode “A Musical Passing for a Miserable Muscroft”
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2002 Dalziel and Pascoe (TV): episode “Mens Sana”
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2003: The Last Detective – episode called “Lofty Brock”
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2004: Coronation Street (TV)
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2004: Last of the Summer Wine (TV): episode “Variations on a Theme of the Widow Winstanley”.
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2007: Expresso – Film. Plays himself Sir Norman Wisdom.
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2008: Evil calls – Film. Plays Winston Llamata.
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2010: Labrats – Film. Voice over of a mouse called Scaredy. ( Still in Post Production )
Music by Norman Wisdom
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I Would Like to Put on Record
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Jingle Jangle
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The Very Best of Norman Wisdom
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Androcles and the Lion
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Where’s Charley?
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Wisdom of a Fool
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Nobody’s Fool
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Follow a Star
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1957 Original Chart Hits
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Follow a Star/Give Me a Night in June
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Happy Ending/The Wisdom Of A Fool
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Big in Albania – One Hit Wonderland
Sir Norman Wisdom, after suffering various strokes in the last 6 months of his life, died at 6-40 pm on Monday 4th October 2010 still living on his favourite Island – the Isle Of Man.
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The Chinese call Britain ‘The Island of Hero’s’ which I think sums up what we British are all about. We British are inquisitive and competitive and are always looking over the horizon to the next adventure and discovery.
Copyright © 2010 Paul Hussey. All Rights Reserved.
About the Author
My family tree has been traced back to the early Kings of England from the 7th Century AD. I am also a direct descendent of Sir Christopher Wren which has given me an interest in English History and Icons which is great fun to research.
I have recently decided to write articles on my favourite subjects: English Sports, English History, English Icons, English Discoveries and English Inventions.
At present I have written over 100 articles which I call “An Englishman’s Favourite Bits Of England” in various Volumes.
Please visit my Blogs page http://Bloggs.Resourcez.Com where I have listed all my articles to date.
Copyright © 2010 Paul Hussey. All Rights Reserved.
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