Norman Wisdom: Difference between revisions

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Trident13 (talk | contribs)
103,559 edits
remove trivia section completly
Trident13 (talk | contribs)
103,559 edits
→‎Personal life: power of attorney
Line 64: Line 64:
A supporter of various Manx charities including [[Mencap]], in 2005 Wisdom starred in a video for Manx girl group [[Twisted Angels]] for their single called ''LA.'' There is a bronze statue of Wisdom on a bench outside Douglas Town Hall, Ridgeway Street. In 2007 a Norman Wisdom themed bar opened at the Sefton Hotel, Douglas, called ''Sir Norman's''. It has many pictures of all his films on the walls and TV screens showing some of his old films.
A supporter of various Manx charities including [[Mencap]], in 2005 Wisdom starred in a video for Manx girl group [[Twisted Angels]] for their single called ''LA.'' There is a bronze statue of Wisdom on a bench outside Douglas Town Hall, Ridgeway Street. In 2007 a Norman Wisdom themed bar opened at the Sefton Hotel, Douglas, called ''Sir Norman's''. It has many pictures of all his films on the walls and TV screens showing some of his old films.


In August 2007, [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]]'s [[Evening Chronicle]] reported that Sir Norman was in a nursing home, reported in the [[Daily Mail]] to be the Abbotswood nursing home in [[Ballasalla]].<ref name="DailyMail1"/> On release of ''Espresso'' to [[DVD]] in the same month, BBC News confirmed that Wisdom lived in a care home, due to his suffering from [[vascular dementia]].<ref name="BBCEspres"/>
In August 2007, [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]]'s [[Evening Chronicle]] reported that Sir Norman was in a nursing home, reported in the [[Daily Mail]] to be the Abbotswood nursing home in [[Ballasalla]].<ref name="DailyMail1"/> On release of ''Espresso'' to [[DVD]] in the same month, BBC News confirmed that Wisdom lived in a care home, due to his suffering from [[vascular dementia]].<ref name="BBCEspres"/> It was also reported that his children had secured full [[power of attorney]] over Sir Norman's affairs, and having sold off his [[Epsom]], [[Surrey]] home were now in the process of selling his Isle of Man home to raise monies to fund his longer term care.<ref name="DailyMail1"/>


==Filmography==
==Filmography==

Revision as of 18:55, 27 August 2007

Sir Norman Wisdom, OBE
Born
Norman Wisdom
Years active1948 - 2004, 2007
Height5'2 (five ft two in)
SpouseFreda Simpson (1947-69)

Sir Norman J Wisdom, OBE (born 4 February, 1915) is an English comedian, singer and actor.

Biography

Norman J Wisdom was born in the London district of Marylebone to Frederick and Maud Wisdom (nee Targett), who married in Marylebone in 1912. His father was a chauffeur and his mother a dressmaker. Wisdom’s mother left when he was nine, and he and his brother were left in the charge of their father, who disowned them. After a period in a childrens home, 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, he later claimed all the work at such a young age led to his left leg being half an inch (1.25 cm) shorter than his right.

On the outbreak of World War Two, Wisdom joined the 10th Hussars unit of the British Army, and saw service in India. Like many away from home, he discovered his talent for entertainment, and began to develop his talents as a musician and stage entertainer.

Theatre

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.

Film career

Wisdom made a series of low-budget star-vehicle comedies for the Rank Organisation, beginning with Trouble in Store in 1953. Their cheerful, unpretentious appeal make them the direct descendants of the films made a generation earlier by George Formby. Never highly thought of by the critics, they were very popular with domestic audiences, and in some unlikely overseas markets, helping Rank stay afloat financially when their more expensive film projects were unsuccessful.

The films usually involved the Gump character in some manual occupation, in which he is barely competent, and in a junior position to a "straight man" superior, often played by Edward Chapman. They benefited from Wisdom's capacity for physical slapstick comedy and his skill at creating a sense of the character's helplessness. The series often contained a romantic subplot; the Gump's inevitable awkwardness with women is a characteristic shared with the earlier Formby vehicles.

By the mid-1960s, despite a move to filming in colour, Wisdom's commercial appeal was in eclipse. The obvious incongruity of a fifty-year old man playing the Prime Minister's grandson in Press for Time (1966) counted against him - though Wisdom's age was inaccurately reported for many years.

Later career

In 1966, Wisdom 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. 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 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 11 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 1990s, 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 he received in 1999 from Queen Elizabeth II. Also in the 1990s he appeared in the recurring role of Billy Ingleton in the long-running BBC comedy Last Of The Summer Wine. The role was originally a one-off appearance, but proved so popular that he returned as the character on a number of occasions.

In 2004 he made a cameo appearance in Coronation Street playing fitness fanatic pensioner Ernie Crabbe.

After he was knighted, true to his accident-prone persona, he couldn't resist pretending to trip off the platform on his way out.

Popularity in Albania

Wisdom is a well-known and loved cult film icon in Albania and was the only Western actor whose films were allowed in the country during the Communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha. Tony Hawks uses this fact to much comic effect in his book and TV series One Hit Wonderland where the two unite, along with Sir Tim Rice to release a single Big In Albania in an attempt to enter the Albanian pop charts. 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 consequently there are many 'Seagulls' fans in Albania.

On a visit in 2001 which coincided with the England football team playing Albania in Tirana, his presence at the training ground even eclipsed that of David Beckham.[1]

Retirement

Wisdom announced his retirement from the entertainment industry on his ninetieth birthday, 4 February, 2005. He intends to spend his retirement spending more time with his family, playing golf and driving around the Isle of Man, where he lives; his next door neighbour is actor John Rhys-Davies.

In mid-2006 Wisdom was admitted to hospital after he suffered an irregular heart rhythm. He was in hospital in Liverpool for a few days after he was fitted with a heart pacemaker to steady his heartbeat.[2]

In 2007 he made his return to acting in the independent movie Expresso, shot in January 2007 but premiering at the Cannes Film Festival on the 27 May, 2007. In the film which will raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support and features Dame Judi Dench, Wisdom plays a vicar plagued by a fly in a cafe. The film's producer Nigel Martin Davey gave him only a visual role so he would not have to remember any lines, but on the day Wisdom was alert and had his performance changed to add more laughs.[3]

Personal life

Wisdom married his second wife Freda Simpson in October 1947, and they had his only two children: Nicholas (born 1953) and Jacqueline (born 1954). The couple divorced in 1969.

Wisdom is a lifelong supporter and a former board member of football team Brighton and Hove Albion F.C.. He enjoys golf and is a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats.

A cultural icon in the Isle of Man, he lived in a house named Ballalough – Gaelic for "house of laughs" - for 27years, becoming involved in the community through both performance and chairty. A lover of cars, he owned a 1987 Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit and a Jaguar S-Type until September 2005, until his failing health meant he failed a Department of Transport fitness to drive test, and they were sold.[4]

A supporter of various Manx charities including Mencap, in 2005 Wisdom starred in a video for Manx girl group Twisted Angels for their single called LA. There is a bronze statue of Wisdom on a bench outside Douglas Town Hall, Ridgeway Street. In 2007 a Norman Wisdom themed bar opened at the Sefton Hotel, Douglas, called Sir Norman's. It has many pictures of all his films on the walls and TV screens showing some of his old films.

In August 2007, Newcastle's Evening Chronicle reported that Sir Norman was in a nursing home, reported in the Daily Mail to be the Abbotswood nursing home in Ballasalla.[4] On release of Espresso to DVD in the same month, BBC News confirmed that Wisdom lived in a care home, due to his suffering from vascular dementia.[3] It was also reported that his children had secured full power of attorney over Sir Norman's affairs, and having sold off his Epsom, Surrey home were now in the process of selling his Isle of Man home to raise monies to fund his longer term care.[4]

Filmography

CDs and vinyl

  • I Would Like to Put on Record
  • Jingle Jangle
  • The Very Best of Norman Wisdom
  • Androcles and the Lion
  • Where's Charley?
  • Wisdom of a Fool
  • Nobody's Fool
  • Follow a Star
  • 1957 Original Chart Hits
  • Follow a Star/Give Me a Night in June
  • Happy Ending/The Wisdom Of A Fool
  • Big in Albania - One Hit Wonderland

Books

  • Lucky Little Devil: Norman Wisdom on the Island He's Made His Home (2004)
  • My Turn: Autobiography (2002)
  • Don't Laugh At Me / Cos I'm a Fool (1992) (two volumes of autobiography)
  • Trouble in Store (1991)

Norman also played a big part in the Tony Hawks book, One Hit Wonderland. Tony and Norman had a top twenty hit in Albania in 2002 with a song called "Big in Albania" written by Hawks and Oscar-winning lyricist Tim Rice.

References

  1. ^ Clown Prince of Albania - BBC website
  2. ^ "BBC report on fitting of pacemaker". Retrieved 2007-08-12.
  3. ^ a b Sir Norman's swansong is released BBC News - 27 August, 2007
  4. ^ a b c Keith Beaby and Elizabeth Sanderson Revealed: Why Sir Norman Wisdom's family won't let his friends see him Daily Mail - 11th August 2007

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Norman_Wisdom&oldid=154005989"