Colette Renard French singer and actress, died after a long illness she was , 85,

Colette Renard ^[1] born Colette Raget, was a French actress and singer died after a long illness she was , 85,. Renard is closely associated with the titular character from the musical Irma La Douce, a role she played for over a decade.^[1] Renard retired from theatre and film in the 1980s, returning in 2004 to play the role of Rachel Levy on Plus belle la vie.^[2] In addition to acting, Renard was a prolific singer, having released 52 albums during her career.^[2]



(1 November 1924, Ermont – 6 October 2010 Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse)

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Discography

Studio albums

• 1957: Chante Paris (double 25 cm)
• 1958: Chante la vieille France (25 cm)
• 1958: Envoie la musique (25 cm)
• 1960: Chansons gaillardes de la vieille France
• 1961: Tête-à-tête avec Colette Renard
• 1961: La chanson française
• 1963: Chansons très libertines
• 1965: Bon appétit...
• 1966: Poèmes libertins du temps passé (triple 33 T)
• 1966: Poèmes libertins du temps présent
• 1967: 1967 - La nouvelle Colette Renard
• 1968: Irma la douce (double album of duets)
• 1968: La chanson satirique de Charlemagne à Charles de Gaulle - 1ère époque (double album)
• 1969: Chansons polissonnes
• 1969: Paris-Montmartre
• 1971: Liverpool la nuit
• 1972: Chansons galantes
• 1973: Au clocher de mon coeur (double album)
• 1973: Chansons érotiques du royaume de France
• 1975: Depuis le temps que je chante que je t'aime
• 1978: Une valse bleue
• 1979: Il y a des jours comme ça
• 1983: B.O.F. Un amour de femme
• 1986: Fables d'aujourd'hui (spoken word, written by Lucien Baumann)
• 2002: Ceux qui s'aiment

Live albums

• 1958: À l'Olympia - 10 chansons nouvelles (25 cm)
• 1960: À l'Olympia - Volume 8
• 1962: À l'Olympia
• 1964: Récital 65
• 1976: À Bobino

Compilations

• 1987: Les grands succès (cd Vogue, 16 songs)
• 1992: 36 chansons gaillardes et libertines (double cd Vogue)
• 2001: Colette Renard (Triple cd, Reader's Digest selection, 72 songs)

45 RPM

• 78 T Pacific 1998: La gorgonzola / Robinson Crusoë (1949)
• EP Festival FX 451148M : Les filles du bucheron / A la belle étoile / Qu'elle est belle / Sous les pommiers (sortis sur deux 78 T en 1952, regroupés sur cet EP en 1958)
• EP Vogue EPL 7273: Les godasses / Ferme-là / Simonetta / L'âge atomique (Rock Around The Island) (1956)
• EP Vogue EPL 7293: L'arbre et l'homme / Les jouets / L'homme et l'araignée / Mon île (1956)
• EP Vogue EPL 7300: Chante les airs d'Irma la douce : Avec les anges / Irma la douce / Y'a qu'Paris pour ça / Ah ! dis donc (1956)
• EP Vogue EPL 7365: Quand t'auras mangé ta soupe / L'homme en habit / Calypso mélodie / Où va-t-on se nicher ? (1957)
• EP Vogue EPL 7367: Zon, zon, zon / Sa casquette / Sur le pont St Louis / C'est du soleil de t'embrasser (1957)
• EP Vogue EPL 7394: Chante les succès du film Un roi à New York : Mandoline amoureuse / Toi l'amour / La complainte des cœur purs / Sur les bords de Paris (1957)
• EP Vogue EPL 7438: Croquemitoufle / Tais-toi Marseille / L'orphéon / A Paris, y'a tout ça (1958)
• EP Vogue EPL 7440: Zon, zon, zon / Sa casquette / L'homme en habit / Où va-t'on se nicher ? (1958)
• EP Vogue EPL 7440: Les chansons gaillardes de la vieille France : Les filles de La Rochelle / La femme du roulier / Sur la route de Louviers / Les trente brigands (1958)
• EP Vogue EPL 7510: L'eau vive / Le bonheur / Envoie-la musique / Trois fois rien (1958)
• EP Vogue EPL 7544: Ca, c'est d'la musique / L'enfant aux oranges / La Sainte-Flemme / C'est moi la java (1958)
• EP Vogue EPL 7565: Le poète / Le soleil / Marie la bleue / La fleur des champs (1958)
• EP Vogue EPL 7568: Noëls : Je n'ai pas eu de jouets / Serge et Nathalie / Drôle d'histoire / La Vierge à la crèche (1958)
• EP Vogue EPL 7576: Le cheval de bois / La débine / Les chagrins d'amour / Faux-pas (1959)
• EP Vogue EPL 7625: L'Opéra de quat'sous : Le chant des canons / La fiancée du pirate / La complainte de Mackie / La chanson de Barbara (1959)
• EP Vogue EPL 7637: Mon homme est un guignol / Y veut de la java / Emmène-moi / Les regrets de jeunesse (1959)
• EP Vogue EPL 7638: Chansons de films : Comment voulez-vous ? / Business / La complainte de Gaud / Bal de nuit (1959)
• EP Vogue EPL 7652: Les chefs-d'oeuvre de la chanson française : Colette Renard chante la vieille France : À la claire fontaine / Le retour du marin / Va mon ami va / Aux marches du palais (1959)
• EP Vogue EPL 7658: Chansons gaillardes de la vieille France : La puce / Le doigt gelé / En revenant du Piémont / Au clair de la lune (1959)
• EP Vogue EPL 7664: C'est d'la musique / Tais-toi Marseille / L'orphéon / Marie la bleue (1959)
• EP Vogue EPL 7700: Mes copains / T'as misé dans le mille / Qu'est-ce que t'as pu me faire / Le pauvre chien (1959)
• EP Vogue EPL 7726: Petite annonce sentimentale / Les musiciens / Toi, l'inconnu / Le vendeur de roses (1960)
• EP Vogue EPL 7730: Mon homme est un guignol / Je n'ai pas eu de jouets / Emmène-moi / Le bonheur (1960)
• EP Vogue EPL 7775: La taxi girl / Ma rengaine / Je m'appelle Daysie / Des histoires (1960)
• EP Vogue EPL 7806: 4,95 la charlotte / On cultive l'amour / T'es le roi / Rue du croissant (1961)
• EP Vogue EPL 7823: La fille et le soldat / Comme un cygne blanc / La chanson pauvre / Paris a le cœur tendre (1961)
• EP Vogue EPL 7865: Les p'tits français / Ma chanson lonla-lonlaine / Suis-moi t'en auras / Hôtel du nord (1961)
• EP Vogue EPL 7874: La Marie du port / Les enfants de Paris / Quand sonneront les cloches / Ca m'chavire (1961)
• EP Vogue EPL 7929: Charmante nature / Des souv'nirs, des souv'nirs / Ah ! Donnez m'en de la chanson / Bilissi (1962)
• EP Vogue EPL 8061: Voir Naples et mourir / Professionnellement / Le grand partage / La samba des parisiennes (1962)
• EP Vogue EPL 7931: Le marin et la rose / Sacré bistrot / Ils jouent de la trompette / C'est la vie (1962)
• EP Vogue EPL 8074: Hardi Paname (version 45t) / Sur leur visage / J't'aimerai pas plus / Heureusement (1963)
• 45t Vogue V.45.1076 : Le retour des héros / Alors, c'est pour quand ? (1963)
• EP Vogue EPL 8141: La foraine / Ils voulaient voir la mer / Les nuits d'une demoiselle [version soft expurgée] (1963)
• EP Vogue EPL 8183: Mon père et ma mère / La dernière petit note / Le truc / Chez Marie la vieille (1963)
• EP Vogue EPL 8295: Le plumard / Assieds-toi donc sur ta valise / Le rencard / Elle ou moi (1964)
• EP Vogue EPL 8332: Ah! Le petit vin blanc / Le chaland qui passe / Refrain des chevaux de bois / Ici l'on pèche (1965)
• EP Vogue EPL 8375: Alfred Hitchcock / Mossieu Boby / Gibraltar story / La goélette et le capitaine (1965)
• EP CBS 5676: Chante Jehanne Vérité : Un petit oiseau de Lorraine / Les chalands / Toutes les larmes / Les moutons (1966)
• EP Decca 461.113M: Un piano / L'amour et les marées / Marie scandale (1967)
• EP Decca 461.131M: Les maisons blanches / Je l'aime lui / Reste / Un garçon (1967)
• 45t Decca 79.528: Un air pour rien / Y a du soleil dans ma chambre (1968)
• 45t Decca 23.812: Je l'ai vécu 100 fois / Marine (1968)
• 45t Decca 23.813: L'araignée / Ne riez pas de la bergère (1968)
• 45t Decca 23.814: La romance de Paris / La rue de notre amour (1968)
• 45t Emi/Pathé C006-11437: Lili Vertu / Changer de vie (1971)
• 45t Vogue V.45.4138: Chante Cabaret : Willkommen, Bienvenue... / Cabaret (1972)
• EP Vogue 45.V.4211: Les chansons de la comédie "Folle Amanda" : Mon Polo / Mon coeur attend qui ? / Que c'est bon d'être amoureuse / C'est beau la vie (1973)
• 45t Vogue 14098: B.O.F de Jean-François Davy Prostitution (1975), 1 title: Demain (1976)
• 45t Sonopresse 40289: Mirlitons / Je suis marionnette (1978)
• 45t Carrère 13.137: Chante Vichy Dancing : Amoureuse / Nostalgies (1983)

Selected songs

• 1956: Ah ! Dis donc, dis donc (Lyrics: Alexandre Breffort, Music: Marguerite Monnot)
• 1957: Zon… zon… zon… (Lyrics: Maurice Vidalin, Music: Jacques Datin)
• 1958: Tais-toi Marseille (Lyrics: Maurice Vidalin, Music: Jacques Datin)
• 1958: Ça, c'est d'la musique (Lyrics: Michel Rivgauche, Music: Norbert Glanzberg)
• 1958: Sa casquette (Lyrics: Fernand Bonifay, Music: Guy Magenta)
• 1959: Mon homme est un guignol (Lyrics and music: Jil and Jan)
• 1960: Des histoires (Lyrics: Michel Vaucaire, Music: Charles Dumont)
• 1961: Chanson tendre (Lyrics: Francis Carco, Music: Jacques Larmanjat)
• 1962: Le marin et la rose (Lyrics and music: Huard Pingault)
• 1979: Les lignes de ma vie
• 2002: Ceux qui s'aiment (Lyrics: Colette Renard, Music: François Rauber)

Bibliography

• Colette Renard, Raconte-moi ta chanson, Grasset, 1998, 334 p. ISBN 2246574110
• Colette Renard, Ceux qui s'aiment : bloc-notes 1956-2006, edited by Pascal Maurice , Paris et Montréal, 2006, 64 p. ISBN 9782908681185

Filmography

Film

• 1958: Le dos au mur Josianne Mauvin
• 1960: Business Léa
• 1963: Un roi sans divertissement, Clara
• 1965: Les pieds dans le plâtre, Irène
• 1970: Clodo, Mme Olga
• 1992: IP5 : L'Ile aux pachydermes, Clarisse/Monique

Television

• 1964 : Pierrots des Alouettes, musical comedy by Henri Spade, Martine
• 1972: Les dossiers de Me Robineau: Les cagnards (TV movie), Gina
• 1973: La vie rêvée de Vincent Scotto (TV movie), Fréhel
• 1980: La chanson de Tiber (TV movie), Tiber Renarde
• 1982: Mon petit âne, ma mère (TV movie) The mother
• 1983: Vichy Dancing (TV movie), Véra Belmont
• 1986: Noël au Congo (TV movie), Mme Martel
• 1999: Justice (TV series), Olga
• 2003: Maigret (TV series), Jacqueline Larrieux dite Jacotte
• 2004: Docteur Dassin, généraliste (TV series), Mme Barry
• 2004 - 2009: Plus belle la vie (TV series), Rachel Lévy
• 2005: Le triporteur de Belleville (TV movie), Mme Belvèze

Theatre

• 1956: Irma La Douce by Alexandre Breffort and Marguerite Monnot, mise en scène René Dupuy, Théâtre Gramont
• 1982: Un amour de femme, songs by Michel Rivgauche, music by Gérard Calvi, mise en scène Jean Meyer, Théâtre des Célestins

Distinctions et récompenses

• Grand prix of the Académie Charles Cros
• Grand prix of the Académie du disque français
• Grand prix of the Président de la République
• Grand prix international du disque
• Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
• Médaille de vermeil from the City of Paris

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Albertina Walker, American gospel music singer (The Caravans), died from respiratory failure.she was , 81

Albertina Walker ^[1] was an American gospel singer died from respiratory failure.she was , 81.

(August 29, 1929(1929-08-29) – October 8, 2010(2010-10-08))

 Early years

Walker was born in Chicago, Illinois,^[2] to Ruben and Camille Coleman Walker. Her mother was born in Houston County, Georgia, and her father in Bibb County, Georgia. They moved to Chicago between 1917-1920 where they lived out their lives. Albertina had four siblings born in Bibb County and four born in Chicago. Albertina began singing in the youth choir at the West Point Baptist Church at an early age, and joined several Gospel groups thereafter, including The Pete Williams Singers and the Robert Anderson Singers. Albertina was greatly influenced by Mahalia Jackson, her friend and confidante. Mahalia Jackson took her on the road when she was just a teenager. "Mahalia used to kid me. She'd say, 'Girl, you need to go sing by yourself.' " recalled Walker in a recent Washington Post Interview. Albertina Walker did just that. In 1951, she formed the group called The Caravans. She was popularly referred to as the "Queen of Gospel Music", initially by such notables as the late Reverend James Cleveland and Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., for her outstanding achievements within the genre after the death of Mahalia Jackson in 1972.^[3]

Musical career

In the early 1950s Walker founded her own Gospel music group The Caravans, enlisting fellow singers from The Robert Anderson Singers (Ora Lee Hopkins, Elyse Yancey and Nellie Grace Daniels). The Caravans' membership has included: James Cleveland, Bessie Griffin, Shirley Caesar, Dorothy Norwood, Inez Andrews, Loleatta Holloway, Cassietta George, and Delores Washington. Her discovery of these artists resulted in the nickname "Star Maker". Walker retired The Caravans in the late 1960s, performing as a solo artist.
In the mid 1970s, Walker signed with Savoy Records then Benson Records, Word Records, A&M Records, and other record companies, recording a series of solo projects, many of them with big church choirs including The Evangelical Choir, The Cathedral of Love Choir, The Metro Mass choir, and her own church choir, The West Point Choir. Albertina recorded her first solo project Put a Little Love in Your Heart in 1975. She also recorded several projects together with Reverend James Cleveland. To date, she has recorded over 60 albums, including gold selling hits "Please Be Patient With Me", "I Can Go to God in Prayer", "The Best Is Yet to Come", "Impossible Dream", and "Joy Will Come".^{[citation needed]} Walker sang for United States presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and South Africa's president, Nelson Mandela. 

In 1995, Walker joined Thelma Houston, CeCe Peniston, Phoebe Snow and Lois Walden to record a gospel album in common, Good News in Hard Times, as the quintet called The Sisters of Glory.
Walker recorded a reunion album with her group The Caravans entitled Paved the Way, which was released by Malaco Records on September 5, 2006.^{[citation needed]} Performers included Walker, Dorothy Norwood, Inez Andrews, and Delores Washington. The album was dubbed by Billboard magazine as one of the most memorable releases of 2006^[4] and entered the Billboard charts in the top ten and remained in the top forty for sixteen weeks. Paved the Way was recently nominated for a Grammy, Dove, Soul Train Music Award and two Stellar Awards.

Awards

Albertina earned many awards and honors over her six decades of music ministry. Among them, a 1995 Grammy Award for the Best Traditional Gospel Album (Songs of The Church); 10 Grammy Award nominations; 5 Gold Records; 3 Stellar Awards; 3 Dove Awards; several Gospel Music Workshop of America Excellence Awards; an induction into the 2001 Gospel Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. In 2005, the Grammys honored her contributions to the Gospel music industry. She was also the recipient of a National Heritage Fellowship. President George Bush honored Albertina Walker for her contribution to Gospel music May 31, 2002.

Influences

Ms. Walker is featured in the book entitled Who's Who in Black America as well as other volumes related to the Golden Age of Gospel Music. She received several keys to various cities and was honored at the Chicago Gospel Festival where a bench bearing her name was placed in downtown Chicago's Grant Park. The City of Chicago paid tribute to Albertina by renaming 35th and Cottage Grove "Albertina Walker and The Caravans Drive". Albertina was also conferred an honorary Doctor of Letters Degree by the Chicago Theological Seminary, an institution of the University of Chicago.
Walker co-founded the Gospel Music Workshop of America along with James Cleveland. Albertina also lent her support to many charitable organizations such as United Negro College Fund, American Cancer Society, National Council of Negro Women, Nation of Islam's Million Family March, One Voice "A Fight Against AIDS", NAACP and Operation Push. In 1988 Albertina Walker founded The Albertina Walker Scholarship Foundation for the Creative and Performing Arts. Her foundation offers financial assistance to college students in the form of scholarships to further their education in the field of music.

Discography

Notable singles

• "I'm Still Here"
• "Please Be Patient with Me"
• "I Can Go to God in Prayer"
• "I Got a Feeling (Everything Will Be Alright)"
• "The Best Is Yet to Come"
• "Impossible Dream"
• "Joy Will Come"
• "God Is Our Creator"
• "Work on Me"
• "In Shady Green Pastures"
• "Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around"
• "When God Dips His Pin of Love in My Heart"
• "If I Perish"
• "Ain't Got Tired Yet"
• "Since I Met Jesus"
• "Lord Keep Me Day by Day"
• "Mary Don't You Weep"
• "Remember Me"
• "I Know the Lord Will Make a Way"
• "I'm Willing"
• "Show Some Sign"
• "I Won't Be Back"
• "Make It In"

Videography

Film and other appearances

• Leap of Faith – starring Steve Martin
• Going Home to Gospel with Patti Labelle
• The Gospel Truth – Off Broadway play
• The Evolution of Gospel.
• The Gospel Legends

Television appearances

Walker appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America and The Tavis Smiley Show among others. Albertina Walker was a frequent guest on the nationally syndicated BET and Word television networks, Bobby Jones Gospel, Testify and Singsation.

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Roy Ward Baker, British film director (A Night To Remember). died he was , 93

Roy Ward Baker , born Roy Horace Baker, was an English film director, credited as Roy Baker for much of his career died he was , 93.^[1] His best known film is A Night to Remember (1958) which won a Golden Globe for Best English-Language Foreign Film in 1959. His later career included many horror films and television shows.
Born in London where his father was a Billingsgate fish merchant, Baker was educated at a Lycée in Rouen, France, and at the City of London School.^[2][3] From 1934 to 1939, he worked for Gainsborough Pictures, a British film production company based in the Islington district of London. His first jobs were menial, making tea for crew members, for example, but by 1938 he had risen to the level of as assistant director on Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938).

(19 December 1916 – 5 October 2010)

Mary Leona Gage, American pageant queen, stripped of Miss USA (1957) title, died from heart failure. she was 71

Mary Leona Gage was a beauty queen from Maryland who was crowned Miss USA 1957, the first, and so far, only woman from that state to capture the Miss USA crown died from heart failure. she was  71. She was stripped of her title when it was revealed that she was 18, married, and the mother of two children.The Miss Universe title ultimately was won by Peru's Gladys Zender. Zender also nearly lost her crown when she was revealed to be only 17, therefore under the minimum age requirement. Pageant officials, however, allowed her to retain her title.



(8 April 1939 – 5 October 2010)

Steve Lee, Swiss musician (Gotthard), died from a motorcycle accident.he was , 47

Steve Lee was a Swiss musician and vocalist, best known as the vocalist of the band Gotthard died from a motorcycle accident.he was , 47.


(August 5, 1963 – October 5, 2010) 

Biography

In 1988, Steve Lee joined the group Forsale.
In 1992, in Lugano, along with guitarist Leo Leoni, bassist Marc Lynn, and drummer Hena Habegger, they founded the band Krak. Under the lead of bassist and founding member of Krokus, Chris von Rohr, the band changed its name to Gotthard (a name inspired by the Gotthard Pass).

In 2007, Lee was contacted by Arjen Anthony Lucassen to feature on Ayreon's latest album 01011001, released in 2008. He sang vocals, alongside other progressive rock and progressive metal singers.^[1]
He spoke fluent Italian, German, English and French.
Steve Lee was killed in a motorcycle accident 10 miles south of Mesquite, Nevada on Interstate 15 when a semi truck hit a parked motorcycle which subsequently struck and killed Lee.^[2]

Discography

Main article: Gotthard (band)

Influences

Lee's musical influences included Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Whitesnake, Deep Purple, Bon Jovi, Van Halen and Aerosmith. Lee was especially fond of Whitesnake and based his singing style on that of their lead singer David Coverdale^{[citation needed]}.

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Sir Norman Wisdom, British comedian and actor, died after a long illness he was , 95

Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom,^[1] OBE^[2] ( was an English comedian, singer-songwriter and actor best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring his hapless onscreen character Norman Pitkin. These films initially made more money than the James Bond film series,^[3] and secured Wisdom a celebrity status in lands as far apart as South America, Iran and many Eastern Bloc countries, particularly in Albania where his films were permitted by Enver Hoxha – Wisdom was the only Western actor to enjoy this privilege.^[4] Charlie Chaplin famously referred to Wisdom as his "favourite clown".^[5]

4 February 1915 – 4 October 2010)


Wisdom later forged a career on Broadway and as a television actor, winning critical acclaim for his dramatic role of a dying cancer patient in the television play Going Gently in 1981. It was broadcast on 5 June that year. He toured Australia and South Africa.^[3] After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, a hospice was named in his honour.^[4] In 1995 he was given the Freedom of the City of London and of Tirana.^[4] The same year he received an OBE.^[4] Wisdom was knighted in 2000 and spent much of his later life on the Isle of Man. Some of his later appearances included roles in Last of the Summer Wine and Coronation Street,^[4] and he retired from acting at the age of 90 after his health declined.

Early and personal life

Norman Joseph Wisdom was born in the Marylebone district of London. His parents were Frederick, a chauffeur, and Maud Wisdom (née Targett), a dressmaker who often worked for West End theatres. The couple married in Marylebone on 15 July 1912.^[6] Wisdom had an elder brother, Frederick Thomas "Fred" Wisdom (13 December 1912 – 1 July 1971). The family resided at 91 Fernhead Road, London W9, where they slept in one room.^[7]

Wisdom was married twice. His first wife was Doreen Brett, whom he married in 1941 and with whom he had one son, Michael, born in 1945;^[8] the marriage was dissolved in 1946.^[9] He married his second wife, Freda Isobel Simpson, a dancer, in 1947; they had two children: Nicholas (born 1953, who later played first-class cricket for Sussex) and Jacqueline (born 1954). The couple divorced in 1969^[10] and Wisdom was granted full custody of the children.^[11] Freda Wisdom died in Brighton in 1992.^[12]

Wisdom was a lifelong supporter and a former board member of football team Brighton and Hove Albion. However he also liked Everton and Newcastle United.^[13] He enjoyed golf^[14] and was a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats. Popular in the Isle of Man, he lived for 27 years in a house in Andreas named Ballalough (Manx language for "place of the lake", though really a humorous corruption of the English "belly laugh"). He was an Honorary Member of the Winkle Club, a famous charity in Hastings, East Sussex.^[15]
A lover of cars, he owned a 1987 Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit and a Jaguar S-Type, until his age and declining mental health meant he failed a Department of Transport fitness-to-drive test and they were sold in September 2005. A supporter of various charities including Mencap, in 2005 Wisdom starred in a video for the Manx girl group Twisted Angels, for their single "LA", in support of the local charity Project 21.^[16]
During the 1960s he was involved in a famous legal case (Wisdom v Chamberlain ) in which he was pursued by the Inland Revenue for tax on profits made from the sale of silver bullion he had bought as he was concerned about the further devaluation of sterling. He had contended that it was an investment but the court held that it had been a trading venture and was duly chargeable to income tax.^[17]

Armed forces

Norman Wisdom
4 February 1915 (1915-02-04) – 4 October 2010 (2010-10-05) (aged 95)
Place of birth	London, United Kingdom
Place of death	Ballasalla, Isle of Man
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Merchant Navy British Army
Years of service	1930–46
Unit	10th Royal Hussars Royal Corps of Signals
Battles/wars	World War II
Other work	Actor

After a period in a children's home in Deal, Kent, Wisdom ran away when he was 11 but returned to become an errand boy in a grocer's on leaving school at 13. In 1929, he walked (by his own account) to Cardiff, Wales, where he became a cabin boy in the Merchant Navy. Wisdom had been kicked out of his home by his father. He also worked as a coal miner, waiter and page boy. He first enlisted into the King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) but his mother got him "unenlisted" as he was under age. He later re-enlisted as a drummer boy in the 10th Royal Hussars of the British Army and in 1930 was posted to Lucknow, in the United Provinces of British India, as a bandsman. There he gained an education certificate, rode horses, was the flyweight boxing champion of the British Army in India^[18] and learned to play the trumpet and clarinet.^[7] While performing a comedy boxing routine in an army gym, Wisdom discovered he had a talent for entertainment^[19] and began to develop his skills as a musician and stage entertainer.^[5] After leaving the army he learned to drive and worked as a private hire car driver and having improved his diction in the army he also took a job as a night telephone operator.^[7]

World War II

At the outbreak of World War II Wisdom was sent to work in a communications centre in a command bunker in London where he connected telephone calls from war leaders to the prime minister. He met Winston Churchill on several occasions when asked for updates on incoming calls and once was disciplined for calling him Winnie.^[7] He then joined the Royal Corps of Signals and performed a similar function with a military unit based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. After Wisdom appeared at a charity concert at the Cheltenham Town Hall actor Rex Harrison came backstage and urged him to become a professional entertainer.^[20]

Theatre

Leaving the army in 1946, Wisdom made his debut as a professional entertainer at the age of 31 and his rise to the top was phenomenally fast. Initially the straight man to the magician David Nixon,^[5] he had already adopted the costume that would remain his trademark: tweed flat cap askew, with peak turned up; a suit at least two sizes too tight; a crumpled collar and a mangled tie. The character that went with this costume—known as "the Gump"—was to dominate Wisdom's film career.
A West End star within two years, he made his TV debut the same year and was soon commanding enormous audiences. Charlie Chaplin called Wisdom his "favourite clown".^[5]

Film career

Wisdom made a series of low-budget star-vehicle comedies for the Rank Organisation, beginning with Trouble in Store in 1953.^[21] This film earned him a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Film in 1954.^[22]
Their cheerful, unpretentious appeal make them the direct descendants of the films made a generation earlier by George Formby.^[23] Never highly thought of by the critics, they were very popular with domestic audiences and Wisdom's films were among Britain's biggest box office successes of their day, and were successful 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, Norman Pitkin, in a manual occupation in which he is barely competent and in a junior position to a straight man, often played by Edward Chapman (as Mr Grimsdale) or Jerry Desmonde. 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 but in which his innocent incompetence made him endearing to the heroine.
Despite a move to filming in colour, by the mid-1960s Wisdom's commercial film 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; Wisdom's age was inaccurately reported for many years.

Later career

In 1966, Wisdom went to the United States to star in a Broadway production of the James Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn musical comedy Walking Happy. His performance was nominated for a Tony Award.
On 31 December 1976, Wisdom performed his theme song "Don't Laugh At Me (Cause I'm a Fool)" on BBC1's A Jubilee of Music, celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver Jubilee.^[24] Wisdom had performed in front of the Queen at many Royal Command Performances, the first being in 1952.^[25]
He also completed his first American film as a vaudeville comic in The Night They Raided Minsky's. After a typical performance on the Ed Sullivan Show,^[5] further US opportunities were denied him when he had to return to London after his second wife left him. 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 television play Going Gently.
On 11 February 1987 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 often compared to Wisdom's work.^[26] His classic Rank films were playing to new audiences on television screens and DVD, with a growing number of new young fans in the United Kingdom and abroad. The highpoint of this new popularity was the knighthood he was awarded, for services to entertainment, in the 2000 new year's honours list.^[27] During the ceremony, once he had received his knighthood, he walked away and again performed his trademark trip which the Queen smiled and laughed at.^[28]
From 1995 until 2004 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 1996, he became recipient of a Special Achievement Award from the London Film Critics.^[29]
Wisdom was a guest on a This Is Your Life special in the year 2000 for actor and director Todd Carty. He appeared as a half-time guest at the England vs Albania 2002 World Cup qualifier at St James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, and scored a penalty at the Leazes End.^[30]
In 2002 Wisdom filmed a small role as Winston the butler in the film Alone in the Dark, although this was not released until 2008 under the title Evil Calls: The Raven. In 2004, he made a cameo appearance in Coronation Street playing fitness fanatic pensioner Ernie Crabbe. In 2007 he came out of retirement to take a role in a short film called Expresso.^[31]

Popularity in Albania

Wisdom was a cult figure in Albania, where he was one of the few Western actors whose films were allowed in the country during the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha. He was known as "Mr Pitkin" after the character from his films. 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. During this trip, Wisdom was also filmed by Newsnight visiting a children's project funded by ChildHope UK.^[32] On a visit in 2001, which coincided with the England football team playing Albania in the city of Tirana (of which Wisdom was granted the freedom in 1995),^[33][34] his presence at the training ground eclipsed even that of David Beckham. He appeared on the pitch before the start of the Albania v England match wearing a half Albanian and half English football shirt. He was well-received by the crowd, especially when he performed one of his trademark trips on his way out to the centre circle.^[35]
In his book and TV series One Hit Wonderland, Tony Hawks united with Wisdom and, along with Sir Tim Rice, released a single, "Big In Albania", in an attempt to enter the Albanian pop charts. It reached Number 18 on the Top Albania Radio chart.^[36]

Songwriting

Whilst Norman's stage performances often involved musical numbers, few of them were penned by him. He has seven songs attributed to him in the ASCAP database, which were: Beware, Don't Laugh at Me (Cause I'm a Fool), Falling in Love, Follow a Star, I Love You, Please Opportunity, and Up in the World.^[37]
After his death some confusion was caused by an unsubstantiated Wikipedia claim that he provided lyrics for the song popular during the Second World War, (There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover (actually written by Walter Kent and Nat Burton). Three British newspapers reported this supposed fact:^[38] The Guardian^[39], The Independent,^[40] and The Daily Mirror.^[41] All three publications later retracted this, The Guardian issued an apology,^[42] although The Independent and the The Daily Mirror merely changed the text of their webpages without any indication of the error^{[citation needed]}. The Guardian also retracted that "he was nominated for an Oscar for The Night They Raided Minsky's",^[42] whilst The Daily Mirror retains this attribution (item 6 of their "10 Things you need to know..")^[41]

Retirement

Wisdom announced his retirement from the entertainment industry on his 90th birthday (4 February 2005). He announced that he intended to spend more time with his family, playing golf and driving around the Isle of Man, where he was living.^[14]
In 2007, he made a singular return to acting in a feature film directed by Kevin Powis, Expresso. The film, which Wisdom later announced (reported BBC/ITV News) was to be officially his last film role, is set during one day in a coffee shop and was funded by the UK Film Council and ScreenWM. Shot in January, it premièred at the Cannes Film Festival on 27 May 2007. It was later adopted by the UK charity Macmillan and released on DVD in aid of the charity. In the film Wisdom plays a vicar plagued by a fly in a café. 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.^[43]

Health decline

In mid-2006, after he suffered an irregular heart rhythm, Wisdom was flown by helicopter to hospital in Liverpool and after a few days was fitted with a heart pacemaker.^[44]
In August 2007, newspapers of the Daily Mail group and the Isle of Man Newspapers reported that Wisdom was in the Abbotswood nursing home in Ballasalla, where he had been resident from 12 July 2007.^[45]
On the release of Expresso to DVD in the same month, BBC News confirmed that Wisdom lived in a care home, due to his suffering from vascular dementia.^[43] It was also reported that he had granted his children power of attorney over his affairs and having sold off his flat in Epsom, Surrey, they were now in the process of selling his Isle of Man home to raise money to fund his longer term care.^[46]
In an exclusive interview on 27 August 2007 with the News of the World, journalists were given access to Wisdom's room at the home. He claimed to be happy and content in a routine which his family and carers considered kept him safe in spite of the memory losses associated with his condition.^[47]
On 16 January 2008,^[48] BBC2 aired Wonderland: The Secret Life Of Norman Wisdom Aged 92 and 3/4,^[49] a documentary highlighting the dilemma of coping with an ageing parent. In a spoken trailer on BBC Radio 5 Live for the programme and in later publicity interviews undertaken by his family, it was stated that Wisdom's memory loss had become so severe that he no longer recognised himself in his own films.^[50]

Premature obituary

On 28 December 2008, Sky News announced that Wisdom had died, running a pre-recorded obituary, both as part of its rolling broadcast coverage and on its website. Shortly afterwards, when it became apparent that other news sites were not carrying the story, Sky dropped the story, stating that it had been published in error in response to e-mail queries.^[51]

Death

In the six months prior to his death, Wisdom suffered a series of strokes causing a decline in his physical and mental health. He died at 6:46 pm on 4 October 2010 at Abbotswood nursing home on the Isle of Man at the age of 95.^[52]
According to his publicist, Phil Day, "I have never met anyone in the profession who didn't like him, right up to royalty".^[39]
His funeral took place on 22 October 2010 in Douglas, Isle of Man and all of the Isle of Man were invited.^[53][54] His well known cloth cap was placed on the coffin in the church.^[54]

Tributes and other references

• In 2007, a Norman Wisdom-themed bar opened at the Sefton Hotel, Douglas, called Sir Norman's. It has stills from his many films on the walls and TV screens playing some of his old films. The bronze statue of Wisdom, which used to be on a bench outside Douglas Town Hall, has been moved to the steps leading into the bar.^{[citation needed]}

• In September 1991 a French speaker in an agriculture committee in the European Communities called for the communities to show "la sagesse des Normands", which was translated into English as calling for Norman Wisdom to sort out Europe's problems.^[55]

Filmography

• A Date with a Dream (1948)
• Wit and Wisdom (1948–50, TV)
• Trouble in Store (1953)
• One Good Turn (1954)
• As Long as They're Happy (1955) (cameo)
• Man of the Moment (1955)
• Up in the World (1956)
• Just My Luck (1957)
• The Square Peg (1958)
• Follow a Star (1959)
• There Was a Crooked Man (1960)
• The Bulldog Breed (1960)
• On the Beat (1962)
• The Girl on the Boat (1962)
• A Stitch in Time (1963)
• The Early Bird (1965)
• The Sandwich Man (1966)
• Press for Time (1966)
• Androcles and the Lion (1967, TV)
• The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968)
• What's Good for the Goose (1969)
• Norman (1970, TV)
• Music Hall (1970, TV)
• Nobody Is Norman Wisdom (1973, TV)
• A Little Bit of Wisdom (1974, TV)
• BBC Playhouse: "Going Gently" (1981, TV)
• BBC Bergerac: "Almost Like a Holiday" (1983, TV)
• The 1950s: Music, Memories & Milestones (1988, TV)
• Double X: The Name of the Game (Double X, Run Rabbit Run) (1992)
• Last of the Summer Wine (1995-2004)
• Where on Earth Is ... Katy Manning (1998, TV)
• Casualty episode "She Loved the Rain" (1998, TV)
• Junfans Attic (2001)
• Dalziel and Pascoe episode "Mens Sana" (2002, TV)
• Coronation Street (2004, TV)
• Five Children and It (2004) Played Nesbitt.
• Last of the Summer Wine episode "Variations on a Theme of the Widow Winstanley" (2004, TV)
• Expresso (2007) [www.expressofilm.com]
• Evil Calls: The Raven (filmed pre-2007 released (2008))
• Wonderland: The Secret Life Of Norman Wisdom Aged 92 and 3/4 (2008, TV) (his last appearance)

Audio recordings

• 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)
• Norman Wisdom, William Hall (2003). My Turn. Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0099446767. 
• Don't Laugh At Me, Cos I'm a Fool (1992) (two volumes of autobiography)
• Trouble in Store (1991)

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