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In March 2010, Wise's widow Doreen unveiled a statue of him in his home town of Morley, West Yorkshire, where he won a talent contest in 1936.Ernie Wise Statue is unveiled
— ''"Belfast Telegraph''" The statue was commissioned by the Morley Murals Committee and funded by Doreen.
Eric And Ern
''Keeping The Magic Alive'' (book, film, TV reviews, interviews) {{DEFAULTSORT:Wise, Ernie 1925 births 1999 deaths 20th-century English comedians 20th-century English male actors 20th-century English screenwriters BAFTA fellows Best Entertainment Performance BAFTA Award (television) winners British male comedy actors British male television writers British Merchant Navy personnel of World War II Comedians from Yorkshire English comedy writers English male comedians English male film actors English male television actors English television writers Morecambe and Wise Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Bramley, Leeds Television personalities from West Yorkshire
Ernest Wiseman, (27 November 1925 – 21 March 1999), known by his stage name Ernie Wise, was an English comedian, best known as one half of the comedy duo
in 1968. Over a period of more than twenty years, Morecambe and Wise had regular series with both Morecambe and Wise
Eric Morecambe (John Eric Bartholomew, 14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984) and Ernie Wise (Ernest Wiseman, 27 November 1925 – 21 March 1999), known as Morecambe and Wise (and sometimes as Eric and Ernie), were an English comic double act, working i ...
, who became a national institution on British television, especially for their Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
specials.
Early life and education
Ernest Wiseman, born inLeeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
to Harry and Connie Wiseman (''née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
'' Wright) who married in St Thomas Stanningley, was the eldest of five children, and changed his surname (as did his future partner) to go into show business. He attended Thorpe Infant and Junior School, and then East Ardsley Boys' School, but entered the entertainment industry in 1933, appearing as an actor and singer in music hall
Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...
. His father, Harry, a railway lamp man, was also a semi-professional singer, and they appeared together under the name "Bert Carson and his Little Wonder". An early clipping shows Bert Carson and the Little Wonder (then aged 7) taking part in an audition concert at the Harewood Working Men’s Club in January 1933.
Wise (aged 10) appeared as a clown in the Nignog Revue at the Alhambra in Bradford in March 1936 and received a very good review. “His tap dancing and personality songs are in the best music hall style, and he astonished the house with his amazing boldness.”
He started making solo appearances—singing, dancing, and telling jokes—in 1936, and in the autumn of 1938 he came to the attention of Bryan Michie, a leading juvenile talent spotter, who recommended him to the impresario Jack Hylton
Jack Hylton (born John Greenhalgh Hilton; 2 July 1892 – 29 January 1965) was an English pianist, composer, band leader and impresario.
Hylton rose to prominence during the British dance band era, being referred as the "British King of Jazz" ...
. Working with Hylton, Wise made his London debut in January 1939 at the Princes' Theatre in the "Band Waggon
''Band Waggon'' was a comedy radio show broadcast by the BBC from 1938 to 1940. The first series featured Arthur Askey and Richard "Stinker" Murdoch. In the second series, Askey and Murdoch were joined by Syd Walker, and the third series added ...
" stage show and received a very good review. He toured with Jack Hylton's stage show and made his television debut on the BBC London television Jack Hylton show on 15 March 1939.
Performing career
In August 1940, Wise metEric Morecambe
John Eric Bartholomew, (14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984), known by his stage name Eric Morecambe, was an English comedian who together with Ernie Wise formed the double act Morecambe and Wise. The partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's d ...
, then known as Eric Bartholomew, when they were both in the touring Jack Hylton show "Youth takes a Bow".
Gradually, the duo formed a close friendship, and, in 1941, they began their comedy double act
A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases f ...
, which was to last until Morecambe's death in 1984. They made their debut together as "Bartholomew and Wise" on Thursday 28 August 1941, at the Liverpool Empire
The Liverpool Empire Theatre is a theatre on the corner of Lime Street in Liverpool, England. The playhouse, which opened in 1925, is the second one to be built on the site. It has the largest two-tier auditorium in the United Kingdom and can ...
. A change of name followed in the autumn: after agreeing that the combination of their respective places of birth— Morecambe and Leeds—would make the act sound too much like a cheap day return, they settled on "Morecambe and Wise".
Both continued to work in theatre comedy during the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
until late 1943, when Morecambe went down a coal mine at Accrington (as a Bevin Boy
Bevin Boys were young British men conscripted to work in coal mines between December 1943 and March 1948, to increase the rate of coal production, which had declined through the early years of World War II. The programme was named after Ern ...
) and Wise served in the Merchant Navy.
They reunited after the war and made their name in radio, transferring to television in April 1954—although their first TV series, '' Running Wild'', was unsuccessful. In 1961, they gained their own series on ATV, which was a success and raised their profile. They transferred to the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
and BBC. In 1976, they were both appointed OBEs.
Wise was commonly regarded as the straight man
The straight man is a stock character in a comedy performance, especially a double act, sketch comedy, or farce. When a comedy partner behaves eccentrically, the straight man is expected to maintain composure. The direct contribution to the ...
of the partnership, although his role gradually and subtly changed over the years. When Eddie Braben
Edwin Charles Braben (31 October 1930 – 21 May 2013) was an English comedy writer and performer best known for providing material for Morecambe and Wise. He also worked for David Frost, Ronnie Corbett and Ken Dodd.
Life and career
Brabe ...
took over as their chief writer, he enriched Wise's persona by making him pompous and naive. Wise's character changed from being a conventional straight man into a pretentious and self-satisfied buffoon. Braben also made Wise a would-be writer; their BBC shows in the 1970s would regularly climax with an extended sketch, introduced by Wise as "a play what I wrote." It was in such a 'play' that Glenda Jackson
Glenda May Jackson (born 9 May 1936) is an English actress and former Member of Parliament (MP). She has won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice: for her role as Gudrun Brangwen in the romantic drama ''Women in Love'' (1970); and again for ...
, at the height of her career, was made to speak the line "All men are fools, and what makes them so is having beauty like what I have got."
Later years
After Morecambe's death from a third heart attack on 28 May 1984, Ernie Wise spent some of his time atBoca Raton, Florida
Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...
, where he had a holiday home.
In the UK, he lived in Thorpe Avenue, Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
for many years next door to singer Edmund Hockridge
Edmund James Arthur Hockridge (9 August 1919 – 15 March 2009) was a Canadian baritone and actor who had an active performance career in musicals, operas, concerts, plays and on radio. According to his obituary in ''The Guardian'', his li ...
, before moving to a luxury home on the banks of the River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
in Maidenhead, Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
.
On 1 January 1985, he made what at the time was said to have been the first public mobile phone call in the UK, from St Katharine Docks
St Katharine Docks is a former dock and now a mixed-used district in Central London, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and within the East End. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, immediately downstream of the Tower of London an ...
, East London, to Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
's Headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire. In 2015, it was reported that the actual first call was made a few hours earlier by Michael Harrison to his father Sir Ernest Harrison
Sir Ernest Thomas Harrison (11 May 1926 – 16 February 2009) was an English businessman. He was best known as chairman of electronics company Racal and the first chairman of its spun-out mobile telephony division, Vodafone
Vodafone Group ...
, chairman of Vodafone.
Wise appeared regularly as a panellist on the ITV revival of the popular panel show ''What's My Line?
''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelis ...
'' He was a guest several times on ''Countdown
A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...
'', had a gardening column in the ''News of the World
The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...
'' newspaper and also appeared in several West End plays, including ''The Mystery Of Edwin Drood
''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'' is the final novel by Charles Dickens, originally published in 1870.
Though the novel is named after the character Edwin Drood, it focuses more on Drood's uncle, John Jasper, a precentor, choirmaster and opium ...
'' in 1987. He gave talks on cruises about his life and career. In 1989, he made a guest appearance in ''Rainbow
A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...
'' Series 17, Episode 1276. He wrote his autobiography, ''Still on My Way to Hollywood'', in 1990. He also was the subject on '' This Is Your Life'', which was transmitted on Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It ...
that year. His 1992 Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
single was a recommended retail release in ''Music Week
''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future.
History
Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...
''. Wise was also an active and long-time participant in the Keep Britain Tidy
Keep Britain Tidy is a UK-based independent environmental charity. The organisation campaigns to reduce litter, improve local places and prevent waste. It has offices in Wigan and London.
History
Keep Britain Tidy was originally set up by a conf ...
campaign.
On 14 May 1994, the BBC aired the first of three episodes of a mini-series called ''Bring Me Sunshine'', as a tribute to Eric Morecambe. It was hosted by Ben Elton
Benjamin Charles Elton (born 3 May 1959) is an English comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. He was a part of London's alternative comedy movement of the 1980s and became a writer on the sitcoms '' The Young Ones'' and ''Bla ...
, who is a huge fan of Morecambe and Wise, and who cites the duo as a big influence on his career. Those interviewed were John Thaw
John Edward Thaw, (3 January 1942 – 21 February 2002) was an English actor who appeared in a range of television, stage, and cinema roles. He starred in the television series '' Inspector Morse'' as title character Detective Chief Inspector ...
, Roy Castle
Roy Castle (31 August 1932 – 2 September 1994) was an English dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television presenter and musician. In addition to being an accomplished jazz trumpet player, he could play many other instruments. Following a vers ...
, who was to die later that year, Diana Rigg
Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg (20 July 193810 September 2020) was an English actress of stage and screen. Her roles include Emma Peel in the TV series '' The Avengers'' (1965–1968); Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in ''On H ...
, Hale and Pace
Hale and Pace were an English comedy double-act that performed in clubs and on radio and television in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 1990s. The duo was made up of Gareth Hale and Norman Pace, with the ''Hale and Pace'' television sho ...
and Fry and Laurie
Fry and Laurie are English comedy double act, mostly active in the 1980s and 1990s. The duo consisted of Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, who met in 1980 through mutual friend Emma Thompson while all three attended the University of Cambridge. They ...
. Wise was not asked to participate, the BBC saying that they did not want "too many talking heads". He was, however, recovering from a minor stroke which he had suffered in December 1993 which forced him to spend Christmas and New Year in hospital.
Wise suffered a second minor stroke in August 1995, and as a result, announced his retirement from show business on 27 November 1995, his 70th birthday.
In August 1998, Wise was asked by the BBC to take part in ''Bring Me Sunshine: The Heart and Soul of Eric Morecambe'', which was shown on 23 December that year. He had agreed to do so, but then his health had begun to deteriorate further. Earlier that month, Wise suffered two heart attacks within a week while on holiday, and had to undergo a triple heart bypass
Coronary artery bypass surgery, also known as coronary artery bypass graft (CABG, pronounced "cabbage") is a surgical procedure to treat coronary artery disease (CAD), the buildup of plaques in the arteries of the heart. It can relieve chest pai ...
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...
, on 22 January 1999. In March 1999, he was flown back to RAF Northolt
("Ready to carry or to fight")
, pushpin_map = Greater London
, pushpin_label = RAF Northolt
, pushpin_map_caption = Shown within Greater London
, coordinates =
, type = Royal Air Force station
, code =
, site_area =
, height =
, owners ...
, in London, by air ambulance and taken directly to the Nuffield Hospital
Nuffield Health is the United Kingdom's largest healthcare charity. Established in 1957 the charity operates 31 Nuffield Health Hospitals and 114 Nuffield Health Fitness & Wellbeing Centres.
It is independent of the National Health Service and ...
at Wexham
Wexham is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the county of Buckinghamshire in southern England. It is on the boundary of the unitary authority of Borough of Slough, Slough, its post town. Wexham Park Hospital is a large hospital on the ...
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
.
Death
Ernie Wise died from heart failure and a chest infection at the Nuffield Hospital, Wexham, nearSlough
Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...
, on the morning of 21 March 1999.
His funeral was on 30 March at Slough crematorium. The eulogy was read by Michael Grade
Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth, (born 8 March 1943) is an English television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive of Channel 4 ( ...
. Marion Montgomery
Marion Montgomery (November 17, 1934 – July 22, 2002)
, Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris (born 30 March 1930) is an Australian entertainer whose career has encompassed work as a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, comedian, actor, painter and television personality. He often used unusual instruments in his performan ...
, Angela Rippon
Angela May Rippon (born 12 October 1944)"Angela Rippon," ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Detroit: Gale, (2008) ''Gale Biography In Context'' is an English television journalist, newsreader, writer and presenter. Rippon presented radio and tele ...
and Frank Bough were among those who attended, along with the family of Eric Morecambe.
Marriage
Wise was married to the dancer Doreen Blythe (14 May 1930 – 14 April 2018) from 18 January 1953 until his death.Legacy and statue
In March 2010, Wise's widow Doreen unveiled a statue of him in his home town of Morley, West Yorkshire, where he won a talent contest in 1936.— ''"Belfast Telegraph''" The statue was commissioned by the Morley Murals Committee and funded by Doreen.
References
Further reading
Biographies * * * *External links
* * *Eric And Ern
''Keeping The Magic Alive'' (book, film, TV reviews, interviews) {{DEFAULTSORT:Wise, Ernie 1925 births 1999 deaths 20th-century English comedians 20th-century English male actors 20th-century English screenwriters BAFTA fellows Best Entertainment Performance BAFTA Award (television) winners British male comedy actors British male television writers British Merchant Navy personnel of World War II Comedians from Yorkshire English comedy writers English male comedians English male film actors English male television actors English television writers Morecambe and Wise Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Bramley, Leeds Television personalities from West Yorkshire