Norman Wisdom

Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, (4 February 1915 – 4 October 2010) was an English actor, comedian, musician and singer best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring a hapless onscreen character often called Norman Pitkin. He was awarded the 1953 BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles following the release of ''Trouble in Store'', his first film in a lead role.

Wisdom gained celebrity status in lands as far apart as South America, Iran and many Eastern Bloc countries, particularly in Albania where his films were the only ones with Western actors permitted to be shown by dictator Enver Hoxha. Charlie Chaplin once referred to Wisdom as his "favourite clown".

Wisdom later forged a career on Broadway in New York City 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. He toured Australia and South Africa. After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, a hospice was named in his honour. In 1995, he was given the Freedom of the City of London and of Tirana. The same year, he was appointed OBE and was knighted five years later.

Early 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, and had made a dress for Queen Mary. The couple married in Marylebone on 15 July 1912. Wisdom had an elder brother, Frederick Thomas "Fred" Wisdom (13 December 1912 – 1 July 1971).

The family lived at 91 Fernhead Road, Maida Vale, London W9, where they slept in one room. He and his brother were brought up in extreme poverty and were frequently hit by their father who would pick them up and throw them across the room.

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 shop on leaving school at 13. Having been kicked out of his home by his father he become homeless and slept rough in London,''Norman Wisdom: My Story'', BBC Two, 15 October 2010 in 1929 he walked (by his own account) to Cardiff, Wales, where he became a cabin boy in the Merchant Navy. He later also worked as a waiter and page in hotels where room and board was supplied for the staff.

Military service

Wisdom first enlisted into the King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster), but his mother had him discharged as he was under age. He later re-enlisted as a drummer boy in the 10th Royal Hussars. In 1930, he was posted to Lucknow, in the United Provinces of British India, as a bandsman.

He rode horses, became the flyweight boxing champion of the British Army in India and taught himself to play the piano, trumpet, saxophone, flute, drums, bugle and clarinet.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, 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. Wisdom then joined the Royal Corps of Signals, and performed a similar military function at the unit headquarters in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

Whilst performing a shadow boxing routine in an army gym, Wisdom discovered he had a talent for entertainment, and began to develop his skills as a musician and stage entertainer. In 1940 aged 25, at a NAAFI entertainment night, during a dance routine, Wisdom stepped down from his position in the orchestra pit, and started shadow boxing. Hearing his colleagues and officers giggling, he broke into a duck waddle, followed by a series of facial expressions. He later described the reaction as: "They were in hysterics. All the officers were falling about laughing."

Wisdom later said this was where he first patented his persona as "The Successful Failure". Over the next few years, until he was demobilised in 1945, his routine included his characteristic singing and the trip-up-and-stumble. After Wisdom appeared at a charity concert at Cheltenham Town Hall on 31 August 1944, actor Rex Harrison came backstage and urged him to become a professional entertainer.

Comic entertainer

After being demobilised Wisdom worked as a private hire car driver. Having improved his diction in the army, he also took a job as a night telephone operator.

Wisdom made his debut as a professional entertainer at the age of 31 still calling himself "The Successful Failure". In the anonymity of small suburban music halls he built an act out of his shyness, his ability to fall and his multi-instrumental music skills and singing talent where the theatre band constantly changed key and he could never keep up until pulling out his virtuosity and beating them at their own game. One outstanding review in August 1946 read, "An unusual and most versatile comedian, Norman Wisdom, contributes two remarkable turns. He is an accomplished pianist, a pleasing singer, a talented instrumentalist, a clever mimer, and withal, a true humorist.". His rise to the top was relatively fast. A very successful run at the London Casino in April 1948, led to a summer season in "Out of the Blue" in Scarborough. Magician David Nixon was also part of the cast and the two worked together so well that they went on to continue the act on other variety stages starting at the London Casino in September 1948. Christmas 1948 saw him in the pantomime "Robinson Crusoe" at Birmingham's Alexandra Theatre. Wisdom 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 theatre star within two years, he honed his act into a star turn mainly between theatres in London and Brighton:

Wisdom made his TV debut in 1948 and was soon commanding enormous audiences and had a small film role in '' A Date with a Dream'' released in the same year.

Starring film roles for the Rank Organisation

Wisdom made a series of low-budget star-vehicle comedies for the Rank Organisation, beginning with ''Trouble in Store'' (1953). This film earned him a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Film in 1954. It was the second most popular film at the British box-office in 1954 and exhibitors voted him the tenth biggest star at the British box office the same year.

His films' cheerful, unpretentious appeal make them the direct descendants of those made a generation earlier by George Formby. 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. They were also 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, usually called Norman, 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. His innocent incompetence still made him endearing to the heroine.

Wisdom's second film as star, '' One Good Turn'' (1955), was the seventh most popular movie of 1955 in Britain. He made a cameo in ''As Long as They're Happy'' (1955), then returned in '' Man of the Moment'' (1955). He was the 6th most popular star of 1955.

Wisdom was a window cleaner in ''Up in the World'' (1956) and worked in a jewellery store in '' Just My Luck'' (1957). The box office receipts of these last few films had declined from previous Wisdom films but ''The Square Peg'' (1959), an army comedy, reversed the trend and was one of the year's biggest hits. The film was the 7th most popular movie at the British box office in 1959. Less successful was ''Follow a Star'' (1959). ''There Was a Crooked Man'' (1960) was an attempt to change Wisdom's image away from Rank Organisation. ''The Bulldog Breed'' (1960) was more conventional. The film also starred a young Michael Caine who later recalled he did not enjoy working with Wisdom because he "wasn't very nice to support-part actors". Wisdom remained the 10th biggest star at the British box office.

Wisdom was in ''The Girl on the Boat'' (1961) from a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, a second film away from the Rank formula. '' On the Beat'' (1962) as a car cleaner and '' A Stitch in Time'' (1963), in which he was cast as an apprentice butcher, returned him to the regular format.

''The Early Bird'' (1965), his first colour film, had Wisdom as a milkman. After a cameo in '' The Sandwich Man'' (1966), Wisdom starred in ''Press for Time'' (1966), the last film in this sequence of starring vehicles. Wisdom was still voted the 5th most popular star at the British box office.

Whilst Wisdom's stage performances often involved musical numbers, he wrote only a few of them. He has seven songs attributed to him in the ASCAP database, which are: "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".

Later career

In 1966, Wisdom spent a short period in the United States to star in the Broadway production of the Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn musical comedy ''Walking Happy'' based on the play '' Hobson's Choice'' by Harold Brighouse. His performance as ''Will Mosop'' was nominated for a Tony Award.

This led to Wisdom's being cast in his first Hollywood film, ''The Night They Raided Minsky's'' (1968) and in the US Television musical of George Bernard Shaw's ''Androcles and The Lion'' (1967) with songs by Richard Rogers and co-starring Noël Coward.

After a typical performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, 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 a successful cabaret act. He won critical acclaim in 1981 for his dramatic role of a dying cancer patient in the television play Going Gently.

Wisdom was one of several actors initially considered for the role of Frank Spencer in ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.'' However, he turned the role down and it eventually went to Michael Crawford. The creator of the series Raymond Allen later stated "Norman Wisdom was offered the role but turned it down because he didn't find it funny".

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. Wisdom had performed in front of the Queen at many Royal Command Performances, the first being in 1952.

After touring South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia with some success, his appearances in Britain became more infrequent. He spent much of the 1980s in seclusion on the Isle of Man.

Wisdom's career revived in the 1990s, helped by the young comedian Lee Evans, whose act was often compared to Wisdom's work. The high point of this new popularity was the knighthood he was awarded, for services to entertainment, in the 2000 New Year's honours list. During the ceremony, once he had received his knighthood, he walked away and again performed his trademark trip, at which the Queen smiled and laughed.

From 1995 until 2004 he appeared in the recurring role of Billy Ingleton in the long-running BBC
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