Russ Abbot (born Russell Allan Roberts; 18 September 1947) is an English musician, comedian and actor. Born in
Chester, he first came to public notice during the 1970s as the singer and drummer with British comedy showband the Black Abbots, later forging a prominent solo career as a television comedian with his own weekly show on British television.
Continuing his musical career as a solo artist, Abbot released several charting singles and albums. His career has continued with a shift into more mainstream serious acting in television shows, series, and stage productions.
Career
As a drummer/backing singer, Abbot joined the Black Abbots (founded by Robert Turner) in
Chester during the mid-1960s and they released several singles to modest chart success on minor labels in the early 1970s.
The band only signed their first major
recording contract in 1977, putting out a series of comedy singles and one live album (Abbot now taking lead vocals) before disbanding in 1980. Subsequently, he appeared as a comedian, winning the 'Funniest Man On Television' award five times. Abbot appeared on the television show ''
The Comedians'' under his birth name (Russ Roberts).
From 1980 onward, he released some albums as a solo artist and appeared in several TV series. The most successful of his music singles, "Atmosphere", did well in the UK top 10, peaking at No. 7 in 1985.
''Russ Abbot's Madhouse'' and ''
The Russ Abbot Show
''The Russ Abbot Show'' is a British television sketch comedy series which stars Russ Abbot and ran for 16 years on television before moving over to Radio 2 for a further five years.
History
The series originated as ''The Freddie Starr Vari ...
'' showcased his talents as an all-round entertainer, attracting millions of viewers. This show was top-rated among younger viewers, prompting two annuals to be published in 1982–83. These annuals featured
comic strips based on popular characters, plus some publicity photos of Abbot in a variety of guises, including his well-known
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
satire featuring characters named
Basildon Bond
John Dickinson Stationery Limited was a leading English stationery company founded in southwest Hertfordshire. In the 19th century, the company pioneered a number of innovations in papermaking. It became part of Dickinson Robinson Group in 19 ...
and Miss Funnyfanny (based on the fictional MI6 spy duo James Bond and
Miss Moneypenny
Miss Moneypenny, later assigned the first names of Eve or Jane, is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. She is secretary to M, who is Bond's superior officer and head of the British Secret Intelligence Service ( MI6).
Al ...
).
In January 1993, Abbot hosted an
Elvis
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...
special of ''
Stars in Their Eyes
''Stars in Their Eyes'' is a British television talent series, based on Joop van den Ende's Dutch format ''Soundmixshow''. It featured a singing contest in which members of the public impersonate showbiz stars.
The show premiered on 21 July 1 ...
''; this was originally to be presented by
Leslie Crowther
Leslie Douglas Sargent Crowther, CBE (6 February 1933 – 29 September 1996) was an English comedian, actor, TV presenter, and game show host.
Biography
Crowther was born on Monday, 6 February, 1933 in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, son of ...
, who had suffered serious injuries in a car crash in his
Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to:
* Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct
Automobiles
* Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
in October 1992. Abbot was brought in as a temporary host, and this was the only episode he hosted. Crowther was unable to return, and died in 1996; he was replaced by
Matthew Kelly
Matthew Kelly (born David Allan Kelly, 9 May 1950) is an English actor and presenter. Having been trained as a theatre actor, he first came to public prominence as a television presenter of ITV light entertainment shows such as '' Game for a ...
, who then hosted the show until 2004.
From 2000, Abbot played the lead role in the British National Tour of ''
Doctor Dolittle
Doctor John Dolittle is the central character of a series of children's books by Hugh Lofting starting with the 1920 '' The Story of Doctor Dolittle''. He is a physician who shuns human patients in favour of animals, with whom he can speak in th ...
''. Taking a break over the Christmas period, Abbot stepped down for
Phillip Schofield
Phillip Bryan Schofield (born 1 April 1962) is an English television presenter who works for ITV. He is currently the co-presenter of ITV's '' This Morning'' (2002–present) and ''Dancing on Ice'' (2006–2014, 2018–present) alongside Holl ...
to take the part but returned to the tour subsequently. In 2003, his "See You, Jimmy" character (called C. U. Jimmy) came third in the ''
Glasgow Herald
''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...
''
's poll to find the most Scottish person in the world, behind
Iain and Jimmy Krankie.
Abbot's theatre roles include Alfred P. Doolittle in ''
My Fair Lady
''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...
'' (starring
Amy Nuttall
Amy Abigail Nuttall (born 7 June 1982) is an English actress and singer known for playing Chloe Atkinson in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' from 2000 until 2005, and housemaid Ethel Parks in ITV period drama ''Downton Abbey''.
Early life
Nut ...
) at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dr ...
and on tour; The Narrator in ''
The Rocky Horror Show
''The Rocky Horror Show'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to the Science fiction film, science fiction and Horror film, horror B movies of the 1930s through to the early 1960s, the ...
''; Grandpa Potts in ''
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' at the
London Palladium
The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in the famous area of Soho. The theatre holds 2,286 seats. Of the roster of stars who have played there, many have televised performances. Between 1955 a ...
and
Fagin
Fagin is a fictional character and the secondary antagonist in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist''. In the preface to the novel, he is described as a "receiver of stolen goods". He is the leader of a group of children (the Artful Dod ...
in ''
Oliver!'' both in 1998 and 2009.
From July 2007, he took over the role of
Roger De Bris
The following are fictional characters from the 1967 film '' The Producers'', the Broadway musical based on it, and the 2005 film adaptation of the musical.
Max Bialystock
Max Bialystock is described as selfish, arrogant, fiery, impatient, sa ...
in the UK tour of ''
Mel Brooks' The Producers''. In 2008, Abbot appeared as the
Tin Man in the stage production of ''
The Wizard of Oz'' at the
Mayflower Theatre, Southampton.
In 2008, 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. ...
...
'' for the show's 30th series. He played Luther 'Hobbo' Hobdyke, who was the leader of a group consisting also of Entwistle, played by
.
'' episode "Secrets of the Stars" as a character called Martin Trueman, an astrologer who was possessed by the Ancient Lights. On 8 August 2009, Abbot appeared in an episode of ''
'' playing a pet shop owner. This marked Abbot's second ''Casualty'' role – he previously appeared as a different character in a 1999 episode. He appeared on ''
'' parodying the character he played in ''Casualty''.
for the second time. He again took the role after
left the show on 12 June 2010.
Between 2014 and 2016 he co-starred in the BBC sitcom ''
''.
In December 2020, University Radio Nottingham presenters George Scotland and Damian Stephen decided to start an internet campaign to get "Atmosphere" to number one for Christmas. The campaign, in the style of previous internet campaigns for Rage Against The Machine and
and Alistair Griffin, with "Atmosphere" highlighted as one of the contenders for Christmas Number One by the
.
Abbot has been married to Patricia Simpson since 28 January 1966. The couple have four children.