Norman Wisdom
Encyclopedia
Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, OBE
(4 February 1915 – 4 October 2010) was an English actor, comedian and singer-songwriter 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
, 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. Charlie Chaplin
once referred to Wisdom as his "favourite clown".
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. 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 received an OBE
. 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
, and he retired from acting at the age of 90 after his health deteriorated.
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. 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. Wisdom quipped, "I was born in very sorry circumstances. Both of my parents were very sorry."
Wisdom was married twice. His first wife was Doreen Brett, whom he married in 1941. By 1944 they had separated when Doreen gave birth to a son, Michael (born 1944), fathered by Albert Gerald Hardwick, a telephone engineer. The marriage was dissolved in 1946. 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 and Wisdom was granted full custody of the children. Freda Wisdom died in Brighton
in 1992.
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
, first declaring his support for the Merseyside club when appearing in the matchday programme in an interview in 1974. He enjoyed golf 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.
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.
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
.
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
and learned to play the trumpet and clarinet. While performing a comedy 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
. 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
.
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. 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.
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, 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".
, beginning with Trouble in Store
in 1953. This film earned him a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Film in 1954.
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 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.
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
. Wisdom had performed in front of the Queen at many Royal Command Performances, the first being in 1952.
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, 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.
He became prominent again in the 1990s, helped by the young comedian Lee Evans
, whose act was often compared to Wisdom's work. 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. 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.
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.
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.
In 2002 Wisdom filmed a very tiny role as a butler in a low budget horror film, 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
.
, 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. 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), 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. Wisdom was an honorary citizen of Tirana
.
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.
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: The Guardian
, The Independent
, and The Daily Mirror
. All three publications later retracted this, The Guardian issued an apology, although The Independent and the The Daily Mirror merely changed the text of their webpages without any indication of the error. The Guardian also retracted that "he was nominated for an Oscar for The Night They Raided Minsky's
", whilst The Daily Mirror retains this attribution (item 6 of their "10 Things you need to know..")
, where he was living.
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.
and after a few days was fitted with a heart pacemaker.
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.
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
. 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.
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.
On 16 January 2008, BBC2 aired Wonderland: The Secret Life Of Norman Wisdom Aged 92 and 3/4, 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.
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.
According to his publicist, Phil Day, "I have never met anyone in the profession who didn't like him, right up to royalty".
His funeral took place on 22 October 2010 in Douglas, Isle of Man
and all of the Isle of Man were invited.
His well known cloth cap was placed on the coffin in the church.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(4 February 1915 – 4 October 2010) was an English actor, comedian and singer-songwriter 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
James Bond (film series)
The James Bond film series is a British series of motion pictures based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond , who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. Earlier films were based on Fleming's novels and short stories, followed later by films with original storylines...
, and secured Wisdom a celebrity status in lands as far apart as South America, Iran and many Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
countries, particularly in Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
where his films were permitted by Enver Hoxha
Enver Hoxha
Enver Halil Hoxha was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary andthe leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania...
– Wisdom was the only Western actor to enjoy this privilege. Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
once referred to Wisdom as his "favourite clown".
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. After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...
, a hospice was named in his honour. In 1995 he was given the Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...
of London and of Tirana
Tirana
Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...
. The same year he received an OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
. Wisdom was knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
in 2000 and spent much of his later life on the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
. Some of his later appearances included roles in Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...
and Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
, and he retired from acting at the age of 90 after his health deteriorated.
Early and personal life
Norman Joseph Wisdom was born in the MaryleboneMarylebone
Marylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster. It is sometimes written as St. Marylebone or Mary-le-bone....
district of London. His parents were Frederick, a chauffeur
Chauffeur
A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine.Originally such drivers were always personal servants of the vehicle owner, but now in many cases specialist chauffeur service companies, or individual drivers provide...
, and Maud Wisdom (née Targett), a dressmaker
Dressmaker
A dressmaker is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Also called a mantua-maker or a modiste.-Notable dressmakers:*Cristobal Balenciaga*Charles Frederick Worth...
who often worked for West End theatres. 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 resided at 91 Fernhead Road, London W9, where they slept in one room. Wisdom quipped, "I was born in very sorry circumstances. Both of my parents were very sorry."
Wisdom was married twice. His first wife was Doreen Brett, whom he married in 1941. By 1944 they had separated when Doreen gave birth to a son, Michael (born 1944), fathered by Albert Gerald Hardwick, a telephone engineer. The marriage was dissolved in 1946. He married his second wife, Freda Isobel Simpson, a dancer, in 1947; they had two children: Nicholas
Nicholas Wisdom
Nicholas Wisdom is a former English cricketer, turned businessman. He was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace....
(born 1953, who later played first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
for Sussex
Sussex County Cricket Club
Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...
) and Jacqueline (born 1954). The couple divorced in 1969 and Wisdom was granted full custody of the children. Freda Wisdom died in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
in 1992.
Wisdom was a lifelong supporter and a former board member of football team Brighton and Hove Albion. However he also liked Everton
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
and Newcastle United
Newcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...
, first declaring his support for the Merseyside club when appearing in the matchday programme in an interview in 1974. He enjoyed golf and was a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats
Grand Order of Water Rats
The Grand Order of Water Rats is an entertainment industry charity, and brotherhood, based in London. The Water Rats were founded in 1889 by comedian Joe Elvin. The first King Rat, as the head of the charity is termed, was music hall singer Harry Freeman. Comedian Dan Leno joined in 1890 and was...
. Popular in the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
, he lived for 27 years in a house in Andreas
Andreas (parish)
Andreas is a parish in the Sheading of Ayre lying in the north of the Isle of Man. It is one of three parishes along with Bride and Lezayre in the sheading of Ayre.-Geography:The parish stretches from Lhen Moar, along the north-western coast to Bride...
named Ballalough (Manx language
Manx language
Manx , also known as Manx Gaelic, and as the Manks language, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, historically spoken by the Manx people. Only a small minority of the Island's population is fluent in the language, but a larger minority has some knowledge of it...
for "place of the lake", though really a humorous corruption of the English "belly laugh"). He was an Honorary Member of the Winkle Club
Winkle Club
The Winkle Club is an internationally famous charitable organization formed in 1900 by Hastings fishermen to help the under-privileged families of Hastings Old Town, in East Sussex, in the south of England....
, a famous charity in Hastings
Hastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
, East Sussex.
A lover of cars, he owned a 1987 Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit
Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit
For the cruise ship see MS Silver SpiritThe Silver Spirit is a British saloon automobile made by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, in England. It was launched in 1980.The Silver Spur was a long-wheelbase version of the Silver Spirit, produced at the same time....
and a Jaguar S-Type
Jaguar S-Type
The Jaguar S-Type was a mid-size luxury/executive car that debuted at the 1998 Birmingham Motor Show and went on sale in spring 1999. The name is a revival of a previous Jaguar model, the S-Type introduced in 1963.-Overview:...
, until his age and declining mental health meant he failed a Department of Transport
Department of Transport (Isle of Man)
The Department of Infrastructure is a department of the Isle of Man Government.-History:The department was created in April 2010 from the Department of Transport....
fitness-to-drive test and they were sold in September 2005. A supporter of various charities including Mencap
Mencap
The Royal Mencap Society is a charity based in the UK that works with people with a learning disability.-Profile:Mencap is the UK's leading learning disability charity working with people with a learning disability and their families and carers...
, in 2005 Wisdom starred in a video for the Manx
Manx people
The Manx are an ethnic group coming from the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea in northern Europe. They are often described as a Celtic people, though they have had a mixed background including Norse and English influences....
girl group Twisted Angels, for their single "LA", in support of the local charity Project 21.
During the 1960s he was involved in a famous legal case (Wisdom v Chamberlain) in which he was pursued by the Inland Revenue
Inland Revenue
The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax, petroleum revenue tax and stamp duty...
for tax on profits made from the sale of silver bullion he had bought as he was concerned about the further devaluation of sterling
Sterling
Sterling may refer to:* Sterling silver, a grade of silver* Pound sterling, the currency of the United Kingdom- Businesses :* Hotel Sterling, a former hotel in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States* Sterling Airlines...
. 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
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
.
Armed forces
After a period in a children's homeFoster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....
in Deal, Kent
Deal, Kent
Deal is a town in Kent England. It lies on the English Channel eight miles north-east of Dover and eight miles south of Ramsgate. It is a former fishing, mining and garrison town...
, Wisdom ran away when he was 11 but returned to become an errand boy in a grocer's
Grocery store
A grocery store is a store that retails food. A grocer, the owner of a grocery store, stocks different kinds of foods from assorted places and cultures, and sells these "groceries" to customers. Large grocery stores that stock products other than food, such as clothing or household items, are...
on leaving school at 13. In 1929, he walked (by his own account) to Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Wales, where he became a cabin boy
Cabin boy
A Cabin boy or ship's boy is a boy who waits on the officers and passengers of a ship, especially running errands for the captain....
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
Page (servant)
A page or page boy is a traditionally young male servant, a messenger at the service of a nobleman or royal.-The medieval page:In medieval times, a page was an attendant to a knight; an apprentice squire...
. He first enlisted into the King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster)
King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster)
The King's Own Royal Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line of the British Army, which served under various titles from 1680 to 1959. Its lineage is continued today by the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment.-History:...
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
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and in 1930 was posted to Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
, in the United Provinces
United Provinces of British India
The United Provinces of British India, more commonly known as the United Provinces, was a province of British India, which came into existence on 3 January 1921 as a result of the renaming of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It corresponded approximately to the combined regions of the...
of British India
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
, as a bandsman
Military band
A military band originally was a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the title of Bandmaster or Director of Music...
. There he gained an education certificate, rode horses, was the flyweight
Flyweight
Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing less than 112 lb but above 108 lb .-Professional boxing:...
boxing champion of the British Army in India
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...
and learned to play the trumpet and clarinet. While performing a comedy boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
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
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
. After leaving the army he learned to drive and worked as a private hire car
Taxicabs of the United Kingdom
Taxicabs are regulated throughout the United Kingdom, but the regulation of taxicabs in London is especially rigorous both with regard to mechanical integrity and driver knowledge. An official report observed that: "Little however is known about the regulation by anyone outside the trade...
driver and having improved his diction in the army he also took a job as a night telephone operator
Telephone operator
A telephone operator is either* a person who provides assistance to a telephone caller, usually in the placing of operator assisted telephone calls such as calls from a pay phone, collect calls , calls which are billed to a credit card, station-to-station and person-to-person calls, and certain...
.
World War II
At the outbreak of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
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
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
. He met Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
on several occasions when asked for updates on incoming calls and once was disciplined for calling him Winnie. He then joined the Royal Corps of Signals
Royal Corps of Signals
The Royal Corps of Signals is one of the combat support arms of the British Army...
and performed a similar function with a military unit based in Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
, Gloucestershire. After Wisdom appeared at a charity concert at the Cheltenham Town Hall
Cheltenham Town Hall
Cheltenham Town Hall is an early-20th century assembly rooms in Cheltenham, England. Unlike most town halls, it is a public venue and not the seat of the borough council, which is housed in the nearby municipal offices....
actor Rex Harrison
Rex Harrison
Sir Reginald Carey “Rex” Harrison was an English actor of stage and screen. Harrison won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards.-Youth and stage career:...
came backstage and urged him to become a professional entertainer.
Theatre
Leaving the armyBritish Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
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
Double act
A double act, also known as a comedy duo, is a comic pairing in which humor is derived from the uneven relationship between two partners, usually of the same gender, age, ethnic origin and profession, but drastically different personalities or behavior...
to the magician
Magic (illusion)
Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
David Nixon, he had already adopted the costume that would remain his trademark: tweed flat cap
Flat cap
A flat cap is a rounded men or women's cap with a small stiff brim in front. Cloths used to make the cap include original wool, tweed , and cotton. Less common materials may include leather. Cord flat caps are also worn in various colours. The inside of the cap is usually lined with silk for...
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
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
called Wisdom his "favourite clown".
Film career
Wisdom made a series of low-budget star-vehicle comedies for the Rank OrganisationRank Organisation
The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment company formed during 1937 and absorbed in 1996 by The Rank Group Plc. It was the largest and most vertically-integrated film company in Britain, owning production, distribution and exhibition facilities....
, beginning with Trouble in Store
Trouble in Store
Trouble in Store is a 1953 British comedy film starring Norman Wisdom as a department store clerk in his screen debut. For his performance, Wisdom won a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer. The film broke box office records at 51 out of the 67 London cinemas in which it played...
in 1953. This film earned him a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Film in 1954.
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 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
Edward Chapman (actor)
Edward Chapman was an English actor who starred in many films and television programmes, but is chiefly remembered as "Mr. Wilfred Grimsdale", the officious superior and comic foil to Norman Wisdom's character of Pitkin in many of his films from the late 1950s and 1960s.Chapman was born in...
(as Mr Grimsdale) or Jerry Desmonde
Jerry Desmonde
Jerry Desmonde was an English stage musical, film, and television actor principally in comedies and drama. He is probably best known as a straight man to Norman Wisdom.Jerry is sometimes credited as Jerry Desmond....
. They benefited from Wisdom's capacity for physical slapstick
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
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
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
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 HeusenJames Van Heusen
Jimmy Van Heusen , was an American composer. He wrote songs mainly for films and television , and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song.-Life and career:...
and Sammy Cahn
Sammy Cahn
Sammy Cahn was an American lyricist, songwriter and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area...
musical comedy Walking Happy. His performance was nominated for a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
.
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
A Jubilee of Music
A Jubilee of Music is a one off BBC Television entertainment show of 75 minutes duration, broadcast on 31 December 1976 on BBC1. The show was produced to celebrate the British music successes of the first twenty-five years of Elizabeth II's reign, ahead of the commencement of 1977, the year of her...
, celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver Jubilee
Silver Jubilee
A Silver Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 25th anniversary. The anniversary celebrations can be of a wedding anniversary, ruling anniversary or anything that has completed a 25 year mark...
. Wisdom had performed in front of the Queen at many Royal Command Performances, the first being in 1952.
He also completed his first American film as a vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
comic in The Night They Raided Minsky's
The Night They Raided Minsky's
The Night They Raided Minsky's is a 1968 musical comedy film directed by William Friedkin and produced by Norman Lear. It is a fictional account of the invention of the striptease at Minsky's Burlesque in 1925...
. 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 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.
He became prominent again in the 1990s, helped by the young comedian Lee Evans
Lee Evans (comedian)
Lee Evans is an English comedian, writer, actor and musician.-Personal life:Lee Evans was born in Avonmouth, Bristol, England to an Irish mother and a Welsh father, Dave Evans, a nightclub performer. He left Bristol at the age of 13 and then went to The Billericay School in Billericay, Essex...
, whose act was often compared to Wisdom's work. 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
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
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 which the Queen smiled and laughed at.
From 1995 until 2004 he appeared in the recurring role of Billy Ingleton in the long-running BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
comedy Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...
. 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.
Wisdom was a guest on a This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
special in the year 2000 for actor and director Todd Carty
Todd Carty
Todd Carty is an Irish actor and director, who has grown up on television screens in a variety of roles. His stage work has varied from pantomime to serious drama, as well as radio plays, voiceovers, commercials, narrations, and films...
. He appeared as a half-time guest at the England vs Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
2002 World Cup qualifier at St James' Park
St James' Park
St James' Park, known for sponsorship reasons as the Sports Direct Arena, is an all-seater stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Newcastle United Football Club and is the sixth largest football stadium in the United Kingdom with a capacity of between 52,387 and 52,409.St James'...
, Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
, and scored a penalty at the Leazes End.
In 2002 Wisdom filmed a very tiny role as a butler in a low budget horror film, In 2004, he made a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
in Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
playing fitness fanatic pensioner Ernie Crabbe. In 2007 he came out of retirement to take a role in a short film called Expresso
Expresso (film)
Expresso is a 10-minute British comedy short film, directed by Martin Nigel Davey and Kevin Powis. Consisting of eight micro-films involving the characters that frequent one table during one day in a British coffee house....
.
Popularity in Albania
Wisdom was a cult figure in AlbaniaAlbania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, where he was one of the few Western actors whose films were allowed in the country during the dictatorship
Dictatorship
A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator. It has three possible meanings:...
of Enver Hoxha
Enver Hoxha
Enver Halil Hoxha was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary andthe leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania...
. 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
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, Sali Berisha
Sali Berisha
Sali Ram Berisha is an Albanian politician and cardiologist, currently the Prime Minister of Albania and the leader of Democratic Party of Albania ....
. During this trip, Wisdom was also filmed by Newsnight
Newsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
visiting a children's project funded by ChildHope UK. On a visit in 2001, which coincided with the England football team
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
playing Albania
Albania national football team
The Albania national association football team is the national association football team of Albania and is controlled by the Football Association of Albania...
in the city of Tirana
Tirana
Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...
(of which Wisdom was granted the freedom in 1995), his presence at the training ground eclipsed even that of David Beckham
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
.
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. Wisdom was an honorary citizen of Tirana
Tirana
Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...
.
In his book and TV series One Hit Wonderland, Tony Hawks
Tony Hawks
Antony Gordon Hawksworth, better known as Tony Hawks, is a British comedian and author.-Early life:Born in Brighton in 1960, Hawks was educated at Brighton Hove and Sussex Grammar School and Brighton College...
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.
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.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
(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover
" The White Cliffs of Dover" is a popular World War II song made famous by Vera Lynn with her 1942 recording—one of her best known recordings. Written in 1941 by Walter Kent and Nat Burton, the song was also among the most popular Second World War tunes...
(actually written by Walter Kent and Nat Burton). Three British newspapers reported this supposed fact: The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, and The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror is a British national daily tabloid newspaper which was founded in 1903. Twice in its history, from 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was changed to read simply The Mirror, which is how the paper is often referred to in popular parlance. It had an...
. All three publications later retracted this, The Guardian issued an apology, although The Independent and the The Daily Mirror merely changed the text of their webpages without any indication of the error. The Guardian also retracted that "he was nominated for an Oscar for The Night They Raided Minsky's
The Night They Raided Minsky's
The Night They Raided Minsky's is a 1968 musical comedy film directed by William Friedkin and produced by Norman Lear. It is a fictional account of the invention of the striptease at Minsky's Burlesque in 1925...
", whilst The Daily Mirror retains this attribution (item 6 of their "10 Things you need to know..")
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 ManIsle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
, where he was living.
In 2007, he made a singular return to acting in a feature film directed by Kevin Powis, Expresso
Expresso (film)
Expresso is a 10-minute British comedy short film, directed by Martin Nigel Davey and Kevin Powis. Consisting of eight micro-films involving the characters that frequent one table during one day in a British coffee house....
. 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
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
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.
Health decline
In mid-2006, after he suffered an irregular heart rhythm, Wisdom was flown by helicopter to hospital in LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and after a few days was fitted with a heart pacemaker.
In August 2007, newspapers of the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
group and the Isle of Man Newspapers
Isle of Man Newspapers
Isle of Man Newspapers publishes the Isle of Man's newspapers.They are the Isle of Man Examiner, the Isle of Man Courier and the Manx Independent. They are all weekly newspapers....
reported that Wisdom was in the Abbotswood nursing home
Nursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
in Ballasalla
Ballasalla
Ballasalla is a village in the parish of Malew in the south-east of the Isle of Man, close to the town of Castletown. The village was built mostly from the ruins of the nearby Rushen Abbey, a Cistercian abbey founded in the 12th century and dissolved in the 16th century.-Governance:The local...
, where he had been resident from 12 July 2007.
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
Multi-infarct dementia
Multi-infarct dementia is one type of vascular dementia. Vascular dementia is the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer's disease in older adults. Multi-infarct dementia is thought to be an irreversible form of dementia, and its onset is caused by a number of small strokes or...
. It was also reported that he had granted his children power of attorney
Power of attorney
A power of attorney or letter of attorney is a written authorization to represent or act on another's behalf in private affairs, business, or some other legal matter...
over his affairs and having sold off his flat in Epsom
Epsom
Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England. Small parts of Epsom are in the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. The town is located south-south-west of Charing Cross, within the Greater London Urban Area. The town lies on the chalk downland of Epsom Downs.-History:Epsom lies...
, Surrey, they were now in the process of selling his Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
home to raise money to fund his longer term care.
In an exclusive interview on 27 August 2007 with the News of the World
News of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
, 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.
On 16 January 2008, BBC2 aired Wonderland: The Secret Life Of Norman Wisdom Aged 92 and 3/4, a documentary highlighting the dilemma of coping with an ageing parent. In a spoken trailer on BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
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.
Premature obituary
On 28 December 2008, Sky NewsSky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
announced that Wisdom had died, running a pre-recorded obituary
Obituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...
, 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.
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 on 4 October 2010 at Abbotswood nursing home on the Isle of Man at the age of 95.According to his publicist, Phil Day, "I have never met anyone in the profession who didn't like him, right up to royalty".
His funeral took place on 22 October 2010 in Douglas, Isle of Man
Douglas, Isle of Man
right|thumb|250px|Douglas Promenade, which runs nearly the entire length of beachfront in Douglasright|thumb|250px|Sea terminal in DouglasDouglas is the capital and largest town of the Isle of Man, with a population of 26,218 people . It is located at the mouth of the River Douglas, and a sweeping...
and all of the Isle of Man were invited.
His well known cloth cap was placed on the coffin in the church.
Tributes and other references
- In 2007, a Norman Wisdom-themed bar opened at the Sefton Hotel, DouglasDouglas, Isle of Manright|thumb|250px|Douglas Promenade, which runs nearly the entire length of beachfront in Douglasright|thumb|250px|Sea terminal in DouglasDouglas is the capital and largest town of the Isle of Man, with a population of 26,218 people . It is located at the mouth of the River Douglas, and a sweeping...
, 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.
- In September 1991 a French speaker in an agriculture committee in the European CommunitiesEuropean UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
called for the communities to show "la sagesse des Normands" (the wisdom of the Normans), which was translated into English as calling for Norman Wisdom to sort out Europe's problems.
Filmography
- A Date with a DreamA Date with a DreamA Date with a Dream is a 1948 British musical comedy film directed by Dicky Leeman and starring Terry-Thomas, Jeannie Carson and Wally Patch. Its plot concerns a wartime group of musical entertainers who meet up a year after being demobbed and decide to reform their act...
(1948) - Wit and Wisdom (1948–50, TV)
- Trouble in StoreTrouble in StoreTrouble in Store is a 1953 British comedy film starring Norman Wisdom as a department store clerk in his screen debut. For his performance, Wisdom won a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer. The film broke box office records at 51 out of the 67 London cinemas in which it played...
(1953) - One Good TurnOne Good Turn (1955 film)One Good Turn is a 1955 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Norman Wisdom, Joan Rice, Shirley Abicair and Thora Hird...
(1954) - As Long as They're HappyAs Long as They're HappyAs Long as They're Happy is a 1955 British musical comedy film directed by J. Lee Thompson.-Cast:* Jack Buchanan as John Bentley* Janette Scott as Gwen Bentley* Jeannie Carson as Pat Bentley* Brenda De Banzie as Stella Bentley...
(1955) (cameo) - Man of the MomentMan of the Moment (1955 film)Man of the Moment is a 1955 comedy film starring Norman Wisdom, Belinda Lee, Lana Morris and Jerry Desmonde.-Cast:* Norman Wisdom as Norman* Lana Morris as Penny* Belinda Lee as Sonia* Jerry Desmonde as Jackson* Karel Stepanek as Lom...
(1955) - Up in the WorldUp in the WorldUp in the World is a 1956 comedy film starring Norman Wisdom, Maureen Swanson and Jerry Desmonde, directed by John Paddy Carstairs and made by Rank.-Cast:* Norman Wisdom as Norman* Maureen Swanson as Jeannie Andrews* Jerry Desmonde as Major Willoughby...
(1956) - Just My LuckJust My Luck (1957 film)Just My Luck is a 1957 British sports comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Norman Wisdom as a worker in a jewellery shop.- Plot :...
(1957) - The Square PegThe Square PegThe Square Peg is a 1958 British comedy film starring Norman Wisdom and directed by John Paddy Carstairs. Norman Wisdom plays two different characters: a man who digs and repairs roads and a Nazi General.-Cast:...
(1958) - Follow a StarFollow a StarFollow a Star is a 1959 British comedy film directed by Robert Asher and starring Norman Wisdom.-Plot:The story is rather similar to the ending of Singin' in the Rain, where a singer fraudulently "borrows" the voice of Norman Wisdom's character....
(1959) - There Was a Crooked ManThere Was a Crooked Man (film)There Was a Crooked Man is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Stuart Burge. It starred Norman Wisdom, Alfred Marks, Andrew Cruickshank, Reginald Beckwith, and Susannah York. This is the only Norman Wisdom film that has not had a television viewing or released on video/DVD...
(1960) - The Bulldog BreedThe Bulldog BreedThe Bulldog Breed is a 1960 British comedy film starring Norman Wisdom and directed by Robert Asher.-Plot:Norman Puckle , a well-meaning but clumsy grocer's assistant, can't seem to do anything right. After being rejected by Marlene, the love of his life, he attempts suicide, but can't even do that...
(1960) - The Girl on the BoatThe Girl on the Boat (film)The Girl on the Boat is a 1961 British comedy film directed by Henry Kaplan and starring Norman Wisdom, Millicent Martin and Richard Briers. It is based on The Girl on the Boat by P.G...
(1961) - On the BeatOn the Beat (1962 film)On the Beat is a 1962 British comedy film starring Norman Wisdom, and directed by Robert Asher.-Plot:Norman Pitkin works at Scotland Yard as a car cleaner but dreams of becoming a policeman like his late father....
(1962) - A Stitch in TimeA Stitch in Time (film)A Stitch in Time is a 1963 Norman Wisdom comedy film set in a children's hospital. It was directed by Robert Asher and edited by Gerry Hambling. The cast includes Edward Chapman, Jeanette Sterke, Jerry Desmonde, Jill Melford, Glyn Houston, Vera Day, Patsy Rowlands, Peter Jones, Ernest Clark,...
(1963) - The Early BirdThe Early BirdThe Early Bird is a 1965 British comedy film directed by Robert Asher and starring Norman Wisdom. It also featured Edward Chapman, Bryan Pringle, Richard Vernon, John Le Mesurier and Jerry Desmonde. It was the first Norman Wisdom film to be shot in colour...
(1965) - The Sandwich ManThe Sandwich ManThe Sandwich Man is a 1966 British comedy film starring Michael Bentine, Dora Bryan, Harry H. Corbett, Bernard Cribbins, Diana Dors, Norman Wisdom, Terry-Thomas and Ian Hendry. It was written by Bentine in conjunction with Robert Hartford-Davis...
(1966) - Press for TimePress for TimePress for Time is a 1966 British film starring Norman Wisdom. The screenplay was written by Eddie Leslie and Norman Wisdom, based on the 1963 novel Yea Yea Yea, by Angus McGill. It was partly filmed in Teignmouth in Devon. It was the last film Wisdom made for the Rank Organisation.- Plot :Norman...
(1966) - Androcles and the Lion (1967, TV)
- The Night They Raided Minsky'sThe Night They Raided Minsky'sThe Night They Raided Minsky's is a 1968 musical comedy film directed by William Friedkin and produced by Norman Lear. It is a fictional account of the invention of the striptease at Minsky's Burlesque in 1925...
(1968) - What's Good for the GooseWhat's Good for the GooseWhat's Good For The Goose is a 1969 British comedy film, and was Norman Wisdom's last starring role in a film. It was written and directed by Menahem Golan. In the movie he leaves his wife and kids to go off on a business trip and he has an affair with a young woman played by Sally Geeson...
(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 GameDouble X: The Name of the GameDouble X: The Name of the Game is a 1992 British thriller film. The screenplay by Shani S. Grewal is based in part on Vengeance, a novel by David Fleming....
(Double X, Run Rabbit Run) (1992) - Last of the Summer WineLast of the Summer WineLast of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...
(1995–2004) - Where on Earth Is ... Katy ManningKaty ManningKaty Manning is an English actress best known for her part as the companion Jo Grant in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. She has also made many theatre appearances, and is now a citizen of Australia. She is myopic...
(1998, TV) - CasualtyCasualty (TV series)Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
episode "She Loved the Rain" (1998, TV) - Junfans Attic (2001)
- Dalziel and PascoeDalziel and Pascoe (BBC TV series)Dalziel and Pascoe is a popular British television crime drama based on the Dalziel and Pascoe books by Reginald Hill, which was first broadcast in March 1996. It is set in Yorkshire, and is about two detectives...
episode "Mens Sana" (2002, TV) - The Last Detective episode "Lofty" (2003, TV)
- Coronation Street (2004, TV)
- Five Children and ItFive Children and It (2004 film)Five Children and It is a 2004 film adaption of the book of the same name, directed by John Stephenson, starring Freddie Highmore, with Zoë Wanamaker, Kenneth Branagh and Eddie Izzard as the voice of the Psammead.-Plot:...
(2004) Played Nesbitt. - Last of the Summer Wine episode "Variations on a Theme of the Widow Winstanley" (2004, TV)
- ExpressoExpresso (film)Expresso is a 10-minute British comedy short film, directed by Martin Nigel Davey and Kevin Powis. Consisting of eight micro-films involving the characters that frequent one table during one day in a British coffee house....
(2007) [www.expressofilm.com] - 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)
- Don't Laugh At Me, Cos I'm a Fool (1992) (two volumes of autobiography)
- Trouble in Store (1991)