Roy Hudd
Encyclopedia
Roy Hudd, OBE
(born 16 May 1936, Croydon
) is an English
comedian, actor, radio host and author, and an authority on the history of music hall
entertainment.
and Croydon Secondary Technical School. His jobs then included a messenger for an advertising agency, window dresser
and commercial artist. In 1958 he took a summer job as a Redcoat
at Butlins
, Clacton.
From the Daily Mail:
Roy and Debbie met nearly 30 years ago in panto in Nottingham
. Debbie, a dancer, now directs panto. Roy was already divorced from his first wife, Ann, with whom he has a 45-year-old son, Max, a stage manager.
Roy and Debbie married in 1988. 'Debbie is 22 years younger than me, it's amazing, people never picked up on that. It never bothered us.'
They have no children. 'We tried and tried, but we didn't get lucky,' says Roy.
series The News Huddlines
. His acting talent found a new outlet in the 1970s when he was chosen as the reader for Radio Four's 'Morning Story' produced at BBC Pebble Mill by David Shute
. He starred in the title role in The Newly Discovered Casebook of Sherlock Holmes
in 1999, and has also given his voice to the roles of Max Quordlepleen in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
and James Phillimore in The Singular Inheritance of Miss Gloria Wilson, an original Sherlock Holmes
radio play in the series The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
(2002).
series Lipstick on Your Collar
, for which he received critical praise, and Karaoke. He has recently appeared as the undertaker Archie Shuttleworth in the ITV
soap opera
Coronation Street
and in the Hollyoaks
spin-off, In the City. He will next be seen on TV in episodes of New Tricks and Casualty
. And on Friday 30 April Roy went back in time to the 1980s in the BBC TV programme Ashes to Ashes
, as Frank Hardwick.
In 1966 and 1967 he had his own comedy sketch series - The Illustrated Weekly Hudd.
He appeared as Jack Croft in series 2 of BBC One
show Missing
and variety performances. In the 1980s Roy Hudd starred as Fagin
in the revival of Lionel Bart
's musical Oliver!
at the Albery Theatre, London and the musical version of Hard Times
at the Haymarket Theatre
with Brian Blessed
. In 2004 he launched a new one man show "All My Own Work". It premièred during the National Music Hall and Variety Festival at The Playhouse
in Weston-super-Mare
and then continued to tour around the UK.
In 2008, he played the part of the Wizard
in a production of the Wizard of Oz at London
's Royal Festival Hall
.
, re-recorded music hall records and appeared in the music hall revival show The Good Old Days
. He is seen by broadcasters as an authority on the subject and is the longstanding President of the British Music Hall Society. His CD, Mirth, Magic and Melodrama consists of a collection of classic monologue
s from the music hall days, including The Pig and The Lion and Albert, first recorded by Stanley Holloway
Doctor Who
audio play
Pier Pressure
in 2006. He is President of the Max Miller Appreciation Society
Hospital Broadcasting Service, where he is considered an honorary member. In 1994 he officially opened their current studios in the Bristol Royal Infirmary
. He is also a Past King Rat of the show business
charity the Grand Order of Water Rats
.
in the Queen's
2003 New Year's Honours List. In 1983 (1982 season), he was awarded the "Best Actor in a Musical" Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for his role in Underneath the Arches, as Bud Flanagan
. According to Hudd, Bud Flanagan had stated shortly before his death that he considered Hudd to be the best choice to star in a dramatisation of Flanagan's life. On 29 November 2010, Roy was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Westminster
, where he had once studied commercial art at a time when the institution was known as the "Regent Street Polytechnic"
, who had the puppet Emu
. This is referenced in the fifth episode of the second series of The Office
.
One of his early TV appearances was in a short information advert for the Cycling Proficiency Test
.
He had a guest appearance in the comedy One Foot In The Grave
, episode "Threatening Weather" (Series 6) as a character whom the Meldrews had to take care of during a power cut on the hottest day of the year.
Hudd now lives in Suffolk
.
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...
(born 16 May 1936, Croydon
Croydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
) is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
comedian, actor, radio host and author, and an authority on the history of music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
entertainment.
Early life
His father was a carpenter and he attended Tavistock Secondary Modern School, CroydonCroydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
and Croydon Secondary Technical School. His jobs then included a messenger for an advertising agency, window dresser
Window dresser
Window dressers arrange displays of goods in shop windows or within a shop itself. They may work for design companies contracted to work for clients or for department stores, independent retailers, airport or hotel shops....
and commercial artist. In 1958 he took a summer job as a Redcoat
Redcoats (Butlins)
Redcoat is the name given to frontline staff at Butlins holiday camps. A Redcoat may have many duties ranging from adult entertainer or children's entertainer to stewarding.-History:The first Redcoat was Norman Bradford...
at Butlins
Butlins
Butlins is a chain of large holiday camps in the United Kingdom. Butlins was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families....
, Clacton.
From the Daily Mail:
Roy and Debbie met nearly 30 years ago in panto in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
. Debbie, a dancer, now directs panto. Roy was already divorced from his first wife, Ann, with whom he has a 45-year-old son, Max, a stage manager.
Roy and Debbie married in 1988. 'Debbie is 22 years younger than me, it's amazing, people never picked up on that. It never bothered us.'
They have no children. 'We tried and tried, but we didn't get lucky,' says Roy.
Radio
Hudd first appeared on radio in 1959 on the Workers' Playtime show and he is best known for his very long-running BBC Radio 2BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
series The News Huddlines
The News Huddlines
The News Huddlines was a long-running BBC Radio 2 topical comedy sketch show starring Roy Hudd that ran for fifty one series from 1975 until 2001. Each episode lasted for half an hour and consisted of topical sketches, songs and one-liners.-Performers:...
. His acting talent found a new outlet in the 1970s when he was chosen as the reader for Radio Four's 'Morning Story' produced at BBC Pebble Mill by David Shute
David Shute
David Shute is a British journalist, best known for his work at the BBC.-Career:Shute was educated at Brentwood School in Essex. While working on newspapers in Reading he was auditioned by the BBC in Bristol and immediately signed on contract...
. He starred in the title role in The Newly Discovered Casebook of Sherlock Holmes
The Newly Discovered Casebook of Sherlock Holmes
The Newly Discovered Casebook of Sherlock Holmes was a BBC Radio 2 comedy series written by Tony Hare. It starred Roy Hudd, Chris Emmett, Jeffrey Holland, and June Whitfield, and was broadcast between January 16, 1999, to February 20, 1999...
in 1999, and has also given his voice to the roles of Max Quordlepleen in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy radio series written by Douglas Adams . It was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom by BBC Radio 4 in 1978, and afterwards on global short wave radio on the BBC World Service, National Public Radio in the U.S. and CBC Radio in...
and James Phillimore in The Singular Inheritance of Miss Gloria Wilson, an original Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
radio play in the series The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
This article is about the BBC Radio 4 series transmitted from 2002 to 2010. There is also a U.S. produced series, which began in 1998, that transmits under the same title....
(2002).
Television
He has appeared on TV variety shows and his acting roles include the Dennis PotterDennis Potter
Dennis Christopher George Potter was an English dramatist, best known for The Singing Detective. His widely acclaimed television dramas mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. He was particularly fond of using themes and images from popular culture.-Biography:Dennis Potter was born...
series Lipstick on Your Collar
Lipstick on Your Collar
Lipstick on Your Collar is a 1993 British television serial written by Dennis Potter, originally broadcast on Channel 4 expanded from Potter's earlier play Lay Down Your Arms...
, for which he received critical praise, and Karaoke. He has recently appeared as the undertaker Archie Shuttleworth in the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
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 in the Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
spin-off, In the City. He will next be seen on TV in episodes of New Tricks and Casualty
Casualty (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...
. And on Friday 30 April Roy went back in time to the 1980s in the BBC TV programme Ashes to Ashes
Ashes to Ashes (TV series)
Ashes to Ashes is a British science fiction and police procedural drama television series, serving as the sequel to Life on Mars.The series began airing on BBC One in February 2008. A second series began broadcasting in April 2009...
, as Frank Hardwick.
In 1966 and 1967 he had his own comedy sketch series - The Illustrated Weekly Hudd.
He appeared as Jack Croft in series 2 of BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
show Missing
Missing (2009 TV series)
Missing is a British daytime television drama series starring Pauline Quirke and Mark Wingett. The series is set in a busy, under-resourced missing persons unit, and follows the team led by DS Mary Jane "MJ" Croft . The first series of five episodes aired on BBC One in 2009, with a second series of...
Stage appearances
Hudd has appeared in many pantomimePantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
and variety performances. In the 1980s Roy Hudd starred as Fagin
Fagin
Fagin is a fictional character who appears as an antagonist of the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist, referred to in the preface of the novel as a "receiver of stolen goods", but referred to more frequently within the actual story as the "merry old gentleman" or simply the "Jew".-Character:Born...
in the revival of Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart was a writer and composer of British pop music and musicals, best known for creating the book, music and lyrics for Oliver!-Early life:...
's musical Oliver!
Oliver!
Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
at the Albery Theatre, London and the musical version of Hard Times
Hard Times
Hard Times - For These Times is the tenth novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1854. The book appraises English society and is aimed at highlighting the social and economic pressures of the times....
at the Haymarket Theatre
Haymarket Theatre
The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...
with Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed is an English actor, known for his sonorous voice and "hearty, king-sized portrayals".-Early life:The son of William Blessed, a socialist miner, and Hilda Wall, Blessed was born in the town of Goldthorpe, West Riding of Yorkshire, England...
. In 2004 he launched a new one man show "All My Own Work". It premièred during the National Music Hall and Variety Festival at The Playhouse
The Playhouse, Weston-Super-Mare
The Playhouse is a 664 seat theatre in Weston-super-Mare, England that hosts a largely entertainment based programme of shows all year round including opera, ballet, comedy, music and pantomime performances....
in Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare is a seaside resort, town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which is within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, south west of Bristol, spanning the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury...
and then continued to tour around the UK.
In 2008, he played the part of the Wizard
Wizard (Oz)
The Wizard of Oz, known during his reign as The Great and Powerful Oz, is the epithet of Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, a fictional character in the Land of Oz, created by American author L...
in a production of the Wizard of Oz at London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's Royal Festival Hall
Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
.
Music hall
Hudd has written several books on music hallMusic hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
, re-recorded music hall records and appeared in the music hall revival show The Good Old Days
The Good Old Days
The Good Old Days is a popular BBC television light entertainment programme which ran from 1953 to 1983.It was performed at the Leeds City Varieties and recreated an authentic atmosphere of the Victorian–Edwardian music hall with songs and sketches of the era performed by present-day...
. He is seen by broadcasters as an authority on the subject and is the longstanding President of the British Music Hall Society. His CD, Mirth, Magic and Melodrama consists of a collection of classic monologue
Monologue
In theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media...
s from the music hall days, including The Pig and The Lion and Albert, first recorded by Stanley Holloway
Stanley Holloway
Stanley Augustus Holloway, OBE was an English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady...
Filmography
- The Blood Beast TerrorThe Blood Beast TerrorThe Blood Beast Terror is a 1968 British horror film released by Tigon. It was known in the United States under the title The Vampire-Beast Craves Blood.-Story:A series of grisly murders is occurring in the English countryside...
(1968) - Up the Chastity BeltUp the Chastity BeltUp the Chastity Belt is a 1971 British film, a spin-off from the TV series Up Pompeii! that starred Frankie Howerd and was directed by Bob Kellett.-Synopsis:...
(1971) - Up PompeiiUp Pompeii (film)Up Pompeii is a 1971 British comedy film directed by Bob Kellett and starring Frankie Howerd and Michael Hordern. The film was shot at Elstree Film Studios, Borehamwood, England...
(1971) - The Magnificent Seven Deadly SinsThe Magnificent Seven Deadly SinsThe Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins is a 1971 British comedy film directed and produced by Graham Stark. Its title is a conflation of The Magnificent Seven and the seven deadly sins. It comprises a sequence of seven sketches, each representing a sin and written by an array of British comedy-writing...
(1971) ("Avarice" segment) - The Alf Garnett SagaThe Alf Garnett SagaThe Alf Garnett Saga is a 1972 British comedy film directed by Bob Kellett and starring Warren Mitchell, Dandy Nichols, Paul Angelis and Adrienne Posta. The film was a film version of the TV series Till Death Us Do Part.-Cast:...
(1972) - Purely BelterPurely BelterPurely Belter is a 2000 British comedy drama film directed by Mark Herman about two teenagers trying to get money, by any means necessary, in order to get season tickets for home games played by the FA Premier League football team Newcastle United.It is based on the novel The Season Ticket by...
(2000)
Max Miller
He is an authority on the comedian Max Miller and is known for his impersonation of him. He appeared as his hero in the Big Finish ProductionsBig Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
audio play
Doctor Who audio productions
A number of officially licensed audio productions based upon the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who have been produced over the years....
Pier Pressure
Pier Pressure (Doctor Who audio)
Pier Pressure is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Plot:...
in 2006. He is President of the Max Miller Appreciation Society
Charity work
He has also had a long association with the BristolBristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
Hospital Broadcasting Service, where he is considered an honorary member. In 1994 he officially opened their current studios in the Bristol Royal Infirmary
Bristol Royal Infirmary
The Bristol Royal Infirmary, also known as the BRI, is a large teaching hospital situated in the centre of Bristol, England. It has links with the medical faculty of the nearby University of Bristol, and the Faculty of Health and Social Care at the University of the West of England, also in...
. He is also a Past King Rat of the show business
Show business
Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz, is a vernacular term for all aspects of entertainment. The word applies to all aspects of the entertainment industry from the business side to the creative element ....
charity 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...
.
Honours
He was awarded an OBEOrder 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...
in the Queen's
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
2003 New Year's Honours List. In 1983 (1982 season), he was awarded the "Best Actor in a Musical" Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for his role in Underneath the Arches, as Bud Flanagan
Bud Flanagan
Bud Flanagan was a popular English music hall and vaudeville entertainer from the 1930s until the 1960s. Flanagan was famous as a wartime entertainer and his achievements were recognised when he was awarded the O.B.E. in 1960.- Family background :Flaganan was born Chaim Reuben Weintrop in...
. According to Hudd, Bud Flanagan had stated shortly before his death that he considered Hudd to be the best choice to star in a dramatisation of Flanagan's life. On 29 November 2010, Roy was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Westminster
University of Westminster
The University of Westminster is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. Its origins go back to the foundation of the Royal Polytechnic Institution in 1838, and it was awarded university status in 1992.The university's headquarters and original campus are based on Regent...
, where he had once studied commercial art at a time when the institution was known as the "Regent Street Polytechnic"
Trivia
His name is sometimes confused with Rod HullRod Hull
Rodney Stephen Hull , better known as Rod Hull, was a popular entertainer on British television in the 1970s and 1980s. He rarely appeared without Emu, a mute, highly aggressive arm-length puppet of the flightless emu bird...
, who had the puppet Emu
Emu (puppet)
Emu is a puppet emu given to Rod Hull in the 1960s while he was presenting a children's breakfast television programme in Australia. Hull adopted the mute puppet for his cabaret act, and took it with him to the United Kingdom when he returned in 1970...
. This is referenced in the fifth episode of the second series of The Office
The Office (UK TV series)
The Office is a British sitcom television series that was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 9 July 2001. Created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the programme is about the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of the fictitious...
.
One of his early TV appearances was in a short information advert for the Cycling Proficiency Test
Cycling Proficiency Test
The Cycling Proficiency Test was a test given by Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents which served as a minimum recommended standard for cycling on British roads. It has been superseded by the new National Standards for Cycle Training, branded Bikeability in England.The first Cycling...
.
He had a guest appearance in the comedy One Foot In The Grave
One Foot in the Grave
One Foot in the Grave is a BBC television sitcom series written by David Renwick. The show ran for six series, including seven Christmas specials, two Comic Relief specials, over an eleven year period, from early 1990 to late 2000...
, episode "Threatening Weather" (Series 6) as a character whom the Meldrews had to take care of during a power cut on the hottest day of the year.
Hudd now lives in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
.