noelyf
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Comedian Norman Wisdom dies aged 95
Monday 4 October 2010
Comedian and actor Norman Wisdom died today at the age of 95.
Norman Wisdom - died aged 95
His family said he died "peacefully" this evening at the Abbotswood Nursing Home on the Isle of Man.
He had suffered a series of strokes over the past six months.
Wisdom's first break into showbiz came in 1946 at a music hall in Islington, north London, and he won a place in his first Royal Command Performance in 1952.
Rank soon snapped him up for a seven-year contract.
He became so popular that Charlie Chaplin said: "If anyone's going to replace me - it's Norman Wisdom."
In 1981, Wisdom broke with the slapstick tradition and played a doomed cancer victim in a harrowing BBC television play. He won widespread acclaim for his portrayal of a retired salesman in 'Going Gently' opposite Fulton MacKay.
He married showgirl Freda Simpson when he was 27 but they divorced in 1969. They had two children, Nick and Jacqui.
Despite Wisdom's woebegone image he had a sharp business mind and dealt in stocks and shares, laughing all the way to the bank.
When he turned 75 in February 1990, he said he would not appear on television again because most of it was "too smutty".
RIP Norman :(
Monday 4 October 2010
Comedian and actor Norman Wisdom died today at the age of 95.
Norman Wisdom - died aged 95
His family said he died "peacefully" this evening at the Abbotswood Nursing Home on the Isle of Man.
He had suffered a series of strokes over the past six months.
Wisdom's first break into showbiz came in 1946 at a music hall in Islington, north London, and he won a place in his first Royal Command Performance in 1952.
Rank soon snapped him up for a seven-year contract.
He became so popular that Charlie Chaplin said: "If anyone's going to replace me - it's Norman Wisdom."
In 1981, Wisdom broke with the slapstick tradition and played a doomed cancer victim in a harrowing BBC television play. He won widespread acclaim for his portrayal of a retired salesman in 'Going Gently' opposite Fulton MacKay.
He married showgirl Freda Simpson when he was 27 but they divorced in 1969. They had two children, Nick and Jacqui.
Despite Wisdom's woebegone image he had a sharp business mind and dealt in stocks and shares, laughing all the way to the bank.
When he turned 75 in February 1990, he said he would not appear on television again because most of it was "too smutty".
RIP Norman :(
