Stanley Baxter

Stanley Baxter
Born	24 May 1926 (1926-05-24) Glasgow, Scotland
Awards	British Comedy Awards 1997 Lifetime Achievement Award

Stanley Baxter (born 24 May 1926) is a Scottish comic actor and impressionist, best known for his British television shows. He has worked in radio, theatre, television and film.

Early life

The son of an insurance manager, Baxter was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He was educated at Hillhead High School, Glasgow, and schooled for the stage by his mother. He began his career as a child actor in the Scottish edition of the BBC's Children's Hour. He developed his performing skills further during his National Service with the Combined Services Entertainment unit, working alongside the likes of comedy actor Kenneth Williams, film director John Schlesinger and dramatist Peter Nichols, who used the experience as the basis for his play Privates on Parade.

Theatre

After the war Baxter returned to Glasgow taking to the stage for three years at Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre. Following success on the radio with Jimmy Logan, Howard & Wyndham Ltd invited him to star in pantomime at the Theatre Royal Glasgow followed by the Half Past Eight shows, and their successors the Five Past Eight shows at the Alhambra Theatre Glasgow. He moved to London to work in television in 1959. In 1969 he performed in the original production of Joe Orton's then controversial farce What The Butler Saw at the Queen's Theatre in the West End with Sir Ralph Richardson, Coral Browne and Hayward Morse. His exacting and demanding nature gave Scotland some of its most glittering pantomimes and Baxter nurtured the stage careers of Alyson McInnes and John Ramage. Baxter remained a great favourite on the Scottish pantomime circuit up until his retirement in 1992, starring with popular Scottish stars, Jimmy Logan and Una McLean.

Radio

During the 1960s, Stanley did his own show for BBC Radio Scotland.

Working with director Neil Cargill, he returned to radio by taking the role of Noël Coward in the BBC World Service Play of the Week, Marvellous Party, written by Jon Wynne-Tyson, it also starred Dorothy Tutin as Coward's lifelong friend, Esme Wynne-Tyson (Jon's mother). Also with Cargill, he read Whisky Galore and Jimmy Swan - The Joy Traveller for BBC Radio, providing the voices of all the characters.

After a lengthy spell in self-imposed retirement, he appeared in 2004 in a series of four half-hour radio sitcoms for BBC Radio 4, entitled Stanley Baxter and Friends; the success of this has led to further series entitled The Stanley Baxter Playhouse in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010, and Two Pipe Problems with Richard Briers in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

In 2009 Eddie Izzard presented The Stanley Baxter Story on BBC Radio 2.

Film

Baxter has appeared in a number of films, including Geordie (1955), Very Important Person (1961), The Fast Lady (1962), Crooks Anonymous (1962) and Father Came Too! (1963), the last three alongside James Robertson Justice, together with the animation Arabian Knight (1995).

Television

Baxter's self-titled series were enjoyed by enormous audiences and the later shows were memorable for the high quality of their production. He was known for his impressions of famous people, particularly the Queen. The Stanley Baxter Show ran between 1963 and 1971 on BBC One, and his Stanley Baxter Picture Show from 1972 to 1975 on ITV.

TV series

• The Stanley Baxter show (BBC, 22 x 30-minutes, 1963–1971)
• Baxter On... (BBC, 1964)
• Time For Baxter (BBC Scotland, 1972)
• The Stanley Baxter Picture Show (LWT - four x 30-minutes, 1972)
• The Stanley Baxter Series (LWT - six x 30-minutes, 1981)

One hour TV specials

• The Stanley Baxter Big Picture Show (LWT - 21/12/73)
• The Stanley Baxter Moving Picture Show (LWT - 07/09/74)
• The Stanley Baxter Show Part III (LWT - 19/09/75)
• Stanley Baxter’s Christmas Box (LWT - 26/12/76)
• Stanley Baxter on Television (LWT - 01/04/79)
• The Stanley Baxter Hour (LWT - 24/12/82)
• Stanley Baxter's Christmas Hamper (BBC, 1985)
• Stanley Baxter's Television Annual (BBC, 1986)

List of film & TV appearances

• Shop Window (BBC, 1952)
• Geordie (Film, 1955)
• This is Scotland (STV, 1957)
• On The Bright Side (BBC, 1959)
• Very Important Person (Rank, 1961)
• Comedy Playhouse: "Lunch In The Park" (BBC, 1961)
• The Fast Lady (Rank, 1962)
• Crooks Anonymous (Film, 1962)
• Father Came Too! (Rank, 1963)
• Espionage (BBC, 1963 Guest Appearance)
• Joey Boy (Film, 1965)
• Wednesday Play: "The Confidence Course" (BBC, 1965)
• Christmas Night with the Stars (BBC, 1970, Guest Appearance)
• The Goodies (BBC, 1971 Guest Appearance)
• Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas (CBS, 1977 Guest Appearances as multiple characters)
• Mr Majeika (Television South, 1988–1990, Title Role)
• Rab C. Nesbitt (BBC, 1991, Guest Appearance)
• Arabian Knight (Animation, 1995, Voice Only)
• Stanley Baxter Is Back (C4, 1995)
• Stanley Baxter In Reel Terms (C4, 1996)
• Meeow (Animation, 2000, Voice Only)
• The Unforgettable...Kenneth Williams (Carlton, 2001, Interviewee)
• The Sketch Show Story (BBC, 2001, Interviewee)
• Return Of The Goodies (BBC, 2005, Interviewee)
• The Story Of Light Entertainment (BBC, 2006, Interviewee)
• Comedy Map of Britain (BBC, 2007, Interviewee)
• Happy Birthday BAFTA (2007, Guest)
• The Comedy Christmas (2007, Interviewee)
• Scottish Television Hogmanay shows (1980's - 1990s)

Parliamo Glasgow

Perhaps his best-known series of sketches is Parliamo Glasgow. Conceived as being written by a fictitious scholar visiting Glasgow, the sketch took the patois of the city and developed it to comic effect. This sketch was included in one of his BBC Scotland series in the 1960s and was based on the corporation's first venture into language programmes Parliamo Italiano ('Let's speak Italian'). A memorable scene sees him at the local market, asking the trader "Zarra marra onna barra, Clara?", which he then translates as "Is that a marrow on your barrow, Clara?". Another introduced the Glaswegian word "sanoffy", as in "Sanoffy caul day" ("It's an awfully cold day").

Other television roles

He guest-starred in one of the episodes of The Goodies and later appeared in the lead role in Mr Majeika, developed from the books by Humphrey Carpenter, a children's show about a magic teacher, expelled from Walpurgis (the wizard land) for failing his professional examinations. He later stated that he had wished to retire after his spectacular hour-long shows had been axed and that the move to children's television was a "purely financial" arrangement. In Bing Crosby's final Christmas special, taped for CBS in England just a few weeks before his death in 1977, Baxter played multiple roles, including a butler, cook, Charles Dickens and -- in one skit opposite a cracking-up Crosby -- the ghost of Bob Hope's court jester ancestor. Having retired in 1990, Baxter returned for a one-off Christmas 2008 special for ITV, containing a mix of archived and new material, with celebrity comedians commenting on how Baxter influenced their lives.

Books

He has written a number of books based on the language of Glasgow, as developed in his Parliamo Glasgow sketch as above, and on humour of the city.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Stanley Baxter was married for 46 years. His wife Moira died in 1997.

Awards

• BAFTA for Light Entertainment Performance (1959)
• BAFTA for Light Entertainment Performance (1981) for the Stanley Baxter Series
• Lifetime Achievement Award (British Comedy Awards) (1997)
• BAFTA for Light Entertainment Performance (1972) for the Stanley Baxter Picture Show
• Oldie Camper of the Year - For continuing to endear and delight his audiences with original comic material by The Oldie Magazine (2008)

DVD releases

All six of Baxter's hour-long ITV specials were released on a two-disc DVD set in 2005 as The Stanley Baxter Collection with a further two-disc DVD set being released in 2006 under the title The Stanley Baxter Series & Picture Show featuring both of his series of half-hour shows for ITV. In 2008 a five-disc DVD box set was released titled The Stanley Baxter Television Set. The set includes both half-hour ITV series that Baxter made for ITV and six of his ITV specials. It also includes two of the feature films he made with James Robertson Justice The Fast Lady and Father Came Too!.

External links

• http://www.teletronic.co.uk/stanleybaxter.htm
• Stanley Baxter at the Internet Movie Database
• Stanley Baxter biography and credits at BFI Screenonline
• Parliamo Glasgow audio clip from BBC Radio Scotland