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| death_place =
| death_place =
| occupation = [[Actor]], [[Author]], [[Comedian]], [[Radio DJ]], [[Television presenter]]
| occupation = [[Actor]], [[Author]], [[Comedian]], [[Radio DJ]], [[Television presenter]]
| partner = Andre Portasio (?–present)<ref>http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/uk_national_entertainment/3767259.Entertainer_O_Grady_collects_MBE/</ref><br>Brendan Murphy (1981–2005)
| partner = Andre Portasio (December 2005–present)<ref>http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/uk_national_entertainment/3767259.Entertainer_O_Grady_collects_MBE/</ref><br>Brendan Murphy (1981–2005)
| spouse = Teresa Fernandes (1977–2004; [[Divorced|div]].)
| spouse = Teresa Fernandes (1977–2004; [[Divorced|div]].)
| website =
| website =

Revision as of 16:52, 17 April 2009

Paul O'Grady MBE
O'Grady in 2009 at Wendy Richard's funeral service
Born
Paul James O'Grady

(1955-06-14) 14 June 1955 (age 69)
Birkenhead, Wirral, Cheshire, UK
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Actor, Author, Comedian, Radio DJ, Television presenter
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
SpouseTeresa Fernandes (1977–2004; div.)
Partner(s)Andre Portasio (December 2005–present)[1]
Brendan Murphy (1981–2005)

Paul James O'Grady MBE (born 14 June 1955) is an English comedian and television & radio presenter, who achieved initial fame as the creator of comic drag character Lily Savage, a vampish scouser known as the "Birkenhead Bombshell". He is also noted as the presenter of the The Paul O'Grady Show, which airs on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom.

Early life and career

Paul O'Grady was born to Patrick & Mary O'Grady in Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula and lived in suburban Tranmere. His family were devout Roman Catholics and were originally from County Roscommon, Ireland.[3] His surname should legally be Grady but due to a misspelling by the military, his father stuck with the Irish alternative.

His jobs have included civil servant, barman for Yates Wine Lodge, office work in an abattoir, woodsman and a time as an assistant clerk at Liverpool Magistrates' Court.[4] He also worked in a children's home in West Kirby and spent some years as a peripatetic care officer for Camden council.

Lily Savage

In 1977, O'Grady went to Manila where he worked as a waiter in Gussy's Bar, where he got the idea for Lily Savage, his drag alter-ego. He returned to London in the early 1980s and subsequently achieved fame with his creation of Lily, initially playing to gay clubs and pubs up and down the country. O'Grady's Lily was best known at the time for an eight-year residency at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern in south London. As Lily Savage, O'Grady was also in several acts which toured Europe. After appearing at The Edinburgh Festival and gaining a Perrier Award nomination, O'Grady's Lily Savage act became more mainstream and the character became popular on television, making appearances on the ITV daytime programme This Morning and as the 'On the Bed Presenter' on The Big Breakfast. For a few years O'Grady hosted the game show Blankety Blank as Lily Savage, for the BBC and later for ITV. There was also a comedy show built around the character, Lily Live!, appearing on ITV in 2000. Performing as Lily, O'Grady also co-hosted the 1996 Smash Hits Poll Winners Party with Ant & Dec.

O'Grady retired the Lily Savage character around 2004. He claimed she had "seen the light, taken the veil and packed herself off to a convent in France" but on his TV show, he said, "she's escaped the convent and she's heading towards these shores!". On 23 May 2008 on the 500th edition of the Paul O'Grady Show, guest star Julie Goodyear told O'Grady that Bet Lynch, the character she played in television soap opera Coronation Street, had joined Savage in the French convent.

Television career

Following the success of Lily Savage, O'Grady played a prostitute snout, Roxanne, in several episodes of The Bill between 1988 and 1990; in 1990 he appeared in the ITV miniseries Chimera as Tony Donaldson, a social worker skilled in signing for the deaf.

Abandoning drag, to portray himself, in 2000 he appeared in a six-part travelogue series entitled Paul O'Grady's Orient, filmed in Shanghai, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Bangkok, Bali and Singapore. This was followed in 2001 by Paul O'Grady's America.

From 2002 onwards, he appeared less as Lily and more often as himself. In 2002 he presented Outtake TV, a bloopers show, and in 2003 starred as the lead character in the BBC sitcom Eyes Down for two series, as the manager of a northern Bingo hall. He also appeared in Celebrity Driving School for the BBC.

Since then, he has presented his own early evening talk show, The Paul O'Grady Show, on ITV. He won the position after he stood in for Des O'Connor on the now defunct lunchtime celebrity chat show Today with Des and Mel. The Paul O'Grady Show somewhat controversially ran head to head with Richard and Judy, who are close friends of O'Grady, and gave him one of his first TV breaks on This Morning on ITV back in the early 90's. He has guest starred on Living's paranormal show, Most Haunted Live!, after presenter Yvette Fielding was a guest on his show and invited him on. He holds many awards, and in December 2005 he won the Best TV Comedy Entertainment Personality category of the British Comedy Awards. In 2005, he won a BAFTA and is also the recipient of two Royal Television Society and three National Television Awards.

File:Lilysavage 1.jpg
Paul O'Grady's alter-ego, Lily Savage

On 27 March 2006, O'Grady began hosting his talk show on Channel 4, now called The Paul O'Grady Show (previously The New Paul O'Grady Show).

The fourth Channel 4 series (7th series when including the three original ITV series) started on 17 September 2007. On 24 August The Daily Mirror revealed that Paul had rejected a £5 million deal to return to ITV as the "New Parkinson."[citation needed] Instead he has signed a £4 million deal to remain with Channel 4 until the end of 2009.[citation needed]

On 28 June 2008 O'Grady appeared in the Doctor Who episode The Stolen Earth.[5]

Theatre

As well as numerous national tours, O'Grady has appeared on stage in Prisoner Cell Block H - The Musical, the musical Annie as "Miss Hannigan", Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as "the Childcatcher" and in the pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarves as the "Wicked Queen". He has been quoted as saying "I seem to be making a living frightening children".

Radio work

O'Grady hosts his own programme entitled Paul O'Grady On the Wireless on BBC Radio 2.[6]

Personal life

he has previously had relationships with women, and was once married to a female Portuguese friend in a marriage of convenience. He is now very close to his daughter Sharyn, who married her childhood friend Philip Mousley at Liverpool Town Hall on 30 July, 2005. His long term lover and business partner of 20 years was Irishman Brendan Murphy, who died of cancer on 9 June 2005, five days before Paul's fiftieth birthday. After the first show of series three of The Paul O'Grady Show, there was a tribute to him.

O'Grady owns a flat in London, and a farm in Aldington near Ashford, Kent where his neighbour is Julian Clary. The farm is stocked with 32 animals, including a flock of geese which O'Grady refers to as the "Geese-stapo" (a pun on the Gestapo).[7] O'Grady has a grey Shih Tzu/Bichon Frise crossbreed dog called Buster,[8] who usually appears on his TV show with him, or occasionally will be replaced by Paul's other dog, Olga, a Cairn Terrier after whom O'Grady named his recently formed production company, 'Olga TV'.[8] He also has another dog called Louie, who only appeared a few times (mainly due to his bad behaviour), in the first ITV series, before he adopted Olga live on air.[7]

O'Grady became a grandfather on 26 December 2006, when his daughter Sharyn gave birth to a son, Abel.[9] O'Grady is currently in a relationship.[10]

Health

In April 2002, O'Grady suffered a heart attack after weeks of complaining that he felt unwell; after an emergency operation and weeks of rest, his health recovered and he gave up smoking for two years.[citation needed] O'Grady went back to his 40-a-day habit after his boyfriend and business partner Brendan Murphy died in 2005; he had continued to work on the show at the same time as nursing Murphy. He suffered a second heart attack on 30 June, 2006;[11] again he was taken to the William Harvey Hospital and into intensive care. He was given an angioplasty operation before being moved to a cardiac unit. He was released on 4 July and again promised to give up smoking [12]. He therefore postponed the new series of his show from 4 September to the end of the month. The delayed second series started on Monday 25 September 2006.

Recognition and Awards

In 2003, O'Grady was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy,[13] and in 2006 he was listed by The Independent at number 32 in their 101 most influential gay men and women in Britain.[14]

In October 2008, he was appointed MBE in the 2008 Birthday Honours list for services to entertainment.[15][16]

Books

Autobiography

In early 2006, O'Grady announced that he was writing his autobiography which was originally to be released in late 2007, however it took longer to write than expected. It was later revealed that his story would be split into two books. Part I (At My Mother's Knee... and Other Low Joints) was released in the autumn of 2008, with the untitled Part II released in the autumn of 2009.

Part I

  • At My Mother's Knee... and Other Low Joints: The Autobiography (2008)

Part II

  • TBA (2009)

References

  1. ^ http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/uk_national_entertainment/3767259.Entertainer_O_Grady_collects_MBE/
  2. ^ Sam Lennon (2008-07-07). "TV star joins lorry park opposition". Kentish Express. Retrieved 2009-04-11.
  3. ^ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paul-OGrady-Biography-Neil-Simpson/dp/1844545776
  4. ^ "Patrick Kielty Almost Live". Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  5. ^ Simon Reynolds (2008-02-20). "Paul O'Grady to appear in 'Doctor Who'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  6. ^ "Paul O'Grady". BBC Radio 2. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
  7. ^ a b "The Paul O'Grady Show - The Farm Animals". Channel 4. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  8. ^ a b "The Paul O'Grady Show - Buster and Olga". Channel 4. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  9. ^ "Paul O'Grady: I really do enjoy being a doting grandad". Retrieved 2008-04-28.
  10. ^ "Entertainer O'Grady collects MBE". BBC News. 2008-10-16. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
  11. ^ "O'Grady is admitted to hospital". BBC News. 2006-06-30. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  12. ^ Sara Nathan (2006-07-04). "I really will give up cigs". The Sun. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  13. ^ "The A-Z of laughter (part two)". December 7 2003. Retrieved 2007-07-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Andrew Tuck (2 July 2006). "Gay Power: The pink list". The Independent. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  15. ^ "TV entertainers head honours list". BBC News. 2008-06-14. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  16. ^ "No. 58729". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 14 June 2008. {{cite magazine}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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Preceded by Host of Blankety Blank
1997 - 2002 		Succeeded by


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