Lionel Blair
Lionel Blair | |
|---|---|
| Born | Henry Lionel Blair Ogus |
| Occupation | actor |
| Years active | 1948-present[1] |
Lionel Blair (born Henry Lionel Blair Ogus on 12 December 1931 in Montreal, Canada) is a British actor, choreographer, tap dancer and television presenter.
Lionel Blair is the son of Myer Ogus and Deborah (Della) Greenbaum. His father was a Russian barber; he changed the family name to Blair in his youth.
Career
Blair came to Britain when he was one year old with his first public performances with his sister Joyce (born 1932) in London Underground Station shelters during World War II. He attended the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford in 1944, followed by London's West End. He gave up acting for dancing in 1947.
Blair's rather camp image first came to the fore in the 1960s, when, with his own dance troupe, he appeared on many television variety programmes. He also appeared in films such as A Hard Day's Night and Absolute Beginners, cameoed in an episode of The Persuaders! and in television comedy, including the classic short film, The Plank. In addition, he choreographed films such as Jazz Boat (1960) and The Magic Christian (1969).
Blair is perhaps best known for being one of the team captains on the gameshow Give Us a Clue from 1979 until the early 1990s and also for being the (second) presenter of the British version of popular game show Name That Tune in the 1980s. His skills on Give Us A Clue are frequently mocked in the introduction to the game Sound Charades on BBC Radio 4's similarly-named comedy show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, normally by the use of a strong double entendre. For example, in one episode the host, Humphrey Lyttelton, introduced the game thus: "The expert's expert was of course Lionel Blair. Who could ever forget opposing team captain, Una Stubbs, sitting open-mouthed as he tried to pull off Twelve Angry Men in under two minutes?"
In 2005, he was one of the celebrities taking part in the Five reality TV series, The Farm.
Lionel and wife Susan celebrated their Ruby wedding anniversary in March 2007. They have three children and two grandchildren. He is the brother of the late British actress Joyce Blair, with whom he sometimes appeared.
He hit the headlines in early 2006 when his pet dog Florence was apparently kidnapped while walking in Surrey. The cross-breed collie disappeared when Blair's wife took her out for a walk in a park in Ewell near the couple's Banstead home.[2][1]
On 21 September 2006, Blair and comedian Alan Carr helped save a man who was about to fall from a pier in Blackpool. The man was holding on by his fingertips, but the two men managed to pull him to safety.[3]
Blair appeared in the 2007 Christmas special of the Ricky Gervais show Extras, as himself, portraying the end-stages of his showbiz career by trying to desperately keep up his profile by appearing on Celebrity Big Brother alongside Lisa Scott-Lee and X Factor contestant Chico.
References
Notes
- ^ a b "Banstead resident Lionel Blair celebrates 60 years in showbiz". This is Surrey Today/Banstead. 27 November 2008. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Help me find Florence, pleads Lionel". Daily Mail. 18 April 2006. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Entertainers in pier rescue drama". BBC News. 21 September 2006. Retrieved 29 April 2007.
General
- "Still clued-up after 60 years", The Post, 3 December 2008