Harry Secombe | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Harry Donald Secombe (1921-09-08)8 September 1921 St. Thomas, Wales |
| Died | 11 April 2001(2001-04-11) (aged 79) |
| Resting place | Christ Church, Shamley Green, Surrey, England |
| Education | Dynevor School, Swansea |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1946–2001 |
| Television | The Goon Show (Radio) The Harry Secombe Show,Secombe and Friends,Highway Sunday Morning with Secombe |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4; includingAndy |
| Relatives | Fred Secombe (brother) |
Sir Harry Donald Secombe (8 September 1921 – 11 April 2001) was a Welsh actor, comedian, singer and television presenter. Secombe was a member of the Britishradio comedy programmeThe Goon Show (1951–1960), playing many characters, most notablyNeddie Seagoon. An accomplished tenor, he also appeared inmusicals and films – notably asMr Bumble inOliver! (1968) – and, in his later years, was a presenter of television shows incorporatinghymns and other devotional songs.
Secombe was born inSt Thomas, Swansea, the third of four children of Nellie Jane Gladys (née Davies), a shop manageress, and Frederick Ernest Secombe, a travelling salesperson and office worker for a Swansea wholesale grocery business.[1][2][3] From the age of 11 he attendedDynevor School, a state grammar school in central Swansea.
His family were regular churchgoers, belonging to the congregation of St Thomas Church. A member of the choir, from the age of 12 Secombe would perform a sketch entitledThe Welsh Courtship at church socials, acting as "feed" to his sister Carol. His elder brother,Fred Secombe,[4] became the author of several books about his experiences as an Anglican priest and rector.
After leaving school in 1937, Secombe became a pay clerk at Baldwin's store. With war looming, he decided in 1938 that he would join theTerritorial Army. Veryshort sighted, he got a friend to tell him the sight test, and then learnt it by heart. He served as aLance Bombardier inNo.132 Field Regiment of theRoyal Artillery.[5] He referred to the unit in which he served during theSecond World War in theNorth African Campaign,Sicily, andItaly, as "The Five-Mile Snipers". While in North Africa Secombe metSpike Milligan for the first time.[6] In Sicily he joined a concert party and developed his own comedy routines to entertain the troops.
When Secombe visited theFalkland Islands to entertain the troops after the 1982Falklands War, his old regiment promoted him to the rank of sergeant – 37 years after he had beendemobbed.[7]
He made his first radio broadcast in May 1944 on a variety show aimed at the military services. Following the end of fighting in the war but prior to demobilisation, Secombe joined a pool of entertainers inNaples and formed a comedy duo withSpike Milligan.[6]
Secombe joined the cast of theWindmill Theatre in 1946, using a routine he had developed in Italy about how people shaved.[5] An early review said that Secombe was "an original humorist of the infectious type and is very funny in a series showing how different men shave and in an impression of a vocalist."[8] Secombe always claimed that his ability to sing could always be counted on to save him when he bombed.
Following a regional touring career, his first break came in radio in 1951 when he was chosen as resident comedian for the Welsh seriesWelsh Rarebit,[9] followed by appearances onVariety Bandbox and a regular role inEducating Archie.
Secombe metMichael Bentine at the Windmill Theatre, and he was introduced toPeter Sellers by his agentJimmy Grafton. Together with Spike Milligan, the four wrote a comedy radio script, andThose Crazy People was commissioned[10] and first broadcast on 28 May 1951. Produced byDennis Main Wilson, this soon becameThe Goon Show and the show remained on the air until 1960.[5][11] Secombe mainly playedNeddie Seagoon, around whom the show's absurd plots developed.[7] In 1955, whilst appearing onThe Goon Show, Secombe was approached by the BBC to step in at short notice to take the lead in the radio comedyHancock's Half Hour.[12] The star of the show,Tony Hancock, had decided to take an unannounced break abroad, on the day before the live airing of the second season. Secombe appeared in the lead for the first three episodes and had a guest role in the fourth after Hancock's return. All four episodes are lost, but following the discovery of the original scripts, the episodes were rerecorded in 2017, with his son,Andrew Secombe performing the role held by his late father.[12][13]
With the success ofThe Goon Show, Secombe developed a dual career as both a comedy actor and a singer. At the beginning of his career as an entertainer, his act would end with a joke version of the duetSweethearts, in which he sang both thebaritone andfalsetto parts. Trained under ItalianmaestroManlio di Veroli, he emerged as abel cantotenor (characteristically, he insisted that in his case this meant "can belto") and had a long list of best-selling record albums to his credit.[7]
In 1958 he appeared in the filmJet Storm, which starredDame Sybil Thorndike andRichard Attenborough and in the same year Secombe starred in the title role inDavy, one ofEaling Studios' last films.[7]
The power of his voice allowed Secombe to appear in many stagemusicals. This included 1963'sPickwick, based onCharles Dickens'sThe Pickwick Papers, which gave him the no. 18 hit single "If I Ruled the World" – his later signature tune. In 1965 the show was produced on tour in the United States, where, on Broadway, he garnered a nomination for aTony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.[7] Secombe scored his biggest hit single in 1967 with his version of "This Is My Song", which peaked at no. 2 on the charts in March 1967 while a recording byPetula Clark, which had hit no. 1 in February, was still in the top ten. He also appeared in the musicalThe Four Musketeers (1967) at Drury Lane,[5] as Mr. Bumble inCarol Reed's film ofOliver! (1968),[14] and in the Envy segment ofThe Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins (1971).
He went on to star in his own television show,The Harry Secombe Show, which debuted on Christmas Day 1968 onBBC1 and ran for 31 episodes until 1973. Asketch comedy show featuringJulian Orchard as Secombe's regularsidekick, the series also featured guest appearances by fellow Goon Spike Milligan as well as leading performers such asRonnie Barker andArthur Lowe. Secombe later starred in similar vehicles such asSing a Song of Secombe andITV'sSecombe with Music during the 1970s.[15]
Later in life, Secombe (whose brotherFred Secombe was a priest in theChurch in Wales, part of theAnglican Communion) attracted new audiences as a presenter of religious programmes, such as theBBC'sSongs of Praise andITV'sStars on Sunday andHighway. He was also a special programming consultant toHarlech Television[16] and hosted aThames Television programme in 1979 entitledCross on the Donkey's Back. In the latter half of the 1980s, Secombe personally sponsored a football team for boys aged 9–11 in the local West Sutton Little League, 'Secombes Knights'.
In 1990, he was one of a few to be honoured by a second appearance onThis Is Your Life, when he was surprised byMichael Aspel at a book signing in a London branch of WH Smith. Secombe had been a subject of the show previously in March 1958 whenEamonn Andrews surprised him at the BBC Television Theatre.[17]
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In 1963 he was appointed aCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).[6]
He wasknighted in 1981,[18] and jokingly referred to himself as Sir Cumference (in recognition of his rotund figure). The motto he chose for hiscoat of arms was "GO ON", a reference togoon.[19]
Secombe hadperitonitis in 1980. Within two years, taking advice from doctors, he had lost five stone in weight.[20] He had a stroke in 1997 and his colon burst, from which he made a slow recovery. He was then diagnosed withprostate cancer in September 1998. Following a second stroke in 1999, he was forced to abandon his television career, but made a documentary about his condition in the hope of giving encouragement to others with the condition.[21] Secombe haddiabetes in the latter part of his life.[22]
Secombe died on 11 April 2001 at the age of 79, from prostate cancer, in hospital inGuildford, Surrey.[23] His ashes are interred at the parish church ofShamley Green, and a latermemorial service to celebrate his life was held atWestminster Abbey on 26 October 2001. As well as family members and friends, the service was attended byCharles, Prince of Wales and representatives ofPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,Anne, Princess Royal,Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon andPrince Edward, Duke of Kent. On his tombstone is the inscription: "To know him was to love him."
At Peter Sellers's funeral in 1980, Secombe sang a hymn andSpike Milligan joked: "I hope you die before me because I don't want you singing at my funeral." After Milligan's death in 2002, a recording of Secombe singingGuide me, O Thou great Redeemer was played at Milligan's memorial service.[24]
TheSecombe Theatre inSutton, Greater London, was named after him. He is also fondly remembered at theLondon Welsh Centre, where he opened the bar on St Patrick's Day (17 March) 1971.[25]
Secombe met Myra Joan Atherton at the Mumbles Dance Hall in 1946. The couple were married from 1948 until his death, and had four children:
Myra, Lady Secombe died on 7 February 2018, aged 93.[28][29]
| Year | Title | Role | Director | Co-stars | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | Helter Skelter | Alf | Ralph Thomas | Uncredited | |
| 1951 | Penny Points to Paradise | Harry Flakers | Tony Young | ||
| 1952 | Down Among the Z Men | Harry Jones | Maclean Rogers | ||
| 1953 | Forces' Sweetheart | Harry Llewellyn | Maclean Rogers | ||
| 1954 | Svengali | Barizel | Noel Langley | Hildegard Knef,Donald Wolfit,Terence Morgan | |
| 1957 | Davy | Davy Morgan | Michael Relph | Ron Randell,Susan Shaw,Alexander Knox | |
| 1959 | Jet Storm | Binky Meadows | Cy Endfield | Richard Attenborough,Stanley Baker | |
| 1968 | Oliver! | Mr. Bumble | Carol Reed | ||
| 1969 | The Bed Sitting Room | Shelter Man | Richard Lester | ||
| 1969 | Pickwick | Mr. Pickwick | Terry Hughes | Roy Castle,Hattie Jacques | |
| 1970 | Doctor in Trouble | Llewellyn Wendover | Ralph Thomas | ||
| 1970 | Song of Norway | Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson | Andrew L. Stone | ||
| 1971 | The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins | Stanley | Graham Stark | (segment "Envy") | |
| 1972 | Sunstruck | Stanley Evans | James Gilbert |
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