Marty Feldman | |
|---|---|
 Feldman in 1969 | |
| Born | Martin Alan Feldman (1934-07-08)8 July 1934 Canning Town, London, England |
| Died | 2 December 1982(1982-12-02) (aged 48) Mexico City, Mexico |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1948–1982 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | BAFTAs:Best Light Entertainment Performance 1968Marty Best Writer 1968Marty |
Martin Alan Feldman (8 July 1934[1] – 2 December 1982) was a British actor, comedian and comedy writer. He was known for hisprominent,misaligned eyes.[2][3][4]
He initially gained prominence as a writer withBarry Took on theITV sitcomBootsie and Snudge and theBBC Radio comedy programmeRound the Horne. He became known as a performer onAt Last the 1948 Show (co-writing the "Four Yorkshiremen sketch" whichMonty Python would perform) andMarty, the latter of which won Feldman twoBritish Academy Television Awards includingBest Entertainment Performance in 1969.
Feldman went on to appear in films such asThe Bed Sitting Room andEvery Home Should Have One, the latter of which was one of the most popular comedies at the British box office in 1970.[5] In 1971, he starred in the comedy-variety sketch series for ATV calledThe Marty Feldman Comedy Machine. In 1974, he appeared asIgor inMel Brooks'Young Frankenstein, for which he received the firstSaturn Award forBest Supporting Actor. He died in 1982 of a heart attack while filmingYellowbeard inMexico City.[6]
Feldman was born on 8 July 1934 inCanning Town,East London, the son of Cecilia (née Crook) and Myer Feldman, a gown manufacturer.[7] His parents wereUkrainian Jewish immigrants fromKyiv. He recalled his childhood as "solitary" especially during his years of evacuation to the countryside during theSecond World War.[8]
Feldman sufferedthyroid disease and developedGraves' ophthalmopathy, causing his eyes toprotrude and becomemisaligned.Bruce Baum drew inspiration therefrom to record "Marty Feldman Eyes", a parody of "Bette Davis Eyes", in 1981.
A childhood injury, a car crash, a boating accident, and reconstructive eye surgery may also have contributed to his appearance.[2][4][8][9] He later described his appearance as a factor in his career success: "If I aspired to beRobert Redford, I'd have my eyes straightened and my nose fixed and end up like every other lousy actor, with two lines onKojak. But this way, I'm a novelty."[10]
Leaving school at 15, Feldman worked at theDreamland funfair inMargate,[8] but had dreams of a career as ajazz trumpeter, and performed in the first group in which tenor saxophonistTubby Hayes was a member.[11] Feldman joked that he was "the world's worst trumpet player."[11] By the age of 20, he had decided to pursue a career as a comedian.
Although his early performing career was undistinguished, Feldman became part of a comedy act—Morris, Marty and Mitch—who made their first television appearance on theBBC seriesShowcase in April 1955.[1] Later in the decade, Feldman worked on the scripts forEducating Archie in both its radio and television incarnations, withRonald Chesney and later, Ronald Wolfe.
In 1954, Feldman metBarry Took while both were working as performers, and with Took, he eventually formed an enduring writing partnership which lasted until 1974.[1] They wrote a few episodes ofThe Army Game (1960) and the bulk ofBootsie and Snudge (1960–62), both situation comedies made byGranada Television for theITV network. ForBBC Radio they wroteRound the Horne (1964–67), their best-remembered comedy series, which starredKenneth Horne andKenneth Williams.[8] (The last series ofRound the Horne, in 1968, was written by others.) This work placed Feldman and Took 'in the front rank of comedy writers', according toDenis Norden.[8]
Feldman then became the chief writer and script editor onThe Frost Report (1966–67). With John Law, he co-wrote the much-shown"Class" sketch, in whichJohn Cleese,Ronnie Barker andRonnie Corbett faced the audience, with their descending order of height, suggesting their relative social status as upper class (Cleese), middle class (Barker) and working class (Corbett).[8]
The television sketch comedy seriesAt Last the 1948 Show raised Feldman's profile as a performer. The other three participants (futureMonty Python membersGraham Chapman andJohn Cleese; and future star ofThe GoodiesTim Brooke-Taylor) needed a fourth cast member, and had Feldman in mind.[8] In a sketch broadcast on 1 March 1967, Feldman's character harassed a patient shop assistant (played by Cleese) regarding a series of fictitious books, achieving success withEthel the Aardvark Goes Quantity Surveying. His character inAt Last the 1948 Show was often called Mr. Pest, according to Cleese.[12] Feldman was co-author—along with Chapman, Cleese and Brooke-Taylor—of the sketch"Four Yorkshiremen", which was written forAt Last the 1948 Show, later adapted by Monty Python for their stage performances.[8]
Feldman was given his own series on the BBC,Marty, in 1968;[8] it featured Brooke-Taylor,John Junkin andRoland MacLeod, with Cleese as one of the writers.[8] Feldman won twoBAFTA awards. The second series in 1969 was retitledIt's Marty (this title being retained for theDVD release of the series).
Marty proved popular enough with an international audience (the first series winning the Golden Rose Award at Montreux) to launch a film career. Feldman's first feature film role was inEvery Home Should Have One (1970).[8]
The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine (1971–72) was a television series co-produced byAssociated Television (ATV) in the UK and theAmerican Broadcasting Company, produced at ATV'sElstree Studios, near London. This vehicle lasted for just one series.[13]
In 1974,Dennis Main Wilson produced a short BBC sketch series for Feldman titledMarty Back Together Again—a reference to reports about the star's health—but it never captured the impact of the earlier series.
On film, inMel Brooks'Young Frankenstein (1974), Feldman playedIgor (pronounced "EYE-gore", a comic response toGene Wilder's claim that 'it's pronounced FRONK-en-steen'). Many lines inYoung Frankenstein were improvised. Wilder said he had Feldman in mind when he wrote the part.[8]
Feldman's performances on American television includedThe Dean Martin Show.
In 1976, Feldman ventured intoItalian cinema, starring withDayle Haddon in thesex comedy40 Gradi All'Ombra del Lenzuolo(Sex with a Smile). He later appeared inThe Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother and Brooks'Silent Movie, as well as directing and starring inThe Last Remake of Beau Geste. He also guest-starred in "Arabian Nights", an episode ofThe Muppet Show in which he was teamed up with severalSesame Street characters, especiallyCookie Monster, with whom he shared a playful cameo comparing their eyes side by side.
During the course of his career, Feldman recorded two albums,Marty (1968) andI Feel a Song Going Off (1969), re-released in 1971 asThe Crazy World of Marty Feldman. The songs on his second album were written byDenis King, John Junkin and Bill Solly (a writer forMax Bygraves andThe Two Ronnies).[14] It was later released as aCD in 2007.
From January 1959 until his death in 1982, Feldman was married to Lauretta Sullivan, with whom he had two children. She died in 2010, at the age of 74, inStudio City, Los Angeles.[15] Feldman's peers have reported, in a number of biographies, that he was highly attractive to women in spite of his unconventional facial appearance.[16] He spent time in jazz clubs, as he found a parallel between 'riffing' in a comedy partnership and the improvisation of jazz.[8][17]
Politically, Feldman was described as an "avowedsocialist",[18] telling one interviewer, "I'm a socialist by conviction, if not by lifestyle",[19] and another, "I'm a socialist from way back, but in order to pay my back taxes I have to live in America to earn enough money to pay the back tax I owe to the socialist government that I voted in."[8] He later joked that when aLabour cabinet minister said to him, "Of course you vote Labour", Feldman replied, "No, I don't, because I'm a socialist!"[20] Nevertheless, he generally did not seriously discuss politics in public, and once stated: "I feel it would be presumptuous for me to make any statements about American politics because I'm a guest here."[21]
An exception was during a promotional tour forThe Last Remake of Beau Geste, when he denounced the campaign led byAnita Bryant against homosexuality.[22] Another exception was after the murder of his friendJohn Lennon. Feldman subsequently became an anti-gun advocate in the US, even wearing an anti-gun t-shirt and hat pin during his appearance on the late night TV showFridays.[23]
In 1971, Feldman gave evidence in favour of the defendants in the obscenity trial forOz magazine.[8] He chose not toswear on the Bible, but toaffirm.[8] Throughout his testimony, he mocked the judge after it was implied that Feldman had no religion because he was not Christian.[8]
Feldman was alacto-ovo vegetarian. In a 1979 interview, when asked how long he had practised this, he stated: "I was about five and a half or six when I converted; I'm forty-three now, so it's been approximately thirty-eight years."[24]
Feldman wrote an autobiography,Eye Marty: The Newly Discovered Autobiography of a Comic Genius, which was brought to light following Lauretta's death. It was published in 2012 with a foreword byEric Idle.[17]
Feldman was a heavy cigarette smoker for most of his life, often smoking four or five packs daily. He died of aheart attack[10] in a hotel room inMexico City on 2 December 1982 at age 48[6] during the making of the filmYellowbeard; the film was subsequently dedicated to him. According to an editor's note in Feldman's posthumously published autobiography,Graham Chapman was with him at the time of his death.[25]
Feldman is buried in the Garden of Heritage atForest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery, California, near his idol,Buster Keaton.[8]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | The Bed Sitting Room | Nurse Arthur | |
| 1970 | Every Home Should Have One | Teddy Brown | |
| 1971 | The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins | Man kicking Tree | cameo segment "Sloth"; writer segment "Lust" |
| 1972 | Today Mexico, Tomorrow the World | Football player Marty | short film |
| 1974 | Young Frankenstein | Igor | |
| 1975 | The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother | Sgt. Orville Stanley Sacker | |
| Closed Up-Tight | Cat burglar | ||
| 1976 | 40 gradi all'ombra del lenzuolo (Sex With a Smile) | Alex | segment "La Guardia del Corpo" |
| Silent Movie | Marty Eggs | ||
| 1977 | The Last Remake of Beau Geste | Dagobert 'Digby' Geste | Also director & writer |
| 1980 | In God We Tru$t | Brother Ambrose | Also director & writer |
| 1982 | Slapstick of Another Kind | Sylvester | |
| 1983 | Yellowbeard | Gilbert | (final film role) |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | At Last the 1948 Show | various characters | |
| 1968–69 | Marty /It's Marty | ||
| 1970 | Marty Amok! | television special | |
| 1971 | Marty Abroad | television special | |
| 1971–72 | The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine | himself | |
| 1971–73 | The Flip Wilson Show | 2 episodes | |
| 1972 | The Marty Feldman Show | various | television movie |
| 1972 | The Carol Burnett Show | self - various characters | Episode S6.E2 - "Carol Channing and Marty Feldman" |
| 1972 | The Sandy Duncan Show | Burglar | 2 episodes |
| 1972-74 | The Merv Griffin Show | self | 3 episodes |
| 1972-80 | The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson | self | 4 episodes |
| 1972-77 | Hollywood Squares | self - panelist | 7 episodes |
| 1974 | Marty Back Together Again | various characters | |
| 1975 | Cher | self | Episode S1.E7 |
| 1975 | The Goodies | Guest Appearance | Episode S5.E6 - "Scatty Safari" |
| 1975 | Karen | John Himmelman | Episode S1.E2 - "Them" |
| 1977-79 | The Mike Douglas Show | self | 2 episodes |
| 1981-82 | Fridays | self - Guest Host | 2 episodes |
| 1981 | Insight | Josh | Episode S1.E434 - "The Sixth Day"[26] |
| 1981 | The Muppet Show | himself | television series – one episode, "Arabian Nights" |
Marty Feldman, the wild-eyed British comedian [...] died Thursday in his hotel room in Mexico City.
