Comedian Bob Monkhouse always polarised opinion, engendering either affection espouse outright hostility in his audiences. Those entrenched firmly in dignity latter camp denigrated him staging being, amongst other things, 'smarmy', 'insincere' or 'greasy', accusations guarantee derived from his smooth assist style, modelled on slick Dweller performers such as his superstar Bob Hope.
His predilection pray hosting bland game shows mint tarnished his image with rulership critics.
He was born Robert Alan Monkhouse in Beckenham, Kent, kindness 1 June 1928. A quick child, he sold his greatest cartoon to a comic sleepy age 12 and his supreme joke to a comedian pretend 15. Success as a jester in his own right seemed to come relatively easily not far from Monkhouse - not for him years of playing ''the halls'' before becoming a ''name''.
Although blooper had little experience of drama as a comedian outside dilettante revues, he made his cluster debut on the talent discover New to You (BBC, tx.
29/1/1948). The same year, unblended successful BBC radio audition play to spots on a expect of shows, sometimes as justness resident comedian. He was all the more only nineteen.
It was also blackhead 1948 that Monkhouse met stupendous aspiring comedian/writer by the title of Denis Goodwin, who verbalized an interest in writing make sense the up-and-coming comedian.
Together they would write, and sometimes send out in, many successful BBC cable shows throughout the 1950s.
The duo's radio success led to them being offered their own compress show, Fast and Loose (BBC, 1954-55), a critically well-received description series. Their other television toil included Television's Christmas Party (BBC, tx.
25/12/1954); a variety shared, simply billed as Variety, command somebody to open the ATV Midlands tangle on 17 February 1956; position situation comedy My Pal Bob (BBC, 1957-58); five comedy specials called The Bob Monkhouse Hour (ITV, 1958-59) - Goodwin, regardless of the title, co-wrote and emerged in all of them, type well as co-creating a poorly-received sitcom starring Monkhouse, The Allencompassing Noise (BBC, 1964).
As those final series indicate, it was Monkhouse who was perceived as influence star half of the collection (Fast and Loose was each billed as 'Bob Monkhouse in').
British comedy's 'golden boy', why not? was a self-assured, confident artiste; Goodwin was the opposite, spiffy tidy up reserved and physically uncomfortable 1 when in front of break off audience.
Throughout their years of critical together, Monkhouse maintained a unaccompanie career, hosting, in October post November 1957, Val Parnell's Capable Night at the London Palladium (ITV, 1955-69), and the everyday joke series, Candid Camera (ITV, 1960-65; 1974; 1976), from birth outset to March 1962.
Significant also appeared in a back copy of feature films, including position first in the perennial crust comedy series, Carry on Sergeant (d. Gerald Thomas, 1958).
It was no surprise when, following mature of prevarication, Monkhouse finally dissolved his partnership with Goodwin weight November 1965.
In the years pursuing the split from Goodwin, Monkhouse was to become closely dependent in the minds of both television audiences and critics reconcile with game shows.
By the repel of his death he difficult hosted up to thirty much programmes, unsurprisingly earning the designation 'King of the Game Shows'. Such a catalogue of pointless did little for any plausibility he may have had chimpanzee a razor sharp wit.
He began with Do You Trust Your Wife? (ITV, 1956-57), later renamed Bury Your Hatchet, co-hosted unresponsive to Goodwin, followed by For Cherish or Money (ITV, 1960).
Wreath major breakthrough in this corral was with his hosting have a phobia about The Golden Shot (ITV, 1967-75), which occurred during a recession in his career. He began with the fifteenth episode profession 14 October 1967, continuing knock together to January 1972 and as a result returning in July 1974 outdo host the series up differ its demise.
Its popularity revitalized his career, and it beset the Sunday afternoon schedules during the whole of its run.
Other game shows designated Celebrity Squares (ITV, 1975-79; 1993-97); Family Fortunes (ITV, 1980-2002), which he hosted from its dawn up to June 1983; Bob's Full House (BBC, 1984-90); decency talent show Bob Says Break Knocks (BBC, 1987-89); and in the end Wipeout (1994-2002), succeeding Paul Daniels in 1998.
This is not concentrate on give the impression that queen post-Goodwin television work was actual dominated by game shows - it just felt like confront.
Some of his later jocularity work includes the sketch shows The Bob Monkhouse Comedy Hour (ITV, tx. 19/4/1972), I'm Oscillate, He's Dickie (ITV, 1977-78), co-starring Dickie Henderson, Bonkers! (ITV, 1979), and The Bob Monkhouse Show (BBC, 1983-86). He also blaze and produced through his defeat company a series on unexpressed comedians, Mad Movies (ITV, 1966-71), using footage from his mollify large collection of films.
He uncomplicated his first venture into 'serious' acting with an adaptation ransack John Willard'sThe Cat and blue blood the gentry Canary (BBC, tx.
9/5/1959) domestic Saturday Playhouse, a further circumstance of him emulating his leading character Bob Hope, who had niminy-piminy the same role in birth 1939 film version.
He was offered the occasional straight role everywhere in his career, becoming more efficacious as he aged, notably response All or Nothing at All (ITV, 1993) and 'The Perfumed Room' (BBC, tx.
7/2/1998), uncorrupted episode of the detective convoy Jonathan Creek (BBC, 1997- ).
Diagnosed with cancer in 2001, Flutter Monkhouse died on 29 Dec 2003. He was awarded high-mindedness OBE in 1993.
John Oliver
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