I'm sorry i realise most of you won't have heard of Bruce Forsyth, but he's such a British institution i feel i have to pay this tribute to him. some of you may know him through two of his movies. he played Julie Andrews father in Star with the talented Beryl Read as his girlfriend and stage partner. he was also Sam Jaffe's sidekick in Bedknobs And Broomsticks with the famous Angela Angela Lansbury in the lead in one of her best films.
Bruce had a close personal and working relationship with Sammy Davis Jnr and in many of the great stars trips to the UK they often worked together and could be mistaken for a talented double act.
Bruce was the second and most famous compare of the famous variety show Sunday Night At the London Palladium from 1958 till the early 60s. the show started the careers of many young performers and had artists like Lorne Greene, The Beatles and Judy Garland as top of the bill acts. Bruce, a talented comic and song and dance man could hold his own with theses stars, even managing a piano duet with the great Nat King Cole. on every show there was also the British version of American show Beat the Clock. Bruce's catchprase for the show was 'I'm In Charge.' later on he invented his most famous catchphrase 'Nice To See You To See You Nice.'
in the 70s Bruce became king of the British game show. he did The Generation Game, which was a huge success, where two family members of different generations would compete against each other. one thing i remember is how the older women struggled with the phyiscal games. after Larry Grayson did his stint on the show Bruce returned in the 1990s and i noticed a change. the older women were now as fit as the younger folk and could more than hold their own with the phyiscal stuff. Bruce had more catchphrases from this show as well as NTSYTSYN. there was Good Game and Didn't He (she) Do Well
other game shows followed You Bet and Play Your Cards Right.
In his 70s the tv companies appeared to be freezing him out, believing him to be to old, even though he was still in great shape. however, he made aan appearence as guest host of the political satire quiz show Have I Got News For You with team captains Ian Hislop (Peter Cooks partner in magazine Private Eye) and the comic Paul Merton (who wrote Silent Comedy as a tribute to the likes of Chaplin and Keaton). Bruce's impact was massive and relauched his career.
in his late 70s Bruce started arguebly his most successful show and that's saying something considering considering his earlier Sunday Night At The London Palladium. the show he co-hosted along with Tess Daly was Strictly Come Dancing, where celebrities team up with professional dancers for ballroom and latin dances. in the UK the standard is very high with the best of the celebs like BBC newsreader Natasha Kapinski, Eastender's actress Jill Halfpenny, cricketers fast bowler Darren Gough and batsmen Mark Ramprakash along with recent winner singer Alesha Dixon reaching almost professional standard with thei performances. the show also inspired America to do its own version Dancing With The Stars. on Saturdays Judges Len Goodman and fellow judge Bruno would film the live UK show then fly to the U.S and film the weekday American show and fly back to the UK for the next U.K Saturday show. as a tribute to Bruce they showed a clip of where a couple dancing brilliantly suddenly got there microphones caught up and had to stop. they were favourites to win the competition and thought they were out, but Bruce came running on stage, did some ad-libbing and thrived on something going wrong. he also persuaded everyone involved to let the couple start their dance form the beginging.
if ever a stage performer warrented the title Mr. Personality, it's Bruce. it's just a pity apart from little dance routine he did in Star and his working alongside Sam Jaffe in 'Bedknobs' that America never really got to see this great entertainer at work.
Bruce Forsyth 80 yestersay
Stuart, most all stars are worth a mention, and I'm glad that you brought actor Bruce Forsyth to our attention. The gent certainly rubbed elbows with the greats of show business, not to mention his own many talents.
I'll be looking for him the next time TCM airs "Star" and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks". Thanks.
I'll be looking for him the next time TCM airs "Star" and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks". Thanks.