Who was this man, who inspired so much silence? . Too short-sighted for active Army service, he was afraid of being assigned to the merchant navy and the Atlantic convoys, but instead he was ordered to report to the coal pits, as a 'Bevin Boy' one of the conscripted mine workers. Stanley was up for the challenge. Stanley came out of retirement in 2008 to record a retrospective special about his life for ITV. And since that time he hasnt been able to surrender the thought had he not married the fragile, vulnerable woman she may have lived more of a happy life. A porter at the club confirmed that the comedian did swim in the pool most days. Instead, Baxter told Moira he could no longer live with her. He says: Did she carry some hope that I would get off the plane, rush round and save her again? Baxter was 46, and thought their two-day fling would be no more than a brief encounter. Moira asked me what was wrong and I said something about the emotion of it all. Theres a great move afoot for them to be repeated, to have a compilation made of them for the States and Canada, and all that, but thats still being worked on. In this remarkable new authorised biography, which Stanley originally refused to have published before his death for fear of being judged journalist Brian Beacom reveals the secrecy and sadness that have haunted the entertainer all his life. That never happened: once television began to damage theatre audiences, many serious Scottish actors were forced into variety. They were married for 46 years, This year, he changed his mind. Im not a personality, he once said. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to Ive often wondered how her life would have turned out had she married a devoted heterosexual husband., He adds, his voice breaking: I will never know why she loved me so much. moira@scoliosisbracing.co.za +27 76 883 9526 Virginia Way Offices 0 Hamman Street Stellenbosch Chic, with hooded eyes, Moira could have been Bette Davis's younger sister. See the complete profile on LinkedIn and discover Moira's connections and jobs at similar companies. 'I thought, 'My career will never survive this. Yet he was, and is, missed: in England, as the funniest man on television; in Scotland - where they take panto very seriously - as the greatest dame of the century: a master of the double entendre and the quick, stunning costume-change. If there were someone I were interested in, I could bring them home. I didn't think that she was ever going to make it very big and I suggested she give it up. Oh yes? Still smiling. Stanley Baxter was born on May 24, 1926 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. She is the. Men just look nelly, however hard they try. And he had been sighted on a visit to Scotland in July 1994, to unveil a tribute to his late friend and fellow comic Duncan Macrae, during which he had confirmed that it had been his intention to drop out of public life completely: Most comics work till they drop, but Im happier now than ever. Moira was dead on her bed from an overdose. HP10 9TY. And we never really discovered who he was, other than a brilliant character actor and impersonator; as the rules of celebrity changed, he simply refused to play by them. Stanley managed to survive the threat to his career just and Moira, as expected stood by her man. You can tell Ive talked to the press before, cant you? For a nation still mourning the loss of Eric Morecambe, Baxter another survivor of the gentler, pre-television days of variety theatre seemed ready to succeed to the title of Britains Favourite Comedian. However, Moira was very, very upset. You need a knowledgeable advisor and determined advocate. The decriminalisation of gay sex between consenting adults was still five years away. This was Angus Lennie, once the chef in Crossroads. I told him of how she was slipping into little overdoses, and I would be going round to see her and reviving her. There was some communication, through Andy Young, who had been authorised to tell me that Baxter was refusing all work except voice-overs and radio. The most outrageously funny man on British television 50 years ago was Stanley Baxter. But unknown to the world, Granny and the eponymous hero had decided to marry. Other members included Kenneth Williams, with whom Baxter formed a close friendship that was troubled but life-long.It was quite a strong thing, said Young. The star, who is best known for his self-titled comedy shows and his childrens TV series Mr Majeika, stepped away from the spotlight 25 years ago. People who knew you knew the shorthand and the jargon. Tayside & Stirling. 'Anybody else would have gotten rid of me but she was devoted. We hope you've really thought about how important it is., And I said nonchalantly, Oh, not nowadays. We need you! FOR MANY of the details I subsequently learnt about Stanley Baxters life, I was grateful to Andy Young, a Scottish freelance writer who gained the comedians confidence about 100 years ago and is one of the few people to have interviewed him at any length. Stanley Baxter is one of the most successful entertainers of his generation and for many years had his own Bafta-winning TV series. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group, Harry suggests he and Meghan will NEVER give up their royal titles after Anderson Cooper asked why they don't renounce them and live privately during explosive 60 Minutes interview: Prince blasts 'what difference would that make? Yes. They werent interested in doing another take just because Stanley felt there was a whisker of it that wasnt right. Im not giving any interviews at the moment. An edge in his voice. This would be NO life for you, married to someone who is essentially and primarily homosexual!, Moira's reaction was surprising, even to those who knew how liberal she was. In London, Stanley found immediate success with TV satire On The Bright Side. Another professional acquaintance was prepared to talk anonymously, but only about his retirement (Nureyev kept going until he was censured and taken apart at the seams for coming on stage when he was obviously dying. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. Stanley Baxter is one of my all-time favourites, he said. As spring approached, Stanley saw even more of the woman with the hooded eyes, even taking her along to his parents home at 5 Wilton Mansions in Glasgow's Kelvinside. After 11 months of waiting, I was becoming frustrated. It wasnt like theatres of today, which are heavily populated with gay people. This girl finally gets to head back to work soon! But the question is also intriguing: how could someone who once inspired such affection slip from the public gaze so completely, in so short a space of time? Baxter is appearing on a charges of. Especially when youre in high heels, do you know what I mean? If it doesn't work out, you just get divorced and you move on. And my father replied with a very heavy voice, No, it's not as easy as that., The following Monday, the Scottish Daily Express wrote of the 'quiet' wedding. But it worried me: was it right to doorstep a man who had worked so hard all his life to keep the private roped off from the public? Hello, Mr Baxter. The spotlight was his. He was previously married to Moira Robertson. Organisieren, kontrollieren, verteilen und messen Sie alle Ihre digitalen Inhalte. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. Although we'd spend lots of time in each other's beds, nothing happened. He first asked me to write his biography more than 20 years ago, but was emphatic that he did not want it to appear while he was alive. Baxter was charged with soliciting for sex. Actor Stanley Baxter, 94, has bravely come out as gay and opened up about how his sexuality impacted his relationship with his wife Moira Robertson, who died in 1997. She became disruptive. Im not being naughty, but no. Of all those stories, it is hard to imagine anything more sad than this one. After all, she was with the man she adored. Kenny thought I was making a terrible mistake, says Stanley. . In fact, Mum showed her disapproval of Moira right from the start., Stanley agrees. Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. "And she was very good about letting them go to bed with me. He was married for 46 years, but beneath his cheerful exterior lies a man tortured by the fact he is gay. Anxious, he took a taxi to the house. Mildly discouraged, I tried another approach: Melvyn Bragg, who had been head of arts at LWT when Baxter was at his peak. I don't want to be involved in this kind of world'. There was also a tiny quote from Baxter in the Times of November 1992, about how the role of Principal Boy should only be played by a woman: All those frills. He returned to the BBC but, after a one-off in 1986 in which he played 37 roles (including Mae West, whom he first impersonated aged six), that contract also ended. Do not sell or share my personal information. For Bill this was just sexual experimentation, and he would later reject a sexual relationship with Stanley, preferring women. I kept getting those sheeps eyes every time she passed me in the theatre and she appeared to be heartbroken READ MOREShowbiz legend Stanley Baxter says No, "I told her my preference and said: 'Thats why I am breaking off the relationship. I really dont. Even though Moira was dead from an overdose by this time, he was sickened at the thought that his sexuality might become common knowledge. He is an intelligent guy, and he likes to know who hes talking to. I called his office, who promised to ring back with a comment, but didnt. She recovered in hospital and wrote to her husband, insisting, 'I'll never do something so foolish again.' He was working out in a gym and swimming several lengths of the RAC pool every day. We became close, without it ever being more than friendship.'. It was the future Carry On star Kenneth Williams, also barely out of his teens but playing an old man in a CSE production. Baxter would tell the whole truth, on condition that it remained a secret. Stanley added in the book that he decided to turn down work and ended his career in showbusiness. His act was so daring that he was probably the first TV comedian to impersonate the Queen. But Ill tell you the basic outline. "There are many gay people these days who are fairly comfortable with their sexuality, fairly happy with who they are. My call was answered by Mr White himself, who seemed suspicious of my reasons for ringing. As a last shot I rang David White, who said I had been very naughty. . With silk gloves up to his armpits and a tiara, he announced himself as the Duchess of Brendagh and delivered a Christmas message that talked of the Queen Mum as a priceless antique. Anybody who survived the Fifties is very adept at covering their trail, she said. hed rather not do them. We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. Jul 1988 - Present34 years 4 months. Stanley was bringing the values of a different time and place into a world that had changed. Not Stanleys fee, particularly, but you have to pay the Musicians Union, youve got to pay all the dancers, Equity and so on. The truth is, I dont really want to be me.. Jacobs convinced the court that Baxter could not have been 'soliciting' when he was arrested because, apart from two policemen, there was no one else in the lavatories. where are we up to? Its simple and has the few things I need warmth, decent light for reading, a gramophone and a TV if I wish to view. Bingo! 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In a television era rich with comic talent, from Morecambe and Wise to Tommy Cooper, Dick Emery to Mike Yarwood, everyone agreed Stanley Baxter was king. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. Exasperated, his ITV television bosses told him they could no longer afford his extravaganzas. Instead, he was arrested. Look, his shows cost a fortune partly because it takes them so long to change and do make-up and so on. One last piece for the Independent on Sunday, The Invisible Man: Searching for the Reclusive Stanley Baxter. Yes, was the terse reply. I hope you enjoy it, let me know what you think. He told Moira the relationship was over. Bill had girlfriends, but he spent almost all his spare time at the Baxter house, sitting in Stanley's bedroom and talking till the small hours about art and philosophy, 'until we fell asleep, exhausted'. She was in love with him and Baxter believed he was falling in love with her. One night on his way home he was arrested after being entrapped by North London police in a toilet and charged with Importuning. No. He later recalled trying to use his scripts to hide hands encrusted with coal dust, an early indication of the self- consciousness that was to become as ingrained as the coal.Invalided out of the mines with an ear problem, Baxter joined the left- wing Unity Theatre in Glasgow. Mary Brennan sees nothing surprising about Baxter being so jealous of his privacy. Meanwhile, Moira had landed part-time work with a milliner but it didnt seem to hold her interest. Now that personal publicists are de rigueur for everyone from ministers mistresses to rugby players wives, we may even catch ourselves feeling faintly disapproving at the thought that he might want to do without the oxygen of publicity. His last was Mother Goose, at the Kings Theatre, Glasgow, in 1991. She once flew to Belfast to be "reunited with the spirit of [theatre director] Tyronne Guthrie." Editors' Code of Practice. 'I admired how fashionable she looked. And by the time the then-teenager landed a place in the entertainment corps during his National Service years, Stanley was convinced that acting was his destiny. Look, do you mind? Im not sure that Stanley would say it just now, but he had this kind of sexual whats the expression? Baxter had done Shakespeare, and in 1969 he appeared alongside Sir Ralph Richardson in the original cast of Joe Ortons last play, What The Butler Saw. Two years into the marriage, relations with Moira were "fine", but the sex was dwindling. Robertson Baxter Independent Financial Advice enquiry@robertsonbaxter.com 01484 608095 Client login About us About you Why choose us? Instead of gaining the confidence to join them, he shied away, repelled by the high camp 'all chiffon hankies and make-up and flouncing about. By being proactive, well informed and aware of your condition this is the first step to making a difference. He joined the Citizen's Theatre Company in the Gorbals, an idealistic group performing Ibsen and Shaw to working-class audiences. But it was because I knew I'd made the biggest mistake of my life.. DON'T MISS:Sean Connery 'sad sight' and wanted to die sooner, Jackie Stewart says[COMMENT]Cold Feet's John Thomson details what 'saved his bacon' in 2020[INTERVIEW]Andrea McLean steps in to 'calm down' Loose Women's Gloria and Saira[PICS]. Did Bessie Baxter have any idea of Stanleys true sexuality? . Feeling she was too ill to travel, Baxter told her she must stay in London. Stanley Baxter nacido en el 1926, sobre Moira Robertson nos faltan datos sobre su ao de nacimiento,. Certainly not Kenneth Williams: 'I remember sitting with him in an Italian restaurant, and telling him that I was very low. I wrote to Stanley Baxter at his home, requesting an interview. Choosing to eliminate the obvious first, I checked the phone book. Stanley Baxter has come out as gay at the age of 94. 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