Jerry Desmonde

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Jerry Desmonde
Born James Robert Sadler
July 20, 1908(1908-07-20)
Flag of England Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, England
Died February 11, 1967 (aged 58)
Flag of England London, England
Occupation musical theatre performer, comedy foil, presenter and game show host, film, TV and radio actor
Spouse(s) Peggy Duncan (until his death), two children

Jerry Desmonde (July 20, 1908 - February 11, 1967 suicide[1]) was an English stage musical, film, and television actor principally in comedies and drama. He is probably best known as a straight man to Norman Wisdom. Jerry is sometimes credited as Jerry Desmond.[2]

Contents

[edit] Personal

Jerry Desmonde was born James Robert Sadler in Linthorpe, Middlesbrough into a family of music hall performers who toured the halls in Scotland, North East England, and Yorkshire.[3] He was married to Peggy Duncan.[4] They had two children, a daughter Jacqueline and son Gerald.[2] After world war II Jerry and his family settled in London and his daughter Jacqueline married clarinetist Peter Howes the son of actor Bobby Howes.[2] Later Jerry worked as a minicab driver in London until becoming depressed; following a comparatively trivial argument with his business partner, he took his own life.[4][5][6]

[edit] Stage, film, television and radio career

James first appeared on stage at the age of eleven and later became part of his family's act The Four Sadlers.[4] He built a career as a song and dance man in musical theatre and later toured parts of the United States in 1927-1928 with Beatrice Lillie and Noel Coward in the two-act revue This Year of Grace.[4][7] By 1934 he had married Peggy Duncan and they toured as a double act called Peg and Jerry, largely in Scotland.[4] In the 1940s Jerry as he was then known, was briefly a straight man for Scottish comedian Dave Willis and in 1942 Jerry was invited to be straight man for stage comedian Sid Field becoming one of the most celebrated comedy teams ever to appear on stage.[3][4] They appeared together on stage in three very successful revues, Strike a New Note (1943)[8] and Strike it Again (1944)[9] and Piccadilly Hayride (1946)[10] at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London and in two films, London Town (1946)[11] an infamous flop, and in The Cardboard Cavalier (1949).[2] The two men next worked together on a stage play, Harvey at the Prince of Wales Theatre, from which Desmonde was ultimately sacked.[4] In 1950 a few months later, during the play's run Sid Field died of a heart attack.

As Sir Hector, governor of Sir Godrics Hospital (far right), he fends off an unwelcomed intruder Pitkin (played by Norman Wisdom, second from left) who interrupts in one of his duties in welcoming to Lady Brinkley as a potential fund raiser benefactor to the institution (played by Jill Melford, second from right) in the movie A Stitch in Time (1963).
As Sir Hector, governor of Sir Godrics Hospital (far right), he fends off an unwelcomed intruder Pitkin (played by Norman Wisdom, second from left) who interrupts in one of his duties in welcoming to Lady Brinkley as a potential fund raiser benefactor to the institution (played by Jill Melford, second from right) in the movie A Stitch in Time (1963).

In 1949 Jerry appeared on television as a presenter in Rooftop Rendesvous.[12] Jerry was a regular panellist and occasional guest host on the original UK version of the television panel game What's My Line? (1951-1962),[3][13][14][15] and appeared in several TV comedies namely, Holiday Camp (1951) with Arthur Askey,[16] A Flight of Fancy (1952) with comedian (sic) Jimmy Young, Before Your Very Eyes (1956-58) with Arthur Askey,[17] and Bud in 1963 a sitcom with Bud Flanagan and other members of the Crazy Gang.[18] He also appeared in episodes of the television series A Question of Happiness (1964),[19] The Plane Makers (1964),[20] The Villains (1965), No Hiding Place (1965), The Mask of Janus (1965),[21] and Vendetta (1966).[2] As a game show host he hosted ATV's Hit The Limit (1956)[22] and The 64,000 Question (1956)[23] television gameshows and in October 1956 Jerry appeared on the front cover of TV Times.[24] On radio Jerry appeared with Bob Hope on the Bob Hope Show (1951)[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] and (1954)[28] the CBS radio play The Incredible History of John Shepherd (1954),[33] and occasionally presented the Housewives' Choice[3][5] on the BBC's Light Programme.

Jerry was on the London stage in Where's Charley? (1958)[34] a theatre musical production of the play Charley's Aunt with Norman Wisdom, and in the short-lived Belle (1961)[35][36][37][38][39] alternatively titled The Ballad of Dr Crippen a music hall musical with George Benson and Rose Hill.

Jerry Desmonde was in numerous movies from 1946 to 1965 including several comedies with Norman Wisdom, and starred in several others.[2][40] The Wisdom films usually involved the gump character (Wisdom) in some manual occupation, in which he is barely competent, and in a junior position to a 'straight man' superior, often played by Edward Chapman, and fighting against the unfairness wrought by some 'authority figure', often played by Jerry Desmonde.[41]

[edit] Stage

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jerry Desmonde, Find A Grave
  2. ^ a b c d e f Jerry Desmonde, Internet Movie Database
  3. ^ a b c d Jerry Desmonde, Alan Myers Project
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Keith Proud, A lesser-known actor who was friend to big screen stars, North East History, The Northern Echo
  5. ^ a b Jerry Desmonde, UKGameShows.com
  6. ^ 1950s British TV Memories, Whirligig
  7. ^ a b This Year of Grace, Internet Broadway Database
  8. ^ a b Sandra Sudley, Lunchbox, Whirligig
  9. ^ a b Adam Benedick, Obituary: Roberta Huby, The Independent
  10. ^ a b Rob Wilton, Personality, Theatricalia
  11. ^ Roger Mellor, London Town - 1946, Britmovie.co.uk
  12. ^ Rooftop Rendezvous, British Film Institute
  13. ^ Gerry George, What's My Line?, Jerry George's Memories, 1950s British Television Nostalgia, Whirligig
  14. ^ What's My Line?, UKGameShows.com
  15. ^ The Box, Greasy Spoon Cafe
  16. ^ Holiday Camp, British Film Institute
  17. ^ Matthew Coniam, Before Your Very Eyes (1956-1958), screenonline, BFI
  18. ^ Jerry Desmonde, The bbc.co.uk Guide to Comedy
  19. ^ Jacqueline Pearce, jacquelinepearce.com
  20. ^ The Plane Makers, British Film Institute
  21. ^ The Mask of Janus, Action TV online
  22. ^ Hit the Limit, UKGameShows.com
  23. ^ The 64,000 Dollar Question, UKGameShows.com
  24. ^ TV Times, AOL
  25. ^ The Bob Hope Show, Radio Memories, Audio Classics Archive
  26. ^ Bob Hope, YourRadioShows.Com
  27. ^ Bob Hope, Old Time Radio Show Catalog
  28. ^ a b The Bob Hope Show, Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs
  29. ^ The Bob Hope Show, Fibbermac's OTR Trading Site, Geocities
  30. ^ Bob Hope Show, Old Time Radio Shows, radiomemory.com
  31. ^ Bob Hope, Radio Revisited
  32. ^ The Marilyn Maxwell Collection, Radio of Yesteryear
  33. ^ Premier Collections: Crime Classics, Radio Archives
  34. ^ Rob Wilton, Musicals 1950s, Theatricalia
  35. ^ a b Rob Wilton, Musicals 1960s, Theatricalia
  36. ^ a b Jack Reading's Programmes 1961, Templeman Library, University of Kent at Canterbury
  37. ^ a b Belle, Musical Heaven
  38. ^ a b Murder Mystery and Mayhem: Belle, British Musical Theatre
  39. ^ a b Belle, CastAlbums.org
  40. ^ Jerry Desmonde, AllMovie
  41. ^ Steve Crook, British Films and Chat, Britmovie Forum
  42. ^ Judy Garland At The London Palladium, Judy in London
  43. ^ a b Publicity Postcards Full Colour, Vaudeville Postcards
  44. ^ Painting the Town, The Guide to Musical Theatre
  45. ^ Rob Wilton, Theatre World Magazines 1950s, Theatricalia
  46. ^ Theatre Programs (UK) post 1939, Collectorspost.com

[edit] External links