Russ Abbot

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Russ Abbot

Russ Abbot as Basildon Bond
Born Russell A. Roberts
16 September 1947 (1947-09-16) (age 60)
Chester, England
Occupation Stand-up comedian, Actor, Musician

Russ Abbot (born Russell A. Roberts on 16 September 1947, in Chester) is an English musician, comedian, and actor.

Contents

[edit] Career

He was the fifth of six sons born to Donald Roberts, who was English, and Elizabeth Laing, who was Scottish.

As a drummer Abbot founded the Black Abbots, who signed their first recording contract in 1977. Later on he appeared as a comedian, winning five times the award as Funniest Man On Television.

From 1980, Abbot released some albums as a solo artist, and played successfully in several TV series.

The Russ Abbot Show showed his talents as an all round entertainer and attracted millions of viewers. This show was very popular amongst younger viewers, prompting two annuals to be published in 1982 and 1983. The annuals featured comic strips based on popular characters plus some publicity photos of Abbot in a variety of guises, including, most famously, his James Bond satire featuring characters named Basildon Bond and Miss Funnyfanny, based on the fictional MI6 spy duo James Bond and Miss Moneypenny.

After many years, Abbot bought the performing rights to his hit Atmosphere, and refuses to allow it to be played on radio as he considers it to be a dire representation of his talents; however, many consider this to be a classic novelty hit (it spent two months in the UK Top 20 in 1984).

He married Patricia Simpson in 1967 and has four children: Erika, Richard, Gary and Christopher. He also has two grandchildren called Laing (1995) and Charlotte (2004).

In 2003 his 'See You Jimmy' character (called C. U. Jimmy) came third in The Glasgow Herald's poll to find The Most Scottish Person In The World.

Abbot's theatre roles include Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady starring Amy Nuttall and the narrator in The Rocky Horror Show. In 2004 he played the part of "Grandpa Potts" in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium and also as Fagin in Oliver! From July 2007 he took over the role of Roger De Bris in the UK tour of Mel Brook's The Producers. During December 2007 and January 2008, Abbot appeared as the Tin Man in the stage production of the Wizard of Oz at the Mayflower in Southampton.

In 2008, the BBC announced that Abbot would be joining the cast of Last of the Summer Wine for the show's 29th series.[1]

[edit] Discography (Chart positions)

[edit] Singles

  • 1982 - "A Day In The Life of Vince Prince" (UK: #61)
  • 1984 - "Atmosphere" aka "Oh What An Atmosphere" (UK: #7)
  • 1985 - "All Night Holiday" (UK: #20)

[edit] Album

  • 1985 - I Love A Party (UK: #12)
  • 1990 - Songs Of Joy ([[United Kingdom|UK]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Sherwin, Adam. "Last of the Summer Wine antics 'dangerous' for elderly actors", The Times, 2008-05-10. Retrieved on 2008-05-30. 


Persondata
NAME Abbot, Russ
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Roberts, Russell A.
SHORT DESCRIPTION English comedy actor
DATE OF BIRTH 1947-09-16
PLACE OF BIRTH Chester, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Languages