| Roy Hudd OBE | |
|---|---|
| Born | 16 May 1936 Croydon, England[1] |
| Occupation | Radio & television actor playwright & author |
| Spouse | Debbie Flitcroft |
Roy Hudd, OBE (born 16 May 1936, Croydon) is an English comedian, actor, radio host and author, and an authority on the history of music hall entertainment.
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His father was a carpenter and he attended Tavistock Secondary Modern School, Croydon and Croydon Secondary Technical School. His jobs then included a messenger for an advertising agency, window dresser and commercial artist. In 1958 he took a summer job as a Redcoat at Butlins, Clacton. From the Daily Mail: Roy and Debbie met nearly 30 years ago in panto in Nottingham. Debbie, a dancer, now directs panto. Roy was already divorced from his first wife, Ann, with whom he has a 45-year-old son, Max, a stage manager. Roy and Debbie married in 1988. 'Debbie is 22 years younger than me, it's amazing, people never picked up on that. It never bothered us.' They have no children. 'We tried and tried, but we didn't get lucky,' says Roy.
Hudd first appeared on radio in 1959 on the Workers' Playtime show and he is best known for his very long-running BBC Radio 2 series The News Huddlines. His acting talent found a new outlet in the 1970s when he was chosen as the reader for Radio Four's 'Morning Story' produced at BBC Pebble Mill by David Shute. He starred in the title role in The Newly Discovered Casebook of Sherlock Holmes in 1999, and has also given his voice to the roles of Max Quordlepleen in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and James Phillimore in The Singular Inheritance of Miss Gloria Wilson, an original Sherlock Holmes radio play in the series The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (2002).
He has appeared on TV variety shows and his acting roles include the Dennis Potter series Lipstick on Your Collar, for which he received critical praise, and Karaoke. He has recently appeared as the undertaker Archie Shuttleworth in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street and in the Hollyoaks spin-off, In the City. He will next be seen on TV in episodes of New Tricks and Casualty. And on Friday 30 April Roy went back in time to the 1980s in the BBC TV programme Ashes to Ashes, as Frank Hardwick. In 1966 and 1967 he had his own comedy sketch series - The Illustrated Weekly Hudd.
He appeared as Jack Croft in series 2 of BBC One show Missing
Hudd has appeared in many pantomime and variety performances. In the 1980s Roy Hudd starred as Fagin in the revival of Lionel Bart's musical Oliver! at the Albery Theatre, London and the musical version of Hard Times [2] at the Haymarket Theatre with Brian Blessed. In 2004 he launched a new one man show "All My Own Work". It premièred during the National Music Hall and Variety Festival at The Playhouse in Weston-super-Mare and then continued to tour around the UK.
In 2008, he played the part of the Wizard in a production of the Wizard of Oz at London's Royal Festival Hall.
Hudd has written several books on music hall, re-recorded music hall records and appeared in the music hall revival show The Good Old Days. He is seen by broadcasters as an authority on the subject and is the longstanding President of the British Music Hall Society. His CD, Mirth, Magic and Melodrama consists of a collection of classic monologues from the music hall days, including The Pig and The Lion and Albert, first recorded by Stanley Holloway
He is an authority on the comedian Max Miller and is known for his impersonation of him. He appeared as his hero in the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio play Pier Pressure in 2006. He is President of the Max Miller Appreciation Society[3]
He has also had a long association with the Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service, where he is considered an honorary member. In 1994 he officially opened their current studios in the Bristol Royal Infirmary. He is also a Past King Rat[4] of the show business charity the Grand Order of Water Rats.
He was awarded an OBE in the Queen's 2003 New Year's Honours List. In 1983 (1982 season), he was awarded the "Best Actor in a Musical" Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for his role in Underneath the Arches, as Bud Flanagan. According to Hudd, Bud Flanagan had stated shortly before his death that he considered Hudd to be the best choice to star in a dramatisation of Flanagan's life. On 29 November 2010, Roy was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Westminster, where he had once studied commercial art at a time when the institution was known as the "Regent Street Polytechnic"
His name is sometimes confused with Rod Hull, who had the puppet Emu. This is referenced in the fifth episode of the second series of The Office.
One of his early TV appearances was in a short information advert for the Cycling Proficiency Test.
He had a guest appearance in the comedy One Foot In The Grave, episode "Threatening Weather" (Series 6) as a character whom the Meldrews had to take care of during a power cut on the hottest day of the year.
Hudd now lives in Suffolk.
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