Johnny Beattie

Johnny Beattie MBE, (born 9 November 1926, Govan, Glasgow) is a Scottish actor and comedian, whose career has spanned for well over five decades. He became known as one of Scotland's earliest comedy figures, others being the likes of Rikki Fulton, Jack Milroy and Stanley Baxter. He became known in the 1960s for Johnny Beattie's Saturday Night Show, which ran from 1964 all the way until 1970. He was also a well known stand-up comedian, who was popular during his routines for very often talking about his everyday life. He appeared on other shows including the sketch show Scotch & Wry and the sitcom Rab C. Nesbitt, and more recently moved into playing more dramatic roles, most notable that of Malcolm Hamilton in the soap opera River City.

Early life and career

Johnny Beattie was born in Govan, Glasgow on 9 November 1926 into a working class family. He grew up in Glasgow alongside his younger brothers and also attended school there. Beattie dropped out of school at sixteen to start an apprenticeship and became involved with amateur dramatics,^[1] and by the mid-1950s he had become a popular stand-up comedian.

Beattie gradually became known in the 1960s, for his stand-up routines, and he, along with others, including Rikki Fulton, Jack Milroy and Stanley Baxter, was considered one of the "legends of Scottish comedy." Popular Scottish newspaper The Scottish Sun later wrote about Beattie stating "Johnny Beattie is one of the few figures of Scottish comedy still in existence. He has acted in film, television, radio and theatre. He was considered one of the greatest ever comics of his generation, and is still considered the same in this generation."

Beattie was one of the best-known summer season performers at the Rothesay Winter Gardens in the 1940s and 1950s. His waxwork likeness 'narrates' a Scottish music hall history at the Winter Gardens exhibition. He was a well known performer at the Largs Barrfields Pavilion and the Ayr Gaiety between 1953 and 1970.

Beattie starred in his own sketch show Johnny Beattie's Saturday Night Show, which featured him playing many different colourful characters, most notably his alter ego "Glaikit O'Toole". The show ran on BBC One from January 1964 to February 1970, and received high critical acclaim from television critics. Beattie would often thereafter appear as Glaikit O'Toole in other sketches, most notable at New Year.

In 1974, Beattie took part in STV's four-part series A Grand Tour, along with others such as Rikki Fulton, Jack Milroy, Billy Connolly, Mark McManus and Stanley Baxter, in which the six performers went on a grand tour of Scotland and took part in useless tasks. Beattie recalls his most renowned moment on the show as when he was made to "Take a long drop off a short pier", which each of the participants had to compete in.

Beattie went onto appear on Rikki Fulton's sketch show Scotch & Wry, at one point appearing as his alter ego Glaikit O'Toole, who encounters Fulton's character Supercop in one of the sketches. While on the set of Scotch & Wry, Beattie also encountered actor Gregor Fisher. Beattie later went on to co-star alongside Fisher in the 1990s sitcom Rab C. Nesbitt, in which Fisher played the title character and Beattie made infrequent appearances as Nesbitt's father Baz. In 1990, Beattie starred in The Big Man alongside Billy Connolly and Liam Neeson.^[2]

Beattie has also appeared in popular Scottish television shows including Taggart, and he was also the original host of the Scottish Television gameshow Now You See It for three years between 1981 and 1984.^[3] Beattie also had a couple of local hit records with "Scotch on the Rocks" and "The Glasgow Rap".

However, possibly is most memorable acting role came recently when he was cast as Malcolm Hamilton in the popular Scottish soap opera River City, a role which he has retained since the show began in 2002.^[4] but filmed his last scenes for the show in April 2015 having announced his retirement from showbiz after more than 60 years ^[5]

He is currently the Honorary President of the "Scottish Music Hall Society", having been made so in 2005.

Personal life

Johnny Beattie

Beattie married Kitty Lamont in 1950. They had two daughters, Maureen and Louise,^[6] who are both actresses, and two sons Paul and Mark. Beattie and Lamont separated in 1982, and she died in 1994. Beattie currently resides in Hillhead, Glasgow, dividing his time between there and his second home in Rothesay, Bute.

On 9 November 2006, Beattie celebrated his 80th birthday in Glasgow.^[7]

Beattie was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in Queen Elizabeth II's 2007 New Year Honours list.

Awards

• He received the 1981 Benno Schotz award as T.V. Personality of the Year.^[8]
• He received the Lord Provost's Performing Arts Award in 1993.^[9]

References

External links

• MATT BENDORIS (6 Feb 2010). "Matt Meets Johnny Beattie". The Scottish Sun. 
• Johnny Beattie Profile