WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
Born: 4th February 1915
Died: 4th October 2010 (aged 95)
As you will know my main modus operandi for these things is to look at an actors top five worldwide box office films and then talk about my favourite film of theirs. Unfortunately, as I have found out, that’s not always possible, I don’t know if the actor isn’t an international success or what but in such cases I will try to find a film from each decade of their acting career.
this article contains spoilers
Norman Joseph Wisdom was born in London to a chauffeur and a dressmaker. He had an older brother and the four of them lived in one room in London’s Maida Vale until he was 14 when he became a cabin boy with the Merchant Navy. He enlisted in the King’s Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) but he was under age later, he re-enlisted as a drummer boy with the 10th Royal Hussars. At the age of 15 he was posted to India as a bandsman. It was in the army that he honed his career.
Although better known as a comedic actor he started his professional career as the straight man to the magician David Nixon, he appeared alongside him in what was to become his trademark costume – flat cap, a suit two sizes too small and crumpled tie. With his trademark outfit and slapstick routines he toured the theatres before being picked up by the Rank Organisation at the age of 38. He worked constantly throughout the 50s and 60s.
One Good Turn (1955)
Although a slightly more serious side to this story there is still the usual Norman Wisdom slapstick. Norman plays Norman, as seems to be the norm, an orphan himself who still lives at the orphanage and helps with looking after the children, who adore him. There are the normal hijinks and tomfoolery but it is slightly more subtle here. As usual Norman fools in love with the wrong woman when the right girl is waiting for him but this time he doesn’t get her at the end but he does get everything else he wants but to see the sea. Once again Mr Wisdom is in fine voice.
Press for Time (1966)
Even at the age of 51 Norman Wisdom was still comfortable to continue his normal slapstick, maybe not as much as in previous films but still enough to keep it his style. In Press for Time Norman plays Norman Shields, his mother Emily and his Grandfather (Wilfred, the Prime Minister); the latter two being cameos. Having been rejected by her father when she became a suffragette and married sewer worker, Emily feels it only right that he help her son get a good job, even though Norman is happy selling newspapers outside Westminster Station. He sends him to Tinmouth, 200 miles away, to work on a local paper. After causing numerous amounts of havoc in his own inevitable way Norman ends up ‘putting the world to rights’ and getting the girl.
1970s & 1980s
Norman spent the 70s and 80s on the small screen, with several one off TV appearances as well as a TV series or two of his own.
Double X (1992)
Mr Wisdom was 77 when he made Double X and once you get past the cheesy 90’s production values this is not at all what you’d expect from a Norman Wisdom film. Arthur Clutten, Norman’s character, is a bad man, maybe not at heart but for all intense and purposes he has taken a wrong turn in life. In trying to keep his daughter safe he meets the wrong man although he feels he is the right man and that’s where things start to fall apart. I really felt for his gentle yet scared character, a frail old man who carries a lot of worries and was really hoping for a double double cross at the end. I was surprised by the role that Norman took in this film, very little humour in the whole 97 minutes, but it’s always nice to see someone step out of the shadows of their character (by this I mean the roles that he is better known for – simple, loving, funny characters with a little slapstick thrown in) and for me this was a pleasant change from the norm.
I have to admit that I’m not a big Norman Wisdom fan, I find his slapstick style a little outdated but I have to admit after watching more of his films there is more depth to his characters than I first thought but most develop in the same way; gentle, silly Norman isn’t taken seriously but knows all the right things to do to set everything right – it’s a simple story line every time but they are pleasant to watch.
As well as being an award winning actor, Sir Norman wisdom was also an accomplished singer, not just in his films but also in the music charts. He was also a big hit in Albania as he was one of a select few Western actors whose films were allowed to be shown in the country under Enver Hoxha, an Albanian Communist politician. Hoxha believed Wisdom’s films were a Communist parable on the class war. He was so popular in Albania that, in 2001, his appearance at an England team’s training ground overshadowed that of David Beckham. He was a philanthropist who supported charities both at home and in Albania. Three years before his death he became a resident in a nursing home on the Isle of Man, he suffered from vascular dementia which lead to him having several strokes which in turn lead to his death.
