1. Charles Edward Springall, known professionally as Charlie Drake, was an English comedian, actor, writer and singer.
15 Facts About Charlie Drake
1. 2.
Charlie Drake left school and home aged fourteen to become an electrician's mate while attempting to break into showbusiness.
3.
Charlie Drake then joined his wartime comrade Jack Edwardes to form a double act, named 'Mick and Montmorency'.
4.
Charlie Drake had arranged for a bookcase to be set up in such a way that it would fall apart when he was pulled through it during a slapstick sketch.
5.
Drake returned to television in 1963 with The Charlie Drake Show, a compilation of which won an award at the Montreux Festival in 1968.
6.
Charlie Drake was the subject of This Is Your Life on two occasions, in December 1961 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in a rehearsal room at the London Palladium, and in November 1995, when Michael Aspel surprised him at the curtain call of the comedy play Funny Money at the Playhouse Theatre.
7.
Charlie Drake sang the theme song himself, using an old music hall number.
8.
Charlie Drake made a number of records, most of them produced by George Martin for the Parlophone label.
9.
In 1972 Charlie Drake recorded a spoof song called 'Puckwudgie' on Columbia records.
10.
Charlie Drake turned to straight acting in the 1980s, winning acclaim for his role as Touchstone in Shakespeare's As You Like It, and an award for his part in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, along with Michael Angelis.
11.
Charlie Drake starred as Smallweed in the BBC adaptation of Bleak House, and Filipina Dreamgirls, a TV film for the BBC.
12.
Charlie Drake was married to Heather Barnes from 1953 until 1971, and they had three sons.
13.
In 1976, Charlie Drake married his second wife, Elaine Bird, but the marriage was dissolved in 1984.
14.
Charlie Drake suffered a stroke in 1995 and retired, staying at Brinsworth House, a retirement home for actors and performers, run by the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund, until his death on 23 December 2006, after suffering multiple strokes the previous night.
15.
Charlie Drake sang the theme song himself, based upon an old music hall song.