14 Facts About Johnny Beattie

Johnny Beattie was born in Govan, Glasgow, on 9 November 1926 into a working class family.

Johnny Beattie grew up there with an older brother, Frank, and two younger sisters, Mary and Cathie.

Johnny Beattie attended St Gerard's Roman Catholic Secondary School, but left school at sixteen to start an apprenticeship and became involved with amateur dramatics, and by the mid-1950s he had become a stand-up comedian.

In 1974, Johnny Beattie took part in STV's four-part series A Grand Tour, along with 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.

Johnny Beattie recalled his most renowned moment on the show as when he was made to "Take a long drop off a short pier", in which each of the participants had to compete.

In 1990, Johnny Beattie starred in The Big Man alongside Billy Connolly and Liam Neeson.

Johnny Beattie appeared in popular Scottish television shows including Taggart, and he was the original host of the Scottish Television game show Now You See It for three years between 1981 and 1984.

Johnny Beattie had a couple of local hit records with "Scotch on the Rocks" and "The Glasgow Rap" and presented radio shows on BBC Radio Scotland and Clyde 2 before he was cast as Malcolm Hamilton in the Scottish soap opera River City, a role which he had retained since the show began in 2002.

Johnny Beattie filmed his last scenes for the show in April 2015 having announced his retirement after more than 60 years.

Johnny Beattie was the Honorary President of the Scottish Music Hall Society.

Johnny Beattie died on 9 July 2020 at the St Margaret's Hospice in Clydebank, aged 93.

Johnny Beattie was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2007 New Year Honours list.

Johnny Beattie received the 1981 Benno Schotz award as TV Personality of the Year.

Johnny Beattie received the Lord Provost's Performing Arts Award in 1993.