Goodbye to Mr
Amazingly talented soap veteran, stage star and comedy legend dies at 83
THE comedian, actor and soap star Roy Hudd has died aged 83 after a short illness. In a statement issued yesterday, his agent said: “We are sad to announce the passing of the much-loved and amazingly talented Roy Hudd OBE. “Roy passed away peacefully on Sunday, March, 15, with his wife Debbie at his side.”
The star’s long and versatile career encompassed almost every genre show business had to offer, from stand-up comic to music hall maestro, from Shakespearean actor to Coronation Street star.
Roy was as comfortable playing undertaker Archie Shuttleworth in the ITV soap opera as he was writing witty oneliners for satirical radio comedies, particularly The News Huddlines which ran on BBC Radio 2 for 26 years.
He credited his success to his beloved grandmother Alice Barham, who stepped in to raise him after a series of family tragedies.
His father, a painter and decorator, left the family home in Croydon, south London, shortly after he was born and his mother took her own life. The young Roy was bullied at school by classmates who taunted him for being skinny and bespectacled.
To cheer him up,Alice took him along to the Croydon Empire Theatre to see the greatest performers of the day, including music hall stars Bud Flanagan and Max Miller.
He once recalled: “We could only afford to sit up in the gods.
“My gran adored the comics. Max Miller was the greatest with the audience. He was so charismatic.
“I remember her pointing out to me when he walked on stage that the first thing he always did was to look up at the gods and address his opening remarks to us.
“I doubt I would have gone into show business if it hadn’t been for my gran’s enthusiasm for it.
“Her approval was always terribly important to me.
“The music hall songs have always appealed to me. I was brought up by a gran who always used to sing songs.
“The songs were terrific. They told good stories.”
BUT the success didn’t come easily. Roy’s first job on leaving school was as a window dresser at a store in nearby Bromley.Then he went to work for the artist Harry Beck, best known for creating the iconic London Underground map in 1931.
He would later say that if he hadn’t gone into show business he would have set himself up as a commercial artist.
During National Service, working as an RAF telephonist at Waterbeach, near Cambridge, he played banjo and sang with an RAF jazz band.
By 1957 he was appearing in Gang Show-style revue at a boy’s club, appearing with his friend Eddy Kay as a comedy double act, The Peculiar Pair. The following year, they both became Redcoats at Butlins holiday camp at Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, working alongside Irish comedian Dave Allen and a nice young lad called Harry Webb, whose career took off when he changed his name to Cliff Richard.
Around this time he married dance teacher Ann Lambert and they had a son, Max.
By 1960, now a solo act, Roy made his first foray into television, appearing in Tell It to the Marines, which was not very successful but led to Not So Much a Programme, More a way of Life, a BBC satirical show produced by Ned Sherrin.
At that point, Hudd began to make his mark as a comedian by writing and appearing in topical sketches. His biting wit, coupled with a likeable, easy-going style, went down well with viewers, and the experience proved the perfect preparation for the raft of television roles soon to come his way.
By the mid-1960s he was a major TV star. The Roy Hudd Show combined comedy sketches with variety acts.
But the veteran performer still had a few more tricks up his sleeve.
In 1993 he took a serious acting role In Lipstick on Your Collar, a drama series by Dennis Potter.
Roy played middle-aged theatre organist Harold Atterbow, a part that won him widespread praise, showcasing his extraordinary range. He also appeared in two series of