Nice to see you, Brucie
Tarby visits pal and say s Strictly star is on the mend
COMIC Jimmy Tarbuck raises a smile today by revealing his stricken showbiz pal Sir Bruce Forsyth is back on his feet and laughing again.
Telly legend Brucie spent five days in intensive care after a recent fall and his legion of fans feared time was finally catching up on the evergreen star.
But Tarby emerged with good news after visiting Brucie and his wife Wilnelia at their mansion overlooking Wentworth golf course in Berkshire.
Scouser Jimmy, 77, said: “It was just good to see him. Wilnelia made some sandwiches and a nice pot of tea and we just reminisced and blethered and laughed. He’s getting there.”
The comedian, who is preparing to go on tour with Des O’Connor, 85, added: “Bruce had a fall and a fall doesn’t do you any good at any age. But he’s at an age where it took a bit out of him. For 50 years, Bruce has been 35 years of age to everyone – when he’s actually 89.”
Tarby and Sir Bruce have been close friends since first meeting as theatre entertainers in the 1960s. Jimmy said: “I was at school when B Bruce first came on the telly. When I wa was leaving school I never dreamt that I would b be working with him.” And hint hinting at Brucie’s abilityab to sustain hi his career for so long, h he add- ed: “It’s the lights and the adrenaline. It all happens when you walk on there.”
Brucie – loved for his catchphrase “Nice to see you, to see you... nice!” – has suffered a string of health scares since stepping down from Strictly Come Dancing in 2014.
It is understood he never fully recovered from two aneurysms – bulges in blood vessels – and surgery in 2015.
He suffered concussion after tripping on a rug at home the same year and last February had “life-saving surgery”. It left him too frail to attend the funeral of another longtime showbiz chum, pintsized telly star Ronnie Corbett, 85
And in November, Wilnelia revealed her husband, who has six children, nine grandchildren and three great- grandchildren, now has mobility problems – and they have spoken about the day he will no longer be around.
Jimmy Tarbuck Live with Des O’Connor, is on tour throughout 2017, including Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, July 29.