EDDIE WIFE’S GRIEF
Anguish of comedy legend’s widow banned from his bedside as he died
Tearful Patsy McGinnis begged nurses to let her see the comedy legend but had to stay away because of hospital lockdown restrictions.
“I was saying, ‘Please… please’, but they said they couldn’t let anyone in,” said Patsy, 76. “It broke my heart I couldn’t be with him those last days.”
She doesn’t even know if she’ll be allowed to see 78-year- old Eddie’s body to say a final goodbye – and reveals her anguish that his doubleact sidekick Syd Little will miss his lifelong friend’s funeral because of Government rules that only close family members can attend.
“Syd is heartbroken,” she said. “He and Eddie were teenage friends and worked together from 1963.
“He’s essential ly fami ly and deserves to be there.”
Patsy’s final conversation with her husband of 37 years was over the phone only hours before his death early on Thursday morning – four days after he tested positive for Covid-19 which he is believed to have picked up in hospital.
“The last words I said to him were, ‘ Darling I love you, we all miss you so much and really want you to be able to come home’,” she said.
“He wasn’t feeling good and said, ‘I’m going to have to go, darling’. Then he said, ‘I love you’, put the phone down and that was it. At 4am the hospital rang to tell us he had passed away.
“We haven’t been able to see Eddie’s body since and I’m not sure i f we’l l be allowed to.” Patsy, a former singer and dancer, met Glasgow- born Eddie when they appeared in Aladdin in Liverpool together in 1977.
The exelectrician, born Edward McGinnis, was in his heyday with pal Syd, real name Cyril Mead. Their big break was winning Opportunity Knocks in 1971 as Little and Large. Their shows on ITV and BBC pulled in up to 18million viewers a week.
Eddie underwent a hear t transplant in 2003 and Patsy today reveals he had a heart attack at their Bristol home at the end of January.
She said: “His heart stopped for two minutes. I tried to do CPR on him and then the paramedics arrived and brought him back.” Doctors fitted Eddie with a pacemaker and he was allowed home two weeks later.
She said: “He tried so hard to get back to the life he had before.
“He liked going to the supermarket over the road to get the papers and a coffee and something to eat in the cafe. People would come up and talk to him. He’d talk to everybody.
“I knew he was struggling but he
No matter how bad he got, Eddie’s concern was always for others
was determined.” Eddie was rushed back to Bristol’s Southmead Hospital at the end of February after picking up an infection because of his weakened immune system and suf fering another suspected heart attack.
The prognosis was grim.
Patsy said: “We were told two or three weeks ago Eddie probably only had days or weeks to live.
“Then he developed a high temperature. They had to swab him for coronavirus.
“The next day we were told he had tested positive.”
Eddie had not been allowed visitors in the five days preceding the test.
Patsy said: “He was one of the 1.5mi l l ion ext remely vulnerable so we knew it was going to be very hard for him to recover.
He had a cough for the last two or three days and deteriorated quite quickly. But on Wednesday he had a resurgence and the whole family, including the grandkids, got to speak to him that day, which was great.
“No matter how bad he got , Eddie’s biggest concern was always for others. He kept saying, ‘It’s a terrible thing going on out there. How is everyone doing?’
“His nephew had passed away wi th coronavirus, but I didn’t want to upset him so I told him everyone was OK.”
Now Patsy is busy planning Eddie’s funeral. She will be there with son Ryan, 37, and his sisters Samantha and Alison from the comic’s first marriage to Sandra Baywood. One of Eddie’s two remaining siblings will be there too.
Patsy said: “Ryan has raised the idea of streaming it live online so everyone can share in it.”
She is planning a huge memorial service to be held after the lockdown ends so Eddie’s wider family and friends can pay their respects. She said: “We were desperate to throw Eddie a big funeral – but we want to celebrate his life and for people to be able to have a good time.
“Eddie was all about making people laugh and it’ll be nice to have all his friends and family together telling stories about his life.
“He’d want people to remember the good times and have people laughing.” Eddie lef t some instructions with Patsy about his send-off, insisting it be upbeat.
He wanted her to play Leona Lewis hit Run – which includes the chorus: “Light up, light up, As if you have a choice, Even if you cannot hear my voice, I’ll be right beside you, dear.”
Patsy broke down with emotion as she recalled: “He said the lyrics represented how he felt about me.”
Man City fan Eddie also wanted a rock version of club anthem Blue Moon to be played as mourners leave.
Patsy wants to scatter his ashes at City’s ground. She is also planning to play a recording of the Little and Large theme tune made by fan Steve Rosenberg, BBC’s Moscow correspondent
Today, Patsy will collect Eddie’s wedding ring and his belongings from hospital. “He was a wonderful husband,” she says. “I still can’t believe he’s gone.” Yesterday, his grieving pal Syd said: “We were together 60 years. It wasn’t like having a partner. We were friends.”