thank you Norman

This blog post is in honour of the late, great Sir Norman Wisdom, who died last night aged 95. Everything I have heard and seen people say in tribute to him has affirmed not only his talent but his generous, kind and outgoing nature.

My favourite story was on the radio this morning, from his former agent. He described how he was at Norman’s house on the Isle of Man when Norman was in his eighties. As they were talking Norman stopped him and excused himself for a moment. He went out of the door and outside into the garden. A tourist coach was outside his house and the guide was explaining that this was Norman Wisdom’s house. Norman proceeded to do his trademark ‘pratfall’ on the path, into the flowerbed, out of the flowerbed and onto the lawn.

At no stage did he look up at the coach, he carried on as if oblivious to them. Then he straightened himself up, came back inside and carried on as if nothing had happened!

Don’t you just LOVE that?

I remember watching Norman Wisdom films as a child / teenager. They used to show them on weekday afternoons sometimes (I could catch them when on holiday or off ill). Much better than Jermy Vile (sic) and the like! The plots were never too complex but Norman’s characters were always so endearing and he was such a brilliant physical comedian as well as a good actor. If you have never seen one of his films, catch one of the inevitable ones that will be shown in his honour. I reckon the closest thing we have to his physical comedy today is Lee Evans (not his jokes, his physical comedy).

Norman’s trademark character in many films was Norman Pitkin. He was always wearing an ill-fitting suit with a skewed cap on his head. He was often in trouble with his boss, Mr Grimsdale, and I can still hear in my imagination his plaintiff cries for help when things went wrong: “Mr Grimsdale!”

So thank you God for placing Norman Wisdom on this planet and for blessing us with his laughter, his acting, his comedy and his incessant falling over. Wouldn’t it be great if more of us were able to be like him? Even better if we could be like Jesus, although I am not sure how many times he did comedy falling over!

http://www.normanwisdom.co.uk/