Norman Wisdom: His Story

Norman Wisdom was the Rank Organization's biggest star during the Fifties and Sixties. A series of formula films combining slapstick and sentiment drew huge audiences, despite their rudimentary plots. Filmed two years before Wisdom's death, Sally Norris' documentary takes an affectionate look at the comic's life and work, showing how his relentless determination helped him succeed, despite a childhood of absolute poverty. While the subject-matter is undoubtedly fascinating, what is perhaps more intriguing is the way in which Wisdom is shown to be a protean figure, consciously adopting the public persona of a clown in order to get laughs. It seemed that he was incapable of being serious; but there was a lot more to him than that. Like a lot of performers on both the legitimate as well as the variety stages, Wisdom was self-made; and he understood the importance of reminding his audiences of that fact. Hence he would only allow them to see what he wanted them to see. This strategy might suggest insecurity; in Wisdom's case, it had precisely the reverse effect, giving him the strength to create a good family life for his children away from the limelight, despite being a single parent for much of the time. One noteworthy aspect of the documentary left unexplored is the strong resemblances between Wisdom and his great American contemporary Jerry Lewis; it might have been worth exploring if they were inspired by one another; or, if they were not, to look instead at why audiences on both sides of the Atlantic should have responded to readily to their particular blend of comedy,

He , however was quite an unpleasant man in real life. He was also unbelievably mean.

If people don't like that fact, then tough. Whilst in character though he was jaw droppingly funny.

I loved him.

I knew him

He was not a pleasant Man though.

I was once overtaken by a fancy sports car in the Isle of Man and a friend pointed out it was Norman Wisdom, he likes his fast cars he remarked. That was my only encounter with Norman on the island where he lived for the last three decades of his life.

Some years later I saw him in a shopping mall as he was promoting the Isle of Man in conjunction with the Tourist Board. Even in his advanced years he was wowing the crowd and we had some pictures taken with him.

Like the comic Frank Carson he always came across as a 24 hours comedian, always a gag or a pratfall to keep the crowd smiling.

This documentary went behind the man but never really told us much that I already knew. Norman was always candid in interviews about his life.

Born into poverty, a dad who did not want to know him and somehow worked his way up from the bottom to the top of the Bill with his Gump persona and then into films with his everyman Norman Pitkin in the 1950s and 1960s.

The documentary talked to his friends, children, showbiz pals and we see a man who is driven, wants to succeed and stay on top. It cost him his second wife and ended up raising his children as a single father. The price was he never did crack America although he made films in the USA but this documentary glossed over films such as The night they raided Minsky's.

In the 1970s he started to do television and missed out on a part as Frank Spencer. I think the audience dodged a bullet because even in the 1970s he was too old to play the man-child Frank Spencer.

However in the early 1980s director Stephen Frears brought out a serious side of Norman as he played a straight drama for the first time as a terminal cancer patient and showed he could do serious as well as funny.

In his later years as well as chat shows there were guest appearances in various dramas and comedies such as Last of the Summer Wine.

Norman was knighted and still could not resist a trip in front of the Queen. In is his final years suffered from dementia.

Norman deserves to be up there with the British comedy greats, of course I have always been a fan so I am biased. The documentary though needed more depth.