The Dick Emery Show
Dick Emery excelled as a comic master of impersonations in what
became the BBC's longest running sketch-show. His mimicry produced
such characters as Gaylord the delinquent bovver boy; Old Lampwick;
The bucktoothed vicar; Hettie, the frustrated spinster
("Excuse me, Madam", "It's Miss!"); College
the upper-class tramp; Farmer Finch; the wily Mr Crump; and the
ultimate street-interview subjects, Mandy the dumb blonde (who
always misunderstood the street interviewer and read sexual
innuendo into every sentence), the even dumber Hells Angel and
Honky Tonk the 'camp' man.
"Ooh, you are awful . . . but I like you!" (voiced by
the aforementioned Mandy) was Emery's most famous catch phrase,
and in 1972, Dick Emery starred in a movie called (oddly enough) Ooh,
You Are Awful. After cheating the Mafia out of a fortune,
conman Emery trusts his partner to stash the loot in a Swiss
bank.
As the number of the account is tattooed on the rear of one of
his girlfriends, a cheeky undercover operation begins. The
"bottom" line is to photograph the evidence for
posterity or he'll make a complete arse of himself (sorry, I was
getting into the spirit of it all there). Dick Emery trots out all
his famous impersonations.
Dick Emery's holiday specials, The Dick Emery Christmas Show,
were also extremely popular. They aired on Christmas Eve 1972,
Christmas Eve 1977 and December 27 1980.
Richard Gilbert Emery was born on February 19 1917 at the
University College Hospital in St.Pancras, London. His parents
were a double-act known as Callan and Emery. They performed around
Britain at music halls throughout much of Dick's childhood
(depriving him of a formal education).
His parents divorced in 1926 and Dick went to live with his
mother who, realised that her son had inherited a talent for
entertaining and insisted that he perform whenever possible.
 During WWII, Dick joined Ralph Reader's Gang Show and
entertained troops, and in 1948 he appeared at London's famous
Windmill Theatre (around the same time as another new and unknown
comedian, Tony Hancock).
He began appearing on radio and
television in the 1950s, and his face soon became well known to
the viewing public. By 1960 he was playing Private 'Chubby'
Catchpole in the popular comedy series The Army Game.
In 1963 the BBC offered Dick his own TV series and he quickly
established himself as a class act. In 1979, following fifteen
successful years with the BBC, Emery decided to switch channels to
Thames for The Dick Emery Comedy Hour.
There were two more comedy specials for ITV before Emery
returned to the BBC in 1982 for two series of comedy thrillers (Emery
Presents) in which he played Bernie Weinstock, the boss of a
private detective agency.
Later in his life, Emery was plagued with ill health and bouts
of depression (with periods of insecurity), and before the second
series of Emery Presents could be shown, he passed away on
January 2 1983 at King's College Hospital, London. He was aged 67.
The second series, which was due to air on 13th January, was held
over until later in the year.
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