I didn't want to know, but gradually I was falling in love.'. Why did Stanley agree to marry Moira? I dont deserve it, I know, but if anyone can help me at this dreadful period, it is him, Williams wrote before leaving home. But Stanley couldnt contain his sexual frustrations. Stanley Baxter. 21:19 EST 30 Oct 2020 'I was going to top myself,' he says. , updated 'Marcus took me completely by surprise. Mary Brennan sees nothing surprising about Baxter being so jealous of his privacy. After all, she was with the man she adored. Marcus was a constant support. It was the future Carry On star Kenneth Williams, also barely out of his teens but playing an old man in a CSE production. Stanley Baxter. Kenneth asked Stanley what future he could expect if he married Moira Robertson. Chic, with hooded eyes, Moira could have been Bette Davis's younger sister. Readers comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. His wife Moira, from whom he was separated, was tormented by mental illness and had attempted suicide by cutting her wrists in the bath. Ah-ha. Faye has joined us as receptionist and front of house expert on a maternity . 'Silly boy,' the actor noted pithily in his diary. It was all I ever dreamed of.. moira robertson baxter. Chic, with hooded eyes, Moira could have been Bette Davis's younger sister. It was all good, clean, pre-Carry On fun. Then one night she invited me for my favourite spaghetti up to her little rented flat at 65 Clouston Street and I was seduced back into bed again., The appetite sated, Stanley reckoned the only way to break off the relationship once and for all was to be entirely honest with Moira. I hope you enjoy it, let me know what you think. where are we up to? He had also appeared alongside Baxter in many Scottish pantomimes, including the comedians last, and was prepared to talk, up to a point. Tayside & Stirling. He couldnt say when Baxter was expected next, but took my number to pass on. But fame made his clandestine life even more risky. Nigel Dempsters often there, and so are Stanley Baxter and Terry Stamp. It was real weakness on my part.. He met Moira daily for lunch. Could he look really old, like the man in the corner with cigarette ash all down his dark suit? They became lovers. His father was a branch manager of Commercial Union while his mother would have liked to have been an actress, When the family agreed that acting was respectable his mother took him round halls where he gave renderings of Harry Lauder and . Those who didnt want to be troubled with it could simply take it at face value. Auditions were in Singapore and, after arriving there in December 1946 by flying boat, he was taken under the wing of a stooped, grey-haired man with a dusty moustache and a strident, nasal voice. Later, they decamped to an island outside the city. If she did, she never let on. We like to think we can find out anything about anyone, as a matter of professional pride, and the challenge of doing so can get under your skin. The spotlight was his. Not at all? Its just prohibitive, you know, because they were such big specials. This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network. You can tell Ive talked to the press before, cant you? Meanwhile, on January 15, 1951, the engagement became national news, yet this didnt really register with Stanley. Moira's behaviour became more alarming. He suggested I contact Mentorn Films, who were recording new links for the show. But Andy Young, who considers himself a close friend of the couple, insisted that they still lived together. 3mo. 'I couldn't put up with very long periods of not being with men,' he says frankly. Still smiling, though. Yes, said Young. Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web! Jun 2021 - Jan 20228 months. The dark, often highly dramatic script of their life together began when he joined the Citz in 1948, shortly after being demobbed. Stanley Baxter was a star of the Glasgow stage aged six, in 1932. London. But what the Daily Express didnt know was that when Stanley arrived home, with the sound of Saturday evening theatre applause still ringing in his ears, he broke down in tears. And so, a few weeks later, I did the right journalistic thing and rang Mentorn and Channel 4. Club gossip suggested that he preferred the bigger and busier squash changing- rooms to those by the poolside, and was a bit of a loner.) The decriminalisation of gay sex between consenting adults was still five years away. So I asked if he was aware that there had been a piece in the Sun over the summer, calling for Baxter to come back to television. Stanley asked the same question of himself but pushed the answer aside. You mustn't let that worry you. Robert Louis "Bobby" Robertson, 90, passed away January 21, 2023, at his home following a valiant battle with Dementia/Alzheimer's Disease. Whatever changes come into society, they have already learnt discretion. I didn't think that she was ever going to make it very big and I suggested she give it up. 'I'm too afraid of what people will think of me,' he said. In December 1965, Baxters wife Moira suggested that Williams and her husband should go on holiday together in Beirut. Filmed and edited Weekly Storytime's (ext.) Stanley Livingstone Baxter (born 24 May 1926) is a Scottish actor, comedian, impressionist and author. A nice, professional no. / moira robertson baxter. No, for the reason I just gave. Eccentric. He left for a theatre tour of Australia in a Brian Rix farce, leaving his wife behind. I dont know if you got it? The front door was open. This was the defining moment of Stanleys life. The pair developed a closeness that meant when they weren't working they enjoyed a movie or dinner together. Exasperated, his ITV television bosses told him they could no longer afford his extravaganzas. I sloped away to look around some of them, then went for some Fishermans Bake and a pint at the local pub, feeling pretty miserable. Useless. Her co-accused Helen Wright, 67, was also caught with drugs while police raided the . And it worked. He probably knew the way I felt about him. Instead, Baxter told Moira he could no longer live with her. I thought she would be still be heartbroken. hed rather not do them. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. Early on, Stanley had hinted at his preference to Moira. tyson jost dad; sean penn parkinson's disease; mockingbirds attacking my cat . . In a 1963 entry, Williams described Baxter as disarming, honest, charming and hilariously funny all at once. No. Kenneth Williams certainly thought so. So he decided that rather than cut his cloth down because hes not a stand-up Channel 4 comedian, is he? And we never really discovered who he was, other than a brilliant character actor and impersonator; as the rules of celebrity changed, he simply refused to play by them. . The changing weather had given me a cold, so the stout went straight to my head, and the meal was tasteless. The tracks had long been covered by this time last year, when Ian Jack, then editor of the Independent on Sunday and (being a Scot) a Stanley Baxter fan, issued his decree. About Us; Staff; Camps; Scuba. After all, he was only a comedian, not a criminal or a crooked politician. Moira Robertson Managing Director Alpha Events/Business Facilitator/Sales Coach London. I had felt the relationship simply had to stop, so I broke it off. Stanley and Moira worked on a range of productions at the Citz together but the spring of 1949 saw the company move down to Ayr for the summer season and Stanley and Moira had lots of fun together. Despite his success, he had, in fact, always had a certain invisibility. In this remarkable new authorised biography, which Stanley originally refused to have published before his death for fear of being judged journalist Brian Beacom reveals the secrecy and sadness that have haunted the entertainer all his life. And then my impulse to pick up the trail again received further encouragement, when, out of the blue, one of the many former associates of Baxter with whom I had placed calls finally decided to ring me back. Its hard to know if the invigorating sea air or simply timing resulted in Moiras declaration, but she announced she wished to have a full-blown sexual relationship with her leading man. She wandered, like Ophelia through Hamlet, but she would have moved to the ends of the earth for me.. He directed shows himself, calling extra rehearsals if things were getting even a little sloppy mid-run, and coming down hard on anyone who attempted to ad lib. Hanover Public Library. No. Ovarian cysts in Pfizer BioNTech COVID Vaccine, Ovarian cysts in Johnson & Johnson COVID Vaccine, Abortion spontaneous . Afterwards, I gasped, 'Have you done this before?' Managing Director. Waiting around outside the entrance to the flats where he lived was making me feel like a burglar casing the joint. The pulleys were always full of stuff., Moira was more Dora from David Copperfield than Glaswegian domestic goddess. WHEN DOES curiosity become intrusion? He loved the applause 'a hundred people shouting 'Bravo' and I'm beating the adults to the prizes'. They werent interested in doing another take just because Stanley felt there was a whisker of it that wasnt right. However, it was Moira who was determined to take the relationship to the next stage. why is today capitalized in hebrews 3:13; Tags . Two years into the marriage, relations with Moira were "fine", but the sex was dwindling. And so, Robertson & Baxter was formed. Im not giving any interviews at the moment. An edge in his voice. Once stardom had been achieved, he limited his television appearances and won an unusual amount of power over how they were made. He is an intelligent guy, and he likes to know who hes talking to. But Stanley, and Moiras family, coaxed her to take medication. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com. She danced too in the gardens in Highgate Village, naked. Why? After switching to ITV with the promise of a colossal budget for The Stanley Baxter Picture Show, he met a 28-year-old German accountant named Marcus. Baxter was a most brilliant cowboy Coward, a smouldering Dietrich. He felt guilty when he moved out, unable to share a home with her any longer. The most outrageously funny man on British television 50 years ago was Stanley Baxter. WHERE do you start, with only a name to go on? A psychiatrist diagnosed schizophrenia, but she refused to take medication. At a time when being gay was illegal in Britain, the actor would bring men home with his wifes knowledge. Smiling at me. He had his chance to make a clean break, to move on alone. "Kenny thought I was making a terrible mistake," says Stanley. Yet my interest had been rekindled, my hopes raised, before being dashed against the same old stonewalling. As one critic wrote: The joke is not that Stanley Baxter is dressed up as a woman. One more try. Fair enough. He had moved past me to the door, and said good-bye as he shut it. She would go off to our bedroom and let me take the one opposite.'. One of them might be him, I thought. London, England, United Kingdom. And by the time the then-teenager landed a place in the entertainment corps during his National Service years, Stanley was convinced that acting was his destiny. 'If you can sing, dance, play a musical instrument or whatever,' the announcement read, 'please apply'. February 27, 2023 . A year later, on March 5, 1952, the train sped west to Moiras parents home in Dumbarton for the ceremony. Did Bessie Baxter have any idea of Stanleys true sexuality? He took her passport, to prevent her from trying to follow him. Well, I spoke to your television company, and they said you might be doing some soon. And they were birched! So: Mr White hadnt been having me on Baxter did live in London, then. Supported creation and implementation of TD Summer Reading and StoryWalk program. A Gannett Company. This wasnt unrestrained hyperbole. Yes. When his friend Kenneth Williams's diaries were published posthumously in the early Nineties, he fought a legal battle to ensure nothing about his sex life was printed. Tragically, however, in 1997, the year Princess Diana died, Moira took her own life. There was no biography, and no memoir; just a few intriguing references to be found in the published diaries of his close friend Kenneth Williams. The origins of the company stretch back to the mid-nineteenth century, when William Robertson founded the Robertson & Baxter company in Glasgow. Ill tell you, he said, managing to communicate weariness down the line. There was to be no further co-operation. Download Admission Form; Fee Structure; Documents Required; Student Rules And he reads the Independent. Their new home, a large ground-floor flat, at 73 Clouston Street, was just a few doors along from Moiras previous flat. It was a relief. He has a talismanic quality that makes people feel hes very much in touch with their lives, and then suddenly, out he zooshes looking really rather sexy. In terms of countries? but not to publish it. but a Yorkshire accent. I sat on the edge of the bed and sobbed my heart out, he admits. He was also aware of the need to have a cover. ' Friends suddenly shunned him, fearful of guilt by association. Add a New Bio. Writer and broadcaster, Interviewer of the Year for the Mail, winner of Radio Academy gold with BBC Radio 4. So that was the answer: a recluse in the phone book. A porter at the club confirmed that the comedian did swim in the pool most days. Surely his peers would wish to pay homage? Rather than resolve the issue, I let it slip. It was in CSE that Baxter met openly gay men for the first time. marty odlin, running tide; jay mcgwire wife Menu Toggle. Yet he was, and is, missed: in England, as the funniest man on television; in Scotland where they take panto very seriously as the greatest dame of the century: a master of the double entendre and the quick, stunning costume-change. I had never written anything longer than a thousand words for publication before, but Richard helped me through and opened the door to a career as a feature writer, for which I am extremely grateful. What else did I expect? Anyone who can dress up as Judy Garland with a nose like his and get away with it, has to be a genius. 293 followers. Bringing businesses together in the emerging, disruptive technology space across; FinTech, Quantum Technologies and Quantitative Trading Technologies through face to face and virtual meetings and events. In January 1962, he visited the public toilets in Madras Place, Holloway, hoping to pick up a man for casual sex. We are doing this to improve the experience forour loyalreaders and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. She may have worshipped Stanley but she never got herself worked up if her husbands white shirts were dry in the morning or not. She then went to their new Glasgow flat to cook spaghetti for his supper.". Anyone would be insane to choose to live such a very difficult life.' Since then, he has been completely absent from stage or television, and rarely even mentioned in print. There was no answer. He reckoned it would at least a few years before the couple arrived at Wedding Central. Yes! Not Stanleys fee, particularly, but you have to pay the Musicians Union, youve got to pay all the dancers, Equity and so on. It was all very selfish of me and a bit macho. 18:08, Mon, Nov 2, 2020 | UPDATED: 18:25, Mon, Nov 2, 2020. It was a gloomy place, full of old men moving in slow motion and staring into space. 'And suddenly Kenny cut in, 'Yes! ', This year, he changed his mind. You're not much fun any more. '. Baxter was a great talker among his close-knit circle of friends, said Mr Young, but was also wary of outsiders. . . Brian Beacom For The Daily Mail, 'I don't find you funny either - but yet the whole world laughs at you': Sacha Baron Cohen responds to Trump's 'unfunny creep' jibe, Keeping them laughing until the end: Bobby Ball was still filming until weeks before his death aged 76 after positive Covid test, as co-star Lee Mack pays tribute to his 'hero' and devastated Tommy Cannon says: 'Rock on, my good friend'. She once flew to Belfast to be "reunited with the spirit of [theatre director] Tyronne Guthrie." Kenneth asked Stanley what future he could expect if he married Moira Robertson. tomo salem nh happy hour madiga caste surnames fraser river pollution damien zachary cord rust oleum home floor coating instructions hurricane middle school football schedule fixed practice advantages and disadvantages etobicoke ircc appointment david braley health sciences centre dermatology lisbon australia population baker botts partner . But it would be wrong to imagine he has found peace. There, he saw a notice appealing for performers to join the Combined Services Entertainment unit [CSE]. Just when it was looking hopeless, I discovered a quote from Don Black, the lyricist of Sunset Boulevard, about keeping himself fit at the RAC Club: I take a Turkish bath at the club every Saturday. Can you tell me where they are? Comments have been closed on this article. Yes, was the terse reply. As I approached the flats, a figure bundled up in odd layers of clothing and a heavy overcoat came towards me, and turned towards the gate. You know, the same sort of thing as Kenneth Williams. Shall we say affinity, I asked? After the war in Europe was over, in June 1945, a 19-year-old Baxter was told to report to the Seaforth Highlanders regiment. I kept getting those sheeps eyes every time she passed me in the theatre and she appeared to be heartbroken. And although she was a good cook, she wasn't very good at washing. Comic actor Stanley Baxter dressed as a Roman soldier during a comedy sketch, circa 1980. ABBREVIATIONS; ANAGRAMS; . Baxter began to turn work down not playing Captain Hook in a production of Peter Pan opposite Lulu, not appearing with Cannon and Ball at the Palladium. He first asked me to write his biography more than 20 years ago, but was emphatic that he did not want it to appear while he was alive. One last piece for the Independent on Sunday, The Invisible Man: Searching for the Reclusive Stanley Baxter. The showbiz world is rife with tales of heartbreak, loneliness, wasted talent and regrets. This would be NO life for you, married to someone who is essentially and primarily homosexual!, Moira's reaction was surprising, even to those who knew how liberal she was. But even today he finds it difficult to discuss the case, referring to it as 'le scandale'. We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse. Then, in early autumn, I heard that Channel 4 was working on a compilation of the best of Baxters television shows, to be screened this Christmas. Free UK delivery on orders over 15. . Login . Yes, there would be a show. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. How? He returned to the BBC but, after a one-off in 1986 in which he played 37 roles (including Mae West, whom he first impersonated aged six), that contract also ended. . moira robertson baxterjefferson parish jail mugshots January 19, 2023 . He had recorded a radio version of Compton Mackenzies book, Whisky Galore! 'I thought, 'My career will never survive this. This is it, I thought, suddenly breathless. And he said dismissively, 'Oh yes, I've had all my friends'.'. Hes not there anyway. She would turn up at the stage door in Glasgow, unannounced. But he didnt tackle the issue. My mother didnt think any woman was good enough for me [Bessie Baxters principal purpose in life was to grow a showbiz star] but there was more to her criticism of Moira. She now had to be a housewife, which she found very frustrating. In 1997, he decided to spend a month at the villa they owned in Cyprus. He saw Moira frequently, but the fractured marriage was always difficult. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. covid vaccine causing ovarian cyst. But immediately afterwards she was so sorry.'. After a meal with Baxter in October 1969, Williams wrote: At one point when I said to S. I sometimes feel I am so useless I just want to die.
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