One of British TV's most popular performers with a career that spanned over four decades, funny-man Bob Monkhouse started off as a radio broadcaster , and many others. Monkhouse died in 2003 of prostate cancer.
He was one of the UKs top comedians for many decades.
He was a vocal supporter of the Conservative Party for many years.
He was married twice, with three children from his first wife: Gary, Simon and adopted daughter Abigail Williams.
He attended Dulwich College.
Two of his three children had predeceased him. His son Gary, who had cerebral palsy, died in 1992. His other son, Simon, died in a Bangkok hotel room from a heroin overdose in 2001. Father and son had been estranged for almost a decade.
He was much in demand up until his death as an after-dinner speaker.
He was the first port-of-call for American comedians visiting London, starting with Bob Hope , when they wanted topical gags.
He wrote material for many famous comedians including Bob Hope.
He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1993 Queens Birthday Honours List for his services to entertainment and charity.
He was a movie buff and collector of many rare films. He was particularly fond of the horror genre and was very knowledgeable on the subject. Once said that his favorite film was Vincent Price s Dragonwyck . He was also Honorary President of the long running Gothique Film Society during the 1960s and 1970s.
Monkhouse died of prostate cancer in 2003. Yet, in 2007, he made a "comeback", appearing in a new TV campaign advertising a prostate cancer charity. The ad, made with the blessing of his widow, blends footage of Monkhouse with that of a body double then adds CGI manipulation of his face to match what is being spoken by a sound-alike.
He was a collector of the illustrations of Frank Bellamy and had a room displaying his artwork.
He was the original choice for the cameo role of the Tollmaster (eventually taken by his comic contemporary Ken Dodd ) in "Doctor Who" {Delta and the Bannermen: Part One (#24.9)} .
He was a guest at the Royal Variety Performance in 1986.
A skilled cartoonist, he would do caricatures of co-workers.
He owned a vast house, and because he was an art lover, he had a cinema in his basement where he screened silent movie reels from his collection. He had a deep respect for the physical comedy of the silent stars, but was frustrated that he couldnt perform it himself. He was said to be a student of comedy, which was why he liked collecting it.
He was an early adopter of new technologies.
His role of the barber in Secret People (1952) was much bigger but a lot of it was cut due to the film being too long.
He and Leslie Phillips swapped roles in Weekend With Lulu.
He was originally scheduled for either Stanley Baxter s or Leslie Phillips roles in The Fast Lady .
He was scheduled for a role in Up the Junction but had to drop out due to commitments.
His filmed role in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ended up on the cutting room floor.
He owned a Sony CV-2000, one of the first video recorders, which was introduced in 1965 and he used it to capture many of his own television performances which would otherwise not exist today. Over the period from the late 1960s until his death, his collection grew to a vast library of over 150,000 hours of material. As television companies routinely wiped their own copies in those days, many shows in the Monkhouse collection are unique. Upon his death all this material, in addition to hundred of hours of personal audio copies of radio shows commencing in the 1940s, were passed to an archivist for transfer to a permanent digital record.
He was an avid collector of comedy material.
Growing old is compulsory - growing up is optional.
When I die, I want to go peacefully like my grandfather did - in his,sleep. Not yelling and screaming like the passengers in his car.
