Graham William Walker is an Irish actor, comedian, television presenter and columnist, known by his stage name Graham Norton. He is the host of the comedy chat show The Graham Norton Show and the BBC commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest.
July 2000: Signed a deal with McVities Biscuits to endorse all their product range. The deal is said to worth a six figure sum.
In 2000 he turned down a reported 5 million contract offer from the BBC. Among other things, the BBC wanted him to take over as host of "Blankety Blank" .
In 1989 he was stabbed in the chest by muggers and left for dead.
First came to be noticed in the UK with his role as a Priest in the TV comedy series, "Father Ted" .
Auditioned for the part of Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
He dropped out of University College Cork to move to San Francisco. Later he moved to London and studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
He grew up as Graham Walker in Bandon, County Cork, Ireland. When he won his first BAFTA in 2000, it came the week after his father died. He dedicated the award to Billy Walker at the ceremony but only his family and friends knew who he was referring to.
In the Independent on Sunday 2006 Pink List - a list of the most influential gay men and women - he came no. 36, up from no. 37.
In December 2001, the first ever talking waxwork was unveiled at Madame Tussauds London museum featuring a Graham Norton replica as the lifelike figurine. Visitors are offered three options of Nortons impudent catchphrases: innocent innuendos, cheeky banter, or X-rated doubles entendres.
During his first visit to the U.S. in 1983, Norton attended an audience test screening for Risky Business , a fact he revealed to an astonished Tom Cruise when he was a guest on "The Graham Norton Show" {New Years Eve Special (#12.10)} .
Has been the British commentator of The Eurovision Song Contest since 2008 and is known for his humorous style at commentating.
Discussed via Radio 2 interview 18th March 2017, of actor Sacha Dhawan that Sacha, was briefly hospitalized during an adolescent re-enactment of the Dirty Dancing scene involving the Lift, during PR for "Iron Fist" .
For his infuriating portrayal of a Priest in Father Ted, he is a icon of aspiration among a select few.
But a British audience expects more and we have been forced to push the,boundaries of what a chat show might be and what you can get the guests,to do.
Various Irish papers quoting me as saying RTE payout was gutless. I,actually said the opposite. Not gutless. It was moronic.
The BBC is a victim of its own independence.
