- Date of Birth: May 04, 1923
- Place of Birth: Oldham, Lancashire, England, UK
Eric Sykes Biography
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| Eric Sykes's Mini Bio: |
His career in entertainment began in a Special Liaison Unit, when he worked with Flight Lieutenant Bill Fraser.
He collaborated with Spike Milligan on a radio special called Archie in Goonland, a cross between The Goon Show and the "radio ventriloquism" show Educating Archie starring Peter Brough and his dummy Archie Andrews, which Sykes had been writing. Archie in Goonland was not a success; recordings and scripts are not known to have survived.
Milligan and Sykes collaborated on Goon Show scripts when Milligan was unable to meet the workload, and they shared an office for years, as founding members of the writers' collective Associated London Scripts[1][2]. In 1956-57, Sykes wrote and starred in The Tony Hancock Show.
One of Sykes' best known creations is his wordless slapstick routine, The Plank, which began as a sketch, "Sykes and a Plank", in his TV series. It was expanded into a 45-minute film in 1967, The Plank (1967), co-starring Sykes, Tommy Cooper, Jimmy Edwards, Roy Castle, Graham Stark, Stratford Johns, Jim Dale, Jimmy Tarbuck, Hattie Jacques and Bill Oddie.
A third version was made in 1979, The Plank (1979), as a half-hour special, with a cast including Arthur Lowe (taking Cooper's role), Charlie Drake, Charles Hawtrey and Wilfrid Hyde-White. Edwards and Sykes also toured in their theatrical farce Big Bad Mouse, which while keeping more or less to a script, gave them rein to ad lib and address the audience.
On 25 December 1979 Sykes was the subject of Thames Television's This Is Your Life. Guests included Sean Connery, Spike Milligan, Douglas Bader, and Hattie Jacques. Sykes toured Australia with the play Run for Your Wife during (1987-1988). The cast also included Jack Smethurst, David McCallum and Katy Manning.
In the British New Year's Honours List published 31 December 2004, Sykes was awarded an Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to Drama, following a petition by MPs after he was excluded from the Birthday Honours List.
In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted among the top 50 acts by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. Also in 2005, his autobiography If I Don't Write It, Nobody Else Will was published. Sykes appeared as Mollocks, the servant of Dr Prunesquallor, in the BBC's mini-series adaptation of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast.
He continues to act on stage and on television - in 1999 he had a guest role on the BBC sitcom Dinnerladies, and in 2007 he appeared in the tv series's of Last of the Summer Wine. and an episode of the sitcom My Family.
Trivia:
The glasses he wear have no lenses in them as they are actually a bone conducting hearing aid
He is also partially sighted & registered blind
He is often quoted as saying that although Monty Python was brilliant it marked the start of a decline in comedy
He played caretakers in two different movies: The Others and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
He was enormously successful on 70s TV teamed with Hattie Jacques playing his heavyset but timid sister in a number of settings, particularly with the series "Sykes Versus TV.".
| Vital Stats | ||
| Eric Sykes's Information: | ||
Eye Colour: dark grey | ||
| Height:5' 10" (1.78 m) | ||
| Nickname: | ||
| Notable Features: glasses with no lenses in them | ||
| Education: he went to Ward Street Central School in Oldham | ||
Family:
grandfather of Matt Stronge He had an older brother Vernon Wilson Sykes. His younger brother was John Stanley Sykes Mother Harriet | ||
| Resides in: somewhere in the south of england he has an office in london he still works from | ||
| Religious Affiliations: | ||
| Political Affiliations: | ||
| Personal Interests/Hobbies: writing,acting,golf | ||
| Charities/Causes:member of the Variety Club he regularly contributes to deaf & blind charities | ||
| Other: Eric's mother, Harriet, died at 22 giving birth |
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