- Born
- Died
- Birth nameNorman Joseph Wisdom
- Height5′ 2″ (1.57 m)
- Sir Norman Wisdom has become the great British clown in the mold of Sir Charles Chaplin with his little man in the ill fitting suit and cloth cap. His character is an everyman, much put upon but struggling through to a (usually) happy ending. He was brought up in an orphanage after his mother died and his father disowned him. He joined the British Army at age 14 as a band boy and learnt to play the clarinet, drums and xylophone. In 1941, he went to India with the army and became a comedian by clowning around in camp concerts. When demobbed, he returned home and decided to try to get on the stage but couldn't find an agent who was interested in him.
After marrying his fiancee, Freda Simpson, he spent five weeks in America searching for an agent and work without success. On his return to Britain, he eventually found an agent resulting in him making his first stage appearance at Collins Music Hall on December 17, 1946. Over time, his talent and his popularity grew resulting in him making his first major film Trouble in Store (1953) followed by One Good Turn (1955). Before long, he was writing the screenplays for eight of his films, including The Square Peg (1958), Follow a Star (1959), A Stitch in Time (1963) and The Early Bird (1965). In addition to writing the screenplays, he also composed numerous songs including his theme song "Don't Laugh at Me ('Cause I'm a Fool)".- IMDb Mini Biography By: tonyman5
- SpousesFreda Simpson(October 7, 1947 - 1968) (divorced, 2 children)Doreen Brett(1939 - 1946) (divorced, 1 child)
- Lop-sided grin Falling over
- "The Gump" character in his ill-fitting suit and cloth cap
- His "gump" look - consisting of a tweed cap askewed with peak turned up, too-tight jacket, barely-better trousers, crumpled collar and tie awry.
- In many of his films, he fell in love and spent the film trying to work on how to obtain a relationship
- June 6, 2000: Awarded a Knighthood by the Queen, he deliberately tripped as he left the ceremony. The Queen was reported as being very amused by his antics! Norman Wisdom stated: "I couldn't help it, I did a little trip.".
- At age 14, he left school and walked from London to Cardiff to find work and ended up as a cabin boy on a cargo ship to Argentina and was taught boxing by the crew which later led him to be a Flyweight Boxing Champion when he was in the British Army.
- He was famous for not being able to complete a joke before bursting into fits of laughter.
- Though Norman resided on the Isle of Man, he had chosen to continue to pay Tax at the UK rate, not the Isle of Man rates.
- His 1950s and 1960s movies, where his working-class characters typically eventually overcame the oppressive management, were the only Western movies allowed into Albania by the Communist dictatorship of 'Enver Hoxha', who viewed them as a parable for the workers' struggle against capitalism. However, the Albanian people loved his physical comedy and he became the best-known and loved Western artist in the country. Since the fall of Communism, Wisdom has been involved in much work supporting Albanian children's charities.
- I can never tell a joke, I've always found it easier to just fall over
- "Mr Grimsdale!" (catch phrase when things went wrong)
- I had a great day filming Expresso (2007), every minute was worth an hour.
- It was absolutely thrilling to meet Laurel and Hardy, they were so nice.
- It was smashing working with Jerry Desmonde, he was a very nice chap.
- Trouble in Store (1955) - £5,000
- Episode dated 22 November 1947 (1947) - £15
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content