Obituary: Roy Castle
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Your support makes all the difference.Roy Castle, comedian, musician, dancer, television presenter, charity campaigner: born Huddersfield 31 August 1932; married 1964 Fiona Dickson (two sons, two daughters); died Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire 2 September 1994.
ROY CASTLE's enthusiasm was incredible, writes Ernie Wise. He was full of energy and loved entertaining. His versatility was awesome.
He had the talent to sing, dance, tell jokes and play musical instruments from the bagpipes to the kitchen sink, the alpenhorn to the drums which his mother bought for him when he was 10 years old. The instrument he favoured most was the trumpet; he never seemed to be without it. I remember opening a large store in Croydon when he played the trumpet in the back of the celebrity convertible and all over the store. He came from the same school of entertainment as me: if in trouble, play the trumpet. In my case it was do your clog dance.
Eric Morecambe and I knew Roy from the early days of the Central Pier, Blackpool, each of us doing our separate acts. When we were at the New Theatre, Coventry, Eric introduced Roy to his future wife Fiona, and my wife Doreen and I took them out to dinner on their first date.
We all used to meet in New York when Roy was starring on The Gary Moore Show and Eric and I were appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show - there was a whole gang of us, Harry Secombe, Dick Hills and Sid Green, and Jimmy Grafton. From 1956 to 1959 Roy gave up his act to appear in Jimmy James's 'box routine' with disappearing animals. He said he wanted to learn about comedy from one of the masters.
Roy seemed to want to do everything: he had a successful career in films, television, cabaret and theatre. He was in the record books. If ever there was a man with an appetite for living it was Roy Castle.
Some people said he had too much talent, that it would have been better to concentrate on one talent and use the rest as support. I think it's a valid point, people do get confused, they like to pigeon- hole you. In the case of Eric and me, our main talent was cross-talk, but we had the ability to back it with a song and a dance.
I have an image of Roy always smiling like a schoolboy at 50 - he should have still been in short trousers. He ranks with the greats like Eric Morecambe, Harry Worth, Sid James, Billy and Bernie Winters. When we all meet, up there: what a command performance.
(Photograph omitted)
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