Stanley Baxter, (born 24 May 1926) is a Scottish comic actor and impressionist, best known for his British television shows. He worked in radio, theatre, television and film until his retirement in 1990.
The son of an insurance manager, Baxter was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He was educated at Hillhead High School, Glasgow and schooled for the stage by his mother. He began his career as a child actor in the Scottish edition of the BBC's Children's Hour. He developed his performing skills further during his National Service with the Combined Services Entertainment unit, working alongside the likes of comedy actor Kenneth Williams, film director John Schlesinger and dramatist Peter Nichols, who used the experience as the basis for his play Privates on Parade.
After the war Baxter returned to Glasgow taking to the stage for three years at Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre before moving to London to work in television in 1959. In 1969 he performed in the original production of Joe Orton's then controversial farce What The Butler Saw at the Queen's Theatre in the West End with Sir Ralph Richardson, Coral Browne and Hayward Morse. His exacting and demanding nature gave Scotland some of its most glittering pantomimes and Baxter nurtured the stage careers of Alyson McInnes, John Ramage and Euan McIver, who Baxter recalled "has a voice just like mine" Glasgow Evening Times as his understudy and stage stage stand in. Baxter remained a great favourite on the Scottish pantomime circuit up until his retirement in 1991, starring with popular Scottish stars, Jimmy Logan and Una McLean.
Working with director Neil Cargill, he returned to radio by taking the role of Noël Coward in the BBC World Service Play of the Week, Marvellous Party, written by Jon Wynne-Tyson, it also starred Dorothy Tutin as Coward's lifelong friend, Esme Wynne-Tyson (Jon's mother). Also with Cargill, he read Whisky Galore and Jimmy Swan - The Joy Traveller for BBC Radio, providing the voices of all the characters.
After a lengthy spell in self-imposed retirement, he appeared in 2004 in a series of three half-hour radio sitcoms for BBC Radio 4, entitled Stanley Baxter and Friends; the success of this has led to further series entitled Stanley Baxter Playhouse in 2006, 2008 and 2009.
Baxter has appeared in a number of films, including Geordie (1955), Very Important Person (1961), The Fast Lady (1962), Crooks Anonymous (1962) and Father Came Too! (1963), the last three alongside James Robertson Justice, together with the animation Arabian Knight (1995).
Baxter's self-titled series were enjoyed by enormous audiences and the later shows were memorable for the high quality of their production. He was known for his impressions of famous people, particularly the Queen. The Stanley Baxter Show ran between 1963 and 1971 on BBC One, and his Stanley Baxter Picture Show from 1972 to 1975 on ITV.
Parliamo Glasgow
Perhaps his best-known series of sketches is Parliamo Glasgow. Conceived as being written by a fictitious scholar visiting Glasgow, the sketch took the patois of the city and developed it to comic effect. This sketch was included in one of his BBC Scotland series in the 1960s and was based on the corporation's first venture into language programmes Parliamo Italiano ('Let's speak Italian'). A memorable scene sees him at the local market, asking the trader "Izat a marra on yer barra, Clara?", which he then translates as "Is that a marrow on your barrow, Clara?". Another introduced the Glaswegian word "sanoffy", as in "Sanoffy cold day" ("It's an awfully cold day").
Other television roles
He guest starred in one of the episodes of The Goodies and later appeared in the lead role in Mr Majeika, developed from the books by Humphrey Carpenter, a children's show about a magic teacher, expelled from Walpurgis (the wizard land) for failing his professional examinations. He later stated that he had wished to retire after his spectacular hour-long shows had been axed and that the move to children's television was a "purely financial" arrangement. Having retired in 1990, Baxter returned for a one-off Christmas 2008 special for ITV, containing a mix of archived and new material, with celebrity comedians commenting on how Baxter influenced their lives .
Six of Baxter's hour-long ITV shows were released in 2005 DVD as Stanley Baxter: The Specials with a further two-disc set being released in 2006 under the title Stanley Baxter: The Series & Picture Box featuring further ITV produced shows.
