Actor and comedian Stanley Baxter has died at the age of 99.
His friend and biographer Brian Beacom said the Glasgow-born TV star died on Thursday in a north London care home for entertainment figures.
He had lived in Denville Hall since late 2023 and was a few months away from celebrating his 100th birthday.
Baxter was a multi-faceted comic actor and impressionist who was bold enough to mimic the Pope and even the Queen.
Nor was he afraid to send up his native city with hilarious comedy routines based on Glaswegian patois.
His TV shows drew huge audiences and marked him out as one of the funniest, as well as occasionally one of the most controversial, comics of his generation.
Baxter was also a popular figure on the Scottish pantomime circuit, until his retirement in 1991. Although he did emerge occasionally and briefly from retirement, he largely disappeared from show business and from the public eye.
Baxter was born on 24 May, 1926 and began his career as a child actor in the Scottish edition of BBC's Children’s Hour. During his National Service, he developed his skills in the Combined Services Entertainment Unit.
Afterwards, he returned to Glasgow and later to London where he embarked on his highly successful TV career. He made his debut in the BBC’s Shop Window in 1952, followed by numerous guest appearances in variety shows.
His major TV break came with the satirical BBC show On The Bright Side (1959). The Stanley Baxter Show (1963-1971) cemented his reputation and catapulted him to television stardom.
Baxter also starred in a number of TV spectaculars, including Stanley Baxter’s Christmas Box. But the cost of these productions, in terms of sets, effects and extras was enormous, and led to his contracts being terminated early both by the BBC and by London Weekend Television.
He was undaunted by these setbacks and among his most successful routines was Parliamo Glasgow, which was conceived as being written by a fictitious scholar visiting Glasgow. The sketch took the patois of Glasgow and developed it to marvellous comic effect, such as "sanoffy cold day" for "It’s an awfully cold day".
His versatility went beyond simply being a comedian, a drag artiste and impressionist. In 1969, he played in Joe Orton’s controversial farce, What the Butler Saw, in the West End alongside Ralph Richardson.
He also guest-starred in one of the episodes of The Goodies and later appeared in the lead role of Mr Majeika, a children’s show about a magic teacher, expelled from Walpurgis, the wizard land, for failing his wizarding exams.
After his retirement, he appeared in 2004 in a series of three half-hour radio sitcoms for BBC Radio 4, entitled Stanley Baxter and Friends. He also lent his voice to the animated children’s film Arabian Knight and the TV series Meeow.
Later Channel 4 screened two specials combining old highlights with new material.
From 2006 he also went on to record a number of plays, The Stanley Baxter Playhouse, for Radio 4.
Baxter appeared in a number of films, including Very Important Person (1961), in which he played a fiercely nationalistic Scot. Other movies in which he appeared included Geordie (1955), The Fast Lady (1962) and And Father Came Too! (1963).
He received several awards during his career, including a lifetime achievement award at the British Comedy Awards and two TV tribute programmes.
Bafta Scotland also presented Baxter with their Outstanding Contribution to Film and Television Award in a digital ceremony in December 2020.
Source: Press Association
