Norman Wisdom
Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, OBE was an English actor, comedian and singer-songwriter best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring his hapless onscreen character Norman Pitkin. These films initially made more money than the James Bond film series, and secured Wisdom a celebrity status in lands as far apart as South America, Iran and many Eastern Bloc countries, particularly in Albania where his films were permitted by Enver Hoxha – Wisdom was the only Western actor to enjoy this privilege. Charlie Chaplin famously referred to Wisdom as his "favourite clown".
Wisdom later forged a career on Broadway and as a television actor, winning critical acclaim for his dramatic role of a dying cancer patient in the television play Going Gently in 1981. It was broadcast on 5 June that year. He toured Australia and South Africa. After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, a hospice was named in his honour. In 1995 he was given the Freedom of the City of London and of Tirana. The same year he received an OBE. Wisdom was knighted in 2000 and spent much of his later life on the Isle of Man. Some of his later appearances included roles in Last of the Summer Wine and Coronation Street, and he retired from acting at the age of 90 after his health declined.
Acting
TV
Casualty
as Mr. Cole
1986
TV
Last of the Summer Wine
as Man Carrying Gnome (uncredited)
1973
TV
Last of the Summer Wine
as Billy Ingleton
1973
Movie
A Stitch in Time
as Norman Pitkin
1963
Movie
The Early Bird
as Norman Pitkin
1965
Movie
The Square Peg
as Private Norman Pitkin / General Otto Schreiber
1958
Movie
On the Beat
as Norman Pitkin / Giulio Napolitani
1962
Movie
The Night They Raided Minsky's
as Chick Williams
1968
Movie
Trouble in Store
as Norman
1953
TV
Bergerac
as Vincent
1981
Movie
The Bulldog Breed
as Ordinary Seaman Norman Puckle
1960
Movie
Man of the Moment
as Norman
1955
Movie
Press for Time
as Norman Shields / Emily Shields / Wilfred, the Prime Minister
1966
Movie
Up in the World
as Norman
1956
Movie
Follow a Star
as Norman Truscott
1959
Movie
Just My Luck
as Norman Hackett / Mr. Hackett
1957
Movie
One Good Turn
as Norman
1955
TV
The Last Detective
as Lofty Brock
2003
TV
The Merv Griffin Show
as Self
1962
TV
This Is Your Life
1955
TV
The Mike Douglas Show
as Self
1961
Movie
What's Good for the Goose
as Timothy Bartlett
1969
Movie
There Was a Crooked Man
as Davy Cooper
1960
Movie
The Sandwich Man
as Boxing Vicar
1966