fbpx
Wikipedia

Keith Harris (ventriloquist)

October 21, 2023

Keith Shenton Harris (21 September 1947 – 28 April 2015) was an English ventriloquist, best known for his television show The Keith Harris Show (1982–86), audio recordings, and club appearances with his puppets Orville the Duck and Cuddles the Monkey. He had a UK Top 10 hit single in 1982 with "Orville's Song" which reached number 4 in the charts.[1]

Keith Harris
Keith Harris and Orville performing "Orville's Song" in 1982 on Top of the Pops
Born(1947-09-21)21 September 1947
Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England
Died28 April 2015(2015-04-28) (aged 67)
Blackpool, Lancashire, England
Occupation(s)Ventriloquist, puppeteer, voice actor
Years active1965–2014

The son of variety performers, Harris assisted in his father's ventriloquy acts as a child; as a teenager, he created his own ventriloquism characters which he performed at holiday resorts in the summer season, attracting the attention of television producers. He debuted on screen in 1965 and became a popular act guest starring on various shows; he had his first solo series Cuddles and Company in the 1970s, but got his big break in 1982 with The Keith Harris Show. He, Orville and Cuddles became popular performers on primetime television until The Quack Chat Show was cancelled in 1990, as audiences and television producers began to move away from variety performances.

After a low period and two failed business ventures in the early 1990s, he embarked on a busy stage career (mostly in pantomime) and found new appreciation in the 2000s, appearing as a guest in several television programmes. His output declined after a 2013 cancer diagnosis and he died two years later.

Early life Edit

Born in Lyndhurst, Hampshire on 21 September 1947,[2] Harris grew up in North Baddesley in Hampshire[3] and near Chester (where he attended a secondary modern school).[2] His parents were variety performers; his mother Lilian "Lila", née Simmons (born 1917), was a dancer; his father, Norman Harris (1912–2005), was a singer, comedian and ventriloquist.[2][4][5] From age nine Harris appeared on his father Norman's knee as a "dummy" in his ventriloquist act.[6][7] Harris was severely dyslexic at school[6] and in 2014, he claimed that his dyslexia had cost him millions of pounds because of his inability to read contracts accurately.[2]

Career Edit

Harris began creating ventriloquism characters as a teenager. After appearing in summer seasons at holiday resorts, he had spots on the television series Let's Laugh (1965).[2] Harris became a popular act on television variety shows, and following a spell as the host of The Black and White Minstrel Show, was given his own show called Cuddles and Company. He appeared several times on BBC TV's long-running show The Good Old Days.

Harris' best known creation, Orville the duck, came about after he saw some green fur lying around backstage at a performance of The Black and White Minstrel Show in Bristol.[2] Orville, recalled Simon Farquhar in his Independent obituary of Harris, was "a huge, gormless, falsetto-voiced green duckling sporting a nappy fastened by a giant safety pin".[8] Harris recorded "Orville's song", written by Bobby Crush. It made Number 4 in the UK singles chart in 1983 and sold 400,000 copies. It was later voted the worst song ever recorded.[6]

The Keith Harris Show ran on Saturday evenings on BBC1 from 1982 to 1986 and a series for children The Quack Chat Show (1989–90) also on BBC1.[2] Harris appeared in several Royal Variety Performances and also performed privately for the Royal Family. At the request of Diana, Princess of Wales he was booked as an act for the birthdays of Princes William[6] and Harry at each of their respective third birthdays at Highgrove and Kensington Palace.[9]

Alongside his continued pantomime performances, from the late 1990s Harris and Orville also enjoyed what The Stage described as a "long Indian summer" as they re-emerged on television in a new "era of knowing post-modern irony".[10] Harris made guest appearances in a number of television shows during the 2000s including Harry Hill, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Little Britain, Al Murray's Happy Hour,[11] Banzai[12] and The Weakest Link (2004).[13] In 2002, he was the subject of a Louis Theroux documentary When Louis Met... Keith Harris.[2] He and Orville won the Channel 5 reality TV show The Farm in 2005,[6] the same year that he featured in Peter Kay and Tony Christie's music video to "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo".[14]

Later years Edit

However, the end of Harris's television show coincided with a period when television was "turning away from variety acts".[2] He entered a period of depression, drank heavily and was arrested for drunk driving; his third marriage collapsed during this period.[6] He also opened clubs in Blackpool and Portugal which failed, leading him to declare bankruptcy twice.[2] However, he recovered and began performing in clubs, in pantomimes and at holiday camps, touring the United Kingdom;[6] he wrote 17 of his own pantomimes and had his own pantomime company, Keith Harris Productions, which he sold in 2009 to Richard Jordan.[10]

He became an auctioneer on Bid TV and also appeared in an episode of the first season of the children's television programme The Slammer (2006).[15][n 1] According to The Guardian, this renewed attention "established a new cult status for Harris and Orville and triggered a small comeback";[2] he appeared in Ashes to Ashes (2009) and Shameless (2011),[2] in student unions (with his more adult show, Duck Off),[6] and performed to the housemates in Celebrity Big Brother (2012).[2]

Personal life Edit

Harris lived with his fourth wife (married in 1999), Sarah Metcalf (b. March 1966), and his two youngest children, Shenton (born in 2001) and Kitty (now a singer,[18] born in 2000), in Poulton-le-Fylde near Blackpool, where he converted the local cinema and bingo hall into a jazz nightclub called "Club L’Orange".[19]

He had his first daughter, Skye, in 1986[20] with his second wife of nine years, singer Jacqui Scott, a winner of a BBC talent show in 1979 who entered the 1980 A Song For Europe contest with her own composition.

Death Edit

In 2013 Harris had his spleen removed and chemotherapy after a cancer diagnosis. He subsequently returned to work. The cancer returned in 2014 and he died on 28 April 2015, at the age of 67 at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.[21][22][23]

Legacy Edit

In Harris's obituary in The Stage, Michael Quinn noted that "For more than a decade, ventriloquist Keith Harris was one of the biggest stars in light entertainment... Together, the saccharine-sweet avian [Orville], acerbic simian [Cuddles] and Harris as straight man and stooge were one of the most high-profile acts of the 1980s".[10] Quinn also pointed out that this popularity faded after that decade, but that Harris nevertheless remained appreciated by audiences until his retirement.[10] The Telegraph, however, remarked that the 2002 Louis Theroux documentary exposed a "darker side" of Harris, "a nervous, edgy man who kept telling rotten jokes" and who struggled to forgive past slights against him.[6] In the same documentary Harris said of Orville that he had "created a monster ... Everybody knows Orville, not everybody knows Keith Harris", but also recognised that the bird had not "burdened" him and had contributed towards his success.[14]

Discography Edit

Albums Edit

  • At the End of the Rainbow (1983) – UK No. 92

Singles Edit

  • "Orville's Song" (1982) – UK No. 4
  • "Come to My Party" (1983) – UK No. 44
  • "White Christmas" (1985) – UK No. 40

References Edit

Notes Edit

  1. ^ He turned down an offer to appear in the second series of Extras (2007), claiming that the writer, Ricky Gervais, wanted his character to be a "racist bigot";[16] Gervais said that Harris simply "didn't get it".[17]

Citations Edit

  1. ^ Roberts, David, ed. (2005). Guinness World Records: British Hit Singles & Albums (18th ed.). Guinness World Records. p. 227. ISBN 1-904994-00-8.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Anthony Hayward, "Keith Harris obituary", The Guardian, 28 April 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  3. ^ "Tributes paid to Orville ventriloquist Keith Harris as he dies aged 67", Southern Daily Echo, 28 April 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  4. ^ Green, Michael (13 July 2017). "Late Chester star Keith Harris' mother celebrates her 100th birthday". chesterchronicle. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  5. ^ "Norman Harris". Companies House. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Keith Harris, obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 28 April 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  7. ^ Strang, Fay (28 April 2015). "The man behind Orville: Keith Harris' depression, dyslexia and four wives". mirror. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  8. ^ Simon Farquhar, "Keith Harris: Children's entertainer whose act with his dummies Orville and Cuddles was one of the last triumphs of the variety age", The Independent, 28 April 2015.
  9. ^ Caroline Westbrook (28 April 2015). "Keith Harris dead at 67: ventriloquist who gave the world Orville The Duck, dies of cancer – Metro News". Metro.
  10. ^ a b c d Michael Quinn, "Obituary: Keith Harris", The Stage, 29 April 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  11. ^ David Pollock, "Obituary: Keith Harris, ventriloquist", The Scotsman, 29 April 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  12. ^ ‘The Man Monster Petrol Pump Off Puzzle clip at channel4. Retrieved 29 April 2015
  13. ^ "In pictures: Keith Harris", BBC News, 28 April 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  14. ^ a b "Obituary: I created a monster", BBC News, 28 April 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  15. ^ Harris M. Lentz, Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2015 (McFarland and Company, 2016), p. 153.
  16. ^ "Ricky Gervais – Ventriloquist Shocked By Ricky's 'Racist' Script – Contactmusic News". Contactmusic.com. 4 September 2006. Retrieved 5 June 2009.
  17. ^ Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, BBC One, 8 September 2006.
  18. ^ Jefferies, Mark (9 February 2019). "Keith Harris's daughter Kitty gives emotional Britain's Got Talent audition". mirror. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  19. ^ "Keith Harris and Orville - Visit Poulton". Poulton-le-Fylde. 27 March 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  20. ^ "Keith's Skye in appeal to have phone returned". www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  21. ^ Entertainer Keith Harris dies at 67 BBC News 28 April 2015
  22. ^ "Secret weapon that gave Keith Harris and Orville humanity and appeal". The Guardian. 28 April 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  23. ^ Jenn Selby (28 April 2015). "Keith Harris dead: Orville the Duck ventriloquist dies aged 67 following battle with cancer". The Independent.

External links Edit

  • Official website  

October 21, 2023
keith, harris, ventriloquist, keith, shenton, harris, september, 1947, april, 2015, english, ventriloquist, best, known, television, show, keith, harris, show, 1982, audio, recordings, club, appearances, with, puppets, orville, duck, cuddles, monkey, single, 1. Keith Shenton Harris 21 September 1947 28 April 2015 was an English ventriloquist best known for his television show The Keith Harris Show 1982 86 audio recordings and club appearances with his puppets Orville the Duck and Cuddles the Monkey He had a UK Top 10 hit single in 1982 with Orville s Song which reached number 4 in the charts 1 Keith HarrisKeith Harris and Orville performing Orville s Song in 1982 on Top of the PopsBorn 1947 09 21 21 September 1947Lyndhurst Hampshire EnglandDied28 April 2015 2015 04 28 aged 67 Blackpool Lancashire EnglandOccupation s Ventriloquist puppeteer voice actorYears active1965 2014The son of variety performers Harris assisted in his father s ventriloquy acts as a child as a teenager he created his own ventriloquism characters which he performed at holiday resorts in the summer season attracting the attention of television producers He debuted on screen in 1965 and became a popular act guest starring on various shows he had his first solo series Cuddles and Company in the 1970s but got his big break in 1982 with The Keith Harris Show He Orville and Cuddles became popular performers on primetime television until The Quack Chat Show was cancelled in 1990 as audiences and television producers began to move away from variety performances After a low period and two failed business ventures in the early 1990s he embarked on a busy stage career mostly in pantomime and found new appreciation in the 2000s appearing as a guest in several television programmes His output declined after a 2013 cancer diagnosis and he died two years later Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Later years 4 Personal life 5 Death 6 Legacy 7 Discography 7 1 Albums 7 2 Singles 8 References 8 1 Notes 8 2 Citations 9 External linksEarly life EditBorn in Lyndhurst Hampshire on 21 September 1947 2 Harris grew up in North Baddesley in Hampshire 3 and near Chester where he attended a secondary modern school 2 His parents were variety performers his mother Lilian Lila nee Simmons born 1917 was a dancer his father Norman Harris 1912 2005 was a singer comedian and ventriloquist 2 4 5 From age nine Harris appeared on his father Norman s knee as a dummy in his ventriloquist act 6 7 Harris was severely dyslexic at school 6 and in 2014 he claimed that his dyslexia had cost him millions of pounds because of his inability to read contracts accurately 2 Career EditHarris began creating ventriloquism characters as a teenager After appearing in summer seasons at holiday resorts he had spots on the television series Let s Laugh 1965 2 Harris became a popular act on television variety shows and following a spell as the host of The Black and White Minstrel Show was given his own show called Cuddles and Company He appeared several times on BBC TV s long running show The Good Old Days Harris best known creation Orville the duck came about after he saw some green fur lying around backstage at a performance of The Black and White Minstrel Show in Bristol 2 Orville recalled Simon Farquhar in his Independent obituary of Harris was a huge gormless falsetto voiced green duckling sporting a nappy fastened by a giant safety pin 8 Harris recorded Orville s song written by Bobby Crush It made Number 4 in the UK singles chart in 1983 and sold 400 000 copies It was later voted the worst song ever recorded 6 The Keith Harris Show ran on Saturday evenings on BBC1 from 1982 to 1986 and a series for children The Quack Chat Show 1989 90 also on BBC1 2 Harris appeared in several Royal Variety Performances and also performed privately for the Royal Family At the request of Diana Princess of Wales he was booked as an act for the birthdays of Princes William 6 and Harry at each of their respective third birthdays at Highgrove and Kensington Palace 9 Alongside his continued pantomime performances from the late 1990s Harris and Orville also enjoyed what The Stage described as a long Indian summer as they re emerged on television in a new era of knowing post modern irony 10 Harris made guest appearances in a number of television shows during the 2000s including Harry Hill Never Mind the Buzzcocks Little Britain Al Murray s Happy Hour 11 Banzai 12 and The Weakest Link 2004 13 In 2002 he was the subject of a Louis Theroux documentary When Louis Met Keith Harris 2 He and Orville won the Channel 5 reality TV show The Farm in 2005 6 the same year that he featured in Peter Kay and Tony Christie s music video to Is This the Way to Amarillo 14 Later years EditHowever the end of Harris s television show coincided with a period when television was turning away from variety acts 2 He entered a period of depression drank heavily and was arrested for drunk driving his third marriage collapsed during this period 6 He also opened clubs in Blackpool and Portugal which failed leading him to declare bankruptcy twice 2 However he recovered and began performing in clubs in pantomimes and at holiday camps touring the United Kingdom 6 he wrote 17 of his own pantomimes and had his own pantomime company Keith Harris Productions which he sold in 2009 to Richard Jordan 10 He became an auctioneer on Bid TV and also appeared in an episode of the first season of the children s television programme The Slammer 2006 15 n 1 According to The Guardian this renewed attention established a new cult status for Harris and Orville and triggered a small comeback 2 he appeared in Ashes to Ashes 2009 and Shameless 2011 2 in student unions with his more adult show Duck Off 6 and performed to the housemates in Celebrity Big Brother 2012 2 Personal life EditHarris lived with his fourth wife married in 1999 Sarah Metcalf b March 1966 and his two youngest children Shenton born in 2001 and Kitty now a singer 18 born in 2000 in Poulton le Fylde near Blackpool where he converted the local cinema and bingo hall into a jazz nightclub called Club L Orange 19 He had his first daughter Skye in 1986 20 with his second wife of nine years singer Jacqui Scott a winner of a BBC talent show in 1979 who entered the 1980 A Song For Europe contest with her own composition Death EditIn 2013 Harris had his spleen removed and chemotherapy after a cancer diagnosis He subsequently returned to work The cancer returned in 2014 and he died on 28 April 2015 at the age of 67 at Blackpool Victoria Hospital 21 22 23 Legacy EditIn Harris s obituary in The Stage Michael Quinn noted that For more than a decade ventriloquist Keith Harris was one of the biggest stars in light entertainment Together the saccharine sweet avian Orville acerbic simian Cuddles and Harris as straight man and stooge were one of the most high profile acts of the 1980s 10 Quinn also pointed out that this popularity faded after that decade but that Harris nevertheless remained appreciated by audiences until his retirement 10 The Telegraph however remarked that the 2002 Louis Theroux documentary exposed a darker side of Harris a nervous edgy man who kept telling rotten jokes and who struggled to forgive past slights against him 6 In the same documentary Harris said of Orville that he had created a monster Everybody knows Orville not everybody knows Keith Harris but also recognised that the bird had not burdened him and had contributed towards his success 14 Discography EditAlbums Edit At the End of the Rainbow 1983 UK No 92Singles Edit Orville s Song 1982 UK No 4 Come to My Party 1983 UK No 44 White Christmas 1985 UK No 40References EditNotes Edit He turned down an offer to appear in the second series of Extras 2007 claiming that the writer Ricky Gervais wanted his character to be a racist bigot 16 Gervais said that Harris simply didn t get it 17 Citations Edit Roberts David ed 2005 Guinness World Records British Hit Singles amp Albums 18th ed Guinness World Records p 227 ISBN 1 904994 00 8 a b c d e f g h i j k l m Anthony Hayward Keith Harris obituary The Guardian 28 April 2015 Retrieved 14 November 2019 Tributes paid to Orville ventriloquist Keith Harris as he dies aged 67 Southern Daily Echo 28 April 2015 Retrieved 14 November 2019 Green Michael 13 July 2017 Late Chester star Keith Harris mother celebrates her 100th birthday chesterchronicle Retrieved 19 May 2019 Norman Harris Companies House Retrieved 19 May 2019 a b c d e f g h i Keith Harris obituary The Daily Telegraph 28 April 2015 Retrieved 28 April 2015 Strang Fay 28 April 2015 The man behind Orville Keith Harris depression dyslexia and four wives mirror Retrieved 18 May 2019 Simon Farquhar Keith Harris Children s entertainer whose act with his dummies Orville and Cuddles was one of the last triumphs of the variety age The Independent 28 April 2015 Caroline Westbrook 28 April 2015 Keith Harris dead at 67 ventriloquist who gave the world Orville The Duck dies of cancer Metro News Metro a b c d Michael Quinn Obituary Keith Harris The Stage 29 April 2015 Retrieved 14 November 2019 David Pollock Obituary Keith Harris ventriloquist The Scotsman 29 April 2015 Retrieved 14 November 2019 The Man Monster Petrol Pump Off Puzzle clip at channel4 Retrieved 29 April 2015 In pictures Keith Harris BBC News 28 April 2015 Retrieved 14 November 2019 a b Obituary I created a monster BBC News 28 April 2015 Retrieved 14 November 2019 Harris M Lentz Obituaries in the Performing Arts 2015 McFarland and Company 2016 p 153 Ricky Gervais Ventriloquist Shocked By Ricky s Racist Script Contactmusic News Contactmusic com 4 September 2006 Retrieved 5 June 2009 Friday Night with Jonathan Ross BBC One 8 September 2006 Jefferies Mark 9 February 2019 Keith Harris s daughter Kitty gives emotional Britain s Got Talent audition mirror Retrieved 18 May 2019 Keith Harris and Orville Visit Poulton Poulton le Fylde 27 March 2018 Retrieved 18 May 2019 Keith s Skye in appeal to have phone returned www blackpoolgazette co uk Retrieved 19 May 2019 Entertainer Keith Harris dies at 67 BBC News 28 April 2015 Secret weapon that gave Keith Harris and Orville humanity and appeal The Guardian 28 April 2015 Retrieved 28 April 2015 Jenn Selby 28 April 2015 Keith Harris dead Orville the Duck ventriloquist dies aged 67 following battle with cancer The Independent External links EditOfficial website nbsp Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Keith Harris ventriloquist amp oldid 1160034362, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.