As always this "diary" will be. . inaccuracy or intrusion, then please But the question is also intriguing: how could someone who once inspired such affection slip from the public gaze so completely, in so short a space of time? In 1959, Stanley realised the writing was on the wall for variety theatre in Scotland and moved to London. Something was happening between us but I didn't wish to acknowledge the fact. I turned to walk away. How would I know what he looked like? So: Mr White hadnt been having me on Baxter did live in London, then. Since he was a toddler, Bessie had taken him to vaudeville shows. Hed be a bit suspicious if a tabloid or something like that was trying to turn him over. 'I was going to top myself,' he says. Finally, I realised that I would have to let Stanley Baxter rest in peace. Could they get me an interview? It was a relief. At a time when being gay was illegal in Britain, the actor would bring men home with his wifes knowledge. And she never knew of the window ledge incident. That was that. We became close, without it ever being more than friendship.'. Moiras death left Stanley bereft. There had been no mystery about the retirement, said Lennie, who talked about the physical demands of changing costumes so often. Moira Robertson was the wife of actor Stanley Baxter. And when Stanley decided to marry Moira Robertson, Williams was the first person he told. Hes always quite pernickety about who hell speak to, which is why I dont want to say too much about him at the moment. By that time, I had so many tender feelings for her, he explains. . Jul 1988 - Present34 years 4 months. The owners of the park you live in may say it is an RV park. It was all very selfish of me and a bit macho. Oh yes? Still smiling. View the profiles of people named Moira Robertson. I had felt the relationship simply had to stop, so I broke it off. He's willing to let the world decide for itself. And what does the master of disguise look like now? Stanley Baxter. When hes like this, one could die for him.
If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can 'One wounded bird helping to look after another,' Stanley said. In a television era rich with comic talent, from Morecambe and Wise to Tommy Cooper, Dick Emery to Mike Yarwood, everyone agreed Stanley Baxter was king. Now that personal publicists are de rigueur for everyone from ministers mistresses to rugby players wives, we may even catch ourselves feeling faintly disapproving at the thought that he might want to do without the oxygen of publicity. Well see what happens. "Stanley Baxter and his wife Moira were secretly married in the drawing room of the bride's house in Dumbarton. He saw Moira frequently, but the fractured marriage was always difficult. Stanley asked . It was more than weakness. He was the lead in one play before going off to serve with the Royal Army Service Corps in the Far East, where he was recruited for the Combined Services Entertainment unit, a drag- and-greasepaint outfit straight out of It Aint Half Hot Mum. Robertson Baxter. Er, or something like it. but not to publish it. He soon gave up any pretence of being faithful, or heterosexual. 'I liked . Actor Stanley Baxter, 94, has bravely come out as gay and opened up about how his sexuality impacted his relationship with his wife Moira Robertson, who died in 1997. Im not being naughty, but no. Again.
This is it, I thought, suddenly breathless. But even today he finds it difficult to discuss the case, referring to it as 'le scandale'. I don't want to be involved in this kind of world'. Moira chased Stanley, says Stanleys sister, Alice. Chic, with hooded eyes, Moira could have been Bette Davis's younger sister. 'I was in love with Bill,' Stanley says, 'but he certainly wasn't in love with me. She wanted to come, too. Its simple and has the few things I need warmth, decent light for reading, a gramophone and a TV if I wish to view. Bingo! Anyone would be insane to choose to live such a very difficult life.' Moira Robertson, 65, was snared with 51,000 of cash and 24,000 of cocaine at her home on June 20, 2019. The more I got to know of her I realised she was a lovely person, a woman of enormous heart.. Yes, was the terse reply. Moira died of an overdose, aged 69. But Baxter's anxieties were channelled into his work, and his perfectionist instincts became overwhelming. He had to get on with his life. I couldve hugged him. Other entries in the diary recall Baxter speaking of a desperate clinging to privacy and the rejection of a potentially hostile world. Stanley maintains incredible control, but he can also come on like the wee woman on the stairhead talking about the price of mince, said Mary Brennan, who reviews around 20 panto performances a year. Its just prohibitive, you know, because they were such big specials. A lot of people are interested in this. For a journalist, it can be difficult to tell. His divas and dames were so good they were beyond description. Stanley was up for the challenge. Supported creation and implementation of TD Summer Reading and StoryWalk program. Dressed in a sailor suit, his hair tonged in waves, he did impersonations of Laurel and Hardy, and Mae West. I have been writing for the Independent on Sunday for more than 20 years, but the edition that appears on Sunday will be the last. I dont deserve it, I know, but if anyone can help me at this dreadful period, it is him, Williams wrote before leaving home. A wee'un would surely have grown up with problems and taken drugs.'. We are doing this to improve the experience forour loyalreaders and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. Should he push aside the attention of this attractive, classy young woman? Moira Robertson Doctor at CHUV Lausanne. There's no doubt about that. By
'I liked her,' Baxter says. Well, you, really. We are delighted to welcome Faye Mallinson to the growing Robertson Baxter team. Smiling at me. heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment. Kenny thought I was making a terrible mistake, says Stanley. I began to be scared someone else would do better than me on stage, and my mother would clatter me.'. 'I didn't want to bring any child into the world who suffered what I suffered. And he met Moira Robertson, a 22-year-old who had worked her way up from the wardrobe department to the stage. They included women, from Shirley Bassey to, later, the Princess of Wales, each precisely observed. Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Mom who lost both sons to fentanyl blasts laughing Biden, Moment teenager crashes into back of lorry after 100mph police race, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Family of a 10-month-old baby filmed vaping open up, Hershey's Canada releases HER for SHE bars featuring a trans activist, Ukrainian soldier takes out five tanks with Javelin missiles. A dreadful fantasy played in his head, that he would suffer a heart attack backstage during panto season and be found dead on the floor of the dressing room. / moira robertson baxter. Writer and broadcaster, Interviewer of the Year for the Mail, winner of Radio Academy gold with BBC Radio 4. He never appeared as himself. There were few people he could tell of his worries. But she ignored the signs. . They became lovers. Its hard to know if the invigorating sea air or simply timing resulted in Moiras declaration, but she announced she wished to have a full-blown sexual relationship with her leading man. Baxter would tell the whole truth, on condition that it remained a secret. And then he met Moira, this soft-spoken chic young woman with the Bette Davis eyes. The dark, often highly dramatic script of their life together began when he joined the Citz in 1948, shortly after being demobbed. Having worked in Hong Kong, Dubai, Singapore and London and across numerous sections, including finance, procurement, defence and e-commerce . Other members included Kenneth Williams, with whom Baxter formed a close friendship that was troubled but life-long.It was quite a strong thing, said Young. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. , updated Are you sure you want to delete this comment? There was, it seemed, no prospect of an interview. A public face is no longer enough if youre a public figure. And the sex was fine not rockets going off or anything.. . Wearing a calf-length tweed coat with a smart scarf folded across the throat. His act was so daring that he was probably the first TV comedian to impersonate the Queen. Moira didn't ever leap anywhere, he says softly. Oh, they all varied, said the agent, suddenly sounding irritated. The most outrageously funny man on British television 50 years ago was Stanley Baxter. Nigel Dempsters often there, and so are Stanley Baxter and Terry Stamp. I shouldn't have done, but I did. But unknown to the world, Granny and the eponymous hero had decided to marry. Baxter had married Moira Robertson, an actress at the Citizens Theatre, in the early Fifties. It said, words to the effect of, 'I'll let you off if you don't want to marry me'. His biographer Brian Beacom examines why the brilliant Scots entertainer with a thousand faces refused to show his real one to the world. With his telephone number and address in my notebook, I could have rung Stanley Baxter or paid him a visit months ago, instead of waiting for an answer to my letter. He has a talismanic quality that makes people feel hes very much in touch with their lives, and then suddenly, out he zooshes looking really rather sexy. Ive been in audiences where women in their sixties would sit there and say, with absolute envy: Ooh, look at them legs. Her favourite memory is of one entrance in full rig, with craggy face underneath what looked like a mound of candyfloss. . I was utterly overwhelmed. contact the editor here. I like to retreat into playing other people. In fact, Mum showed her disapproval of Moira right from the start., Stanley agrees. Also known as. Like his previous TV specials, it was a delirious collection of sketches and set-pieces featuring Baxter in character (his meticulously observed parodies of women like Shirley Bassey and Marlene Dietrich were a trademark), complete with spectacular sets and breathtaking changes of costume and make-up. Identifying clients needs and developing solutions for both existing and new to Bank clients. 'It was partly a feeling of, 'I'll show them,' he admits. For Bill this was just sexual experimentation, and he would later reject a sexual relationship with Stanley, preferring women. Anyway, here it is: a piece from a time before the internet or ubiquitous mobiles, when the celebrity age was just beginning but you still had to go to the library to look at the electoral register. Later, they decamped to an island outside the city. . Perhaps that is why hardly anyone noticed when, after 1985, he left the television spotlight altogether, just as the glare was getting hotter. Yes, as a 14-year-old hed had a frolic with the maid (despite living in a West End tenement Bessie Baxter insisted upon live-in help) but this was an entirely new adventure. There was also a tiny quote from Baxter in the Times of November 1992, about how the role of Principal Boy should only be played by a woman: All those frills. I wrote you a letter. Baxter began to turn work down not playing Captain Hook in a production of Peter Pan opposite Lulu, not appearing with Cannon and Ball at the Palladium. A porter at the club confirmed that the comedian did swim in the pool most days. Whatever changes come into society, they have already learnt discretion. She was only using the gate to rest. No. I thought, I really hate this. So he decided that rather than cut his cloth down because hes not a stand-up Channel 4 comedian, is he? Young was cagey, preferring to ring Baxter before he would talk to me. No. Retirement, at the relatively early age of 63, was total. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Once again, the gates around Baxter had been locked. The last panto was in 1991, wasnt it? Comic actor Stanley Baxter dressed as a Roman soldier during a comedy sketch, circa 1980. A Gannett Company. Perhaps it was time to forget it, let him be. 3mo. I felt I had to be very careful not to allow anyone a glimpse of my predilection.. View Moira Robertson results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. The Real Stanley Baxter, by Brian Beacom. Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web! Possibly even liberation is distasteful, because it encourages people to come out and make features of themselves, whereas your social and sexual life should be, as Noel Coward had it, behind closed doors. Despite his success, he had, in fact, always had a certain invisibility. One last piece for the Independent on Sunday, The Invisible Man: Searching for the Reclusive Stanley Baxter. Hes offered stage plays and everything all the time, but he doesnt want to lock himself into eight performances a week for six months, you know? The pair developed a closeness that meant when they weren't working they enjoyed a movie or dinner together. What Williams didnt know, however, was the pressure Stanley had been under. Well, I spoke to your television company, and they said you might be doing some soon. Beaten with sticks.'. There are folk who could tell you what kind of Christmas it was by recalling that years panto. by | Jan 25, 2023 | when do pecan trees lose their leaves | congestion worse after sinus rinse | Jan 25, 2023 | when do pecan trees lose their leaves | congestion worse after sinus rinse There was an S Baxter in that area, with an address. He died aged just 26 and Stanley was heartbroken. 'She would think the television was talking to her.' Anxious, he took a taxi to the house. Yet there is one celebrity who has bucked the trend. Wait and see, was the answer. Actor: Crooks Anonymous. Hanover, Ontario, Canada. He found immense laughs as Formby and Liberace. As a last shot I rang David White, who said I had been very naughty. There was some communication, through Andy Young, who had been authorised to tell me that Baxter was refusing all work except voice-overs and radio. Home. I hope you enjoy it, let me know what you think. Scottish perspective on news, sport, business, lifestyle, food and drink and more, from Scotland's national newspaper, The Scotsman. And so, a few weeks later, I did the right journalistic thing and rang Mentorn and Channel 4. Fair enough. He had moved past me to the door, and said good-bye as he shut it. Moiras role, however, was reduced from Actress to Wife. They would meet for lunch every day. In January 1962, he visited the public toilets in Madras Place, Holloway, hoping to pick up a man for casual sex. They werent interested in doing another take just because Stanley felt there was a whisker of it that wasnt right. Treating spinal conditions affecting teenagers and adults led Moira into the field of Scoliosis where she helps . ng bi lc Thng Mt 19, 2023. Fine, I said. Could he look really old, like the man in the corner with cigarette ash all down his dark suit? So: a legend. Getting dark. Birth sign: Gemini. Looking up at me, expecting me to speak. She danced too in the gardens in Highgate Village, naked. I tried to keep things calm and said, Okay, okay, well if you want to get engaged, we could try it for a year or so and see what happens., Just after the window ledge moment, Stanley was handed a Get Out of Jail Free card. As a youth in 1940's Glasgow Stanley spent as much time as possible at the Grosvenor Cinema even skipping school. View more posts, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), It was 20 years ago todayish. ', This year, he changed his mind. Posted on 24 februari 2023 by. He felt guilty for the many affairs and the new partners. Not Stanleys fee, particularly, but you have to pay the Musicians Union, youve got to pay all the dancers, Equity and so on. If it doesn't work out, you just get divorced and you move on. And my father replied with a very heavy voice, No, it's not as easy as that., The following Monday, the Scottish Daily Express wrote of the 'quiet' wedding. I believed that no-one in our family should be anything but a star.. In that moment, I thought the world had changed. . With silk gloves up to his armpits and a tiara, he announced himself as the Duchess of Brendagh and delivered a Christmas message that talked of the Queen Mum as a priceless antique. Men just look nelly, however hard they try. And he had been sighted on a visit to Scotland in July 1994, to unveil a tribute to his late friend and fellow comic Duncan Macrae, during which he had confirmed that it had been his intention to drop out of public life completely: Most comics work till they drop, but Im happier now than ever. But just weeks later he realised he had boarded a runaway train. He suggested I contact Mentorn Films, who were recording new links for the show. .Baxter was born in Glasgow in 1928, and raised in the genteel suburb of Kelvinside. He took his time. Ill be calmer tomorrow. I felt vulnerable. Bringing the very best to his latest film role, Crooks Anonymous, starring alongside Julie Christie and Leslie Philips. Stanley reckoned his wife's place was in the home. Stanley had to move out, he says, for the sake of his own sanity. Not at all? Meanwhile, on January 15, 1951, the engagement became national news, yet this didnt really register with Stanley. I had never written anything longer than a thousand words for publication before, but Richard helped me through and opened the door to a career as a feature writer, for which I am extremely grateful. He was also aware of the need to have a cover. But where? moira robertson baxter. One more try. But it was because I knew I'd made the biggest mistake of my life.. Once stardom had been achieved, he limited his television appearances and won an unusual amount of power over how they were made. . Those who didnt want to be troubled with it could simply take it at face value. Back home again, Baxter joined the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, a fine company with aspirations to form a Scottish national theatre. His father was a branch manager of Commercial Union while his mother would have liked to have been an actress, When the family agreed that acting was respectable his mother took him round halls where he gave renderings of Harry Lauder and . And there he was, coming up the steps to the door. After a meal with Baxter in October 1969, Williams wrote: At one point when I said to S. I sometimes feel I am so useless I just want to die. I contacted David White, who seemed to think that this might mean that his client would talk to me. But he didnt tackle the issue. He could sing, dance, deliver broad panto comedy and perform pinsharp impressions of any star, male or female. Yes I did, and I spoke to you through my agent. Fred Baxter, knowing his son was unconvincing in the role of Happy Groom, attempted a last-minute derailment. The STANDS4 Network. Suddenly, she raced to the front window of their second storey flat, opened it and climbed out onto the window ledge, yelling, If I can't have you then I won't settle for anyone else! Another professional acquaintance was prepared to talk anonymously, but only about his retirement (Nureyev kept going until he was censured and taken apart at the seams for coming on stage when he was obviously dying. Gay men up and down the UK lived in constant fear of having their careers and lives wrecked. But what the Daily Express didnt know was that when Stanley arrived home, with the sound of Saturday evening theatre applause still ringing in his ears, he broke down in tears. And although she was a good cook, she wasn't very good at washing. A visit to the local library to see the electoral register confirmed that S stood for Stanley. Im not giving any interviews at the moment. An edge in his voice. He felt guilty when he moved out, unable to share a home with her any longer. . Yet, the relationship was doomed from the start. The lavish, multi-layered dresses worn by classic pantomime dames are built on a bodysuit of gripping Lycra whose fierce constriction can leave the body raw and bruised by the end of each performance. You can tell Ive talked to the press before, cant you? His performance of Eager Young Husband was the worst he would give in his life. And now he felt incredibly guilty because at the very end, he wasn't there to do what? But rejection and the stress of his double life had chewed away his confidence. I wrote to Stanley Baxter at his home, requesting an interview. In the past, the journalists job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. As I approached the flats, a figure bundled up in odd layers of clothing and a heavy overcoat came towards me, and turned towards the gate. And that was that. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself. So funny that hes disappeared. He was married for 46 years, but beneath his cheerful exterior lies a man tortured by the fact he is gay. He never replied. Hes having a holiday with his wife, Moira. His associates would not return my calls. Baxter recalls how he would be allowed by his wife to bring men home, at a time when homosexuality was illegal in Britain. In December at the Citz, Stanley and Moira starred in the Christmas panto Red Riding Hood (Stanley played Granny McNiven, Moira played Red Riding Hood). After all, the pair had spent endless hours discussing sexuality, preferences and honesty. WHEN DOES curiosity become intrusion? Rather than resolve the issue, I let it slip. Who was this man, who inspired so much silence? Certainly not Kenneth Williams: 'I remember sitting with him in an Italian restaurant, and telling him that I was very low. It was real weakness on my part.. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. Afterwards, I gasped, 'Have you done this before?' 'She guessed wrongly what being with a gay man entailed.'. Stanley Baxter was a star of the Glasgow stage aged six, in 1932. Login . May 2021 - Present1 year 9 months. He had recorded a radio version of Compton Mackenzies book, Whisky Galore! In travis mcmichael married; susie anthony wife of earl anthony They procrastinated for several weeks, then passed me on to Channel 4s press office. It was a dark day. Friday afternoon. This would be NO life for you, married to someone who is essentially and primarily homosexual!, Moira's reaction was surprising, even to those who knew how liberal she was. Ill tell you, he said, managing to communicate weariness down the line. You can make a complaint by using the report this post link . Its a dead loss, to be honest. A PAIR of drug dealing Glasgow grans who were caught with over 24,000 worth of cocaine have been jailed.