' Friends suddenly shunned him, fearful of guilt by association. Bringing businesses together in the emerging, disruptive technology space across; FinTech, Quantum Technologies and Quantitative Trading Technologies through face to face and virtual meetings and events. And now he felt incredibly guilty because at the very end, he wasn't there to do what? She would go off to our bedroom and let me take the one opposite.". His associates would not return my calls. I shouldn't have done, but I did. British actress Moira Robertson (year of birth unknown-1997) and her husband, British comedian and actor Stanley Baxter, at Clerkenwell Magistrates Court in London, England, 5th March 1962. She punched me and my glasses flew off. 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. Stanley Baxter is arguably the funniest man and one of the most fetching women in Britain. Ive often wondered how her life would have turned out had she married a devoted heterosexual husband., He adds, his voice breaking: I will never know why she loved me so much. Could they get me an interview? It was all good, clean, pre-Carry On fun. Wherever he is, I wish him well. May 2021 - Present1 year 9 months. 'It was like a 3,000 volt electric current going through me. Helen Wright and Moira Robertson were in a police raid (Image: Spindrift) Two Glasgow pensioners caught with more than 24,000 of cocaine are behind bars. 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. To order a copy for 17.60 go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193. But although the urgency had gone, the curiosity remained. And since that time he hasnt been able to surrender the thought had he not married the fragile, vulnerable woman she may have lived more of a happy life. Instead, he withdrew from the showbiz world. 'It was partly a feeling of, 'I'll show them,' he admits. He rang back the next day, but the news was bad. What Williams didnt know, however, was the pressure Stanley had been under. It was absolutely selfish. But fame made his clandestine life even more risky. I sat on the edge of the bed and sobbed my heart out, he admits. It was a golden period for British film-making, and he appeared in mildly successful black-and-white movies like the Highland comedy Geordie and Very Important Person, in which he starred alongside James Robertson Justice and Leslie Phillips. Perhaps it was time to forget it, let him be. Scots who never visit a theatre for the rest of the year still find their way to the panto, where the scenarios and jokes have the familiarity of ritual. Club gossip suggested that he preferred the bigger and busier squash changing- rooms to those by the poolside, and was a bit of a loner.) In January 1962, he visited the public toilets in Madras Place, Holloway, hoping to pick up a man for casual sex. I thought, I really hate this. 'I didn't want to bring any child into the world who suffered what I suffered. This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network. See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive. But more than that, he feared his fiercely ambitious mother. I began to be scared someone else would do better than me on stage, and my mother would clatter me.'. Yet there is one celebrity who has bucked the trend. No, you might publish it. There were things he might like to say, but it wouldnt be in keeping to do so. Auditions were in Singapore and, after arriving there in December 1946 by flying boat, he was taken under the wing of a stooped, grey-haired man with a dusty moustache and a strident, nasal voice. Baxter had done Shakespeare, and in 1969 he appeared alongside Sir Ralph Richardson in the original cast of Joe Ortons last play, What The Butler Saw. I don't want to be involved in this kind of world'. I never wanted to be gay. 'It was then she physically attacked me. Exasperated, his ITV television bosses told him they could no longer afford his extravaganzas. 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Did Bessie Baxter have any idea of Stanleys true sexuality? And Stanley noticed her little eccentricities, her remoteness, her rejection of life's boring rituals of cleaning, cooking, washing laundry, had become more pronounced. Moira has 3 jobs listed on their profile. 'I'm too afraid of what people will think of me,' he said. Its a long season in Scotland, it runs from November through to February. 'She guessed wrongly what being with a gay man entailed.'. And he reads the Independent. Since our merger with Granada theres nobody higher up who would have been involved either. Look, his shows cost a fortune partly because it takes them so long to change and do make-up and so on. Stanley Baxter as the Pantomime Dame in "Jack and the Beanstalk" at the King's Theatre, Glasgow. She would go off to our bedroom and let me take the one opposite.. His heart raced as he rushed towards her and pulled her back. They werent interested in doing another take just because Stanley felt there was a whisker of it that wasnt right. But Stanley, and Moiras family, coaxed her to take medication. Mildly discouraged, I tried another approach: Melvyn Bragg, who had been head of arts at LWT when Baxter was at his peak. British actress Moira Robertson and her husband, British comedian and actor Stanley Baxter, at Clerkenwell Magistrates Court in London, England, 5th March 1962. It was in CSE that Baxter met openly gay men for the first time. In fact, Mum showed her disapproval of Moira right from the start., Stanley agrees. And what does the master of disguise look like now? Im not. He divulged: "I couldn't put up with very long periods of not being with men. And it worked. But it worried me: was it right to doorstep a man who had worked so hard all his life to keep the private roped off from the public? I had felt the relationship simply had to stop, so I broke it off. Kenneth Williams was among the first to be told and he couldnt believe his ears. Why did Stanley agree to marry Moira? The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. Birth sign: Gemini. I didn't want to know, but gradually I was falling in love.'. We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. And the decision may have played a part his wifes untimely death. 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The truth is, I dont really want to be me.. There were few people he could tell of his worries. Early on she used to say, That woman's following you around like a wee dug! And she was right. Not Stanleys fee, particularly, but you have to pay the Musicians Union, youve got to pay all the dancers, Equity and so on. Just to talk to a faithful hand that takes all the chaff and grain together, keeps whats worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blows the rest away. She was far more bohemian than me.' So he just thought: No, its all too much for me. . He was happy to talk about the Scottish approach to pantomime, with its emphasis on storyline and tradition, but declined to talk about Baxter as a person. He revealed he was worried his career would be over because of the incident before his lawyer got the charge dropped. Not to the Press. A stage smile. No. 'One wounded bird helping to look after another,' Stanley said. By being proactive, well informed and aware of your condition this is the first step to making a difference. Stanley Baxter is one of my all-time favourites, he said. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Beaten with sticks.'. The star penned: "Anybody would be insane to choose to live such a very difficult life. But unknown to the world, Granny and the eponymous hero had decided to marry. Stanley Baxter and Moira Robertson on their wedding day. When his friend Kenneth Williams's diaries were published posthumously in the early Nineties, he fought a legal battle to ensure nothing about his sex life was printed. THE LEAVES on the pavement were being sucked upwards by the cold wind, or turned to mush by rain. Oh yes? Still smiling. In this remarkable new authorised biography, which Stanley originally refused to have published before his death for fear of being judged journalist Brian Beacom reveals the secrecy and sadness that have haunted the entertainer all his life. 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. Millions were scandalised and breathless with laughter. I hope you enjoy it, let me know what you think. Profitieren Sie von der globalen Reichweite, datengesttzten Erkenntnissen und einem Netzwerk von ber 340.000 Content-Anbietern von Getty Images, die exklusiv fr Ihre Marke Inhalte erstellen. The critics loved it. The honeymoon night predictably was a disaster. For a nation still mourning the loss of Eric Morecambe, Baxter another survivor of the gentler, pre-television days of variety theatre seemed ready to succeed to the title of Britains Favourite Comedian. And after nearly a year of thinking about this man, after all the work I had done to find him, I had absolutely no idea what to say. Say goodbye? Baxter appeared alongside Jimmy Logan and Rikki Fulton in extravagantly-produced shows with Ziegfeld-scale sets and dancing girls, but also made his first BBC television appearance in 1951. I know it all sounds terribly old-fashioned but men had those expectations in those days., Now, Stanley admits another reason why he felt Moira should remain at home. Not at all? I wrote to Stanley Baxter at his home, requesting an interview. 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. This is it, I thought, suddenly breathless. It said, words to the effect of, 'I'll let you off if you don't want to marry me'. She looked up at me, shrugged and said Oh, I don't care about that at all. So, no pantos either then? A porter at the club confirmed that the comedian did swim in the pool most days. You wont tell me which part of London, will you? For good. Editors' Code of Practice. The tracks had long been covered by this time last year, when Ian Jack, then editor of the Independent on Sunday and (being a Scot) a Stanley Baxter fan, issued his decree. . I was utterly overwhelmed. Bill had girlfriends, but he spent almost all his spare time at the Baxter house, sitting in Stanley's bedroom and talking till the small hours about art and philosophy, 'until we fell asleep, exhausted'. Hes never done a chat show in his life. They went on a trip to Amsterdam together in 1964, although Williams who described their sitting in clubs with a load of poofs returned to Britain early. 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. View the profiles of professionals named "Moira Robertson" on LinkedIn. But Andy Young, who considers himself a close friend of the couple, insisted that they still lived together. My call was answered by Mr White himself, who seemed suspicious of my reasons for ringing. It looked right. It was the future Carry On star Kenneth Williams, also barely out of his teens but playing an old man in a CSE production. View the profiles of people named Moira Robertson. Mit unserem einfachen Abonnement erhalten Sie Zugriff auf die besten Inhalte von Getty Images und iStock . I like to retreat into playing other people. It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse. 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