Didn't he do well!
August 18, 2017 9:47 AM Subscribe
RIP Bruce Forsyth, British showbiz legend and holder of the Guinness world record for longest career as a male TV entertainer. He had hit Saturday night shows in every decade from the 1950s until 2010s (his first television appearance was in 1939 at the age of 11)
BFI biography
Beat The Clock
Adam Faith & Bruce Forsyth - Poor Me
The Generation Game 1973 Christmas Special
Interview with Sammy Davis Jr
Bruce Forsyth sings Firefly
Play Your Cards Right
Have I Got News For You
Strictly Come Dancing Gangnam Style and with Anton du Beke
Bruce plays Glastonbury a couple of years ago (he was the oldest person to do so)
Spitting Image
A phone call with John Colshaw
They'll Never Be Another
BFI biography
Beat The Clock
Adam Faith & Bruce Forsyth - Poor Me
The Generation Game 1973 Christmas Special
Interview with Sammy Davis Jr
Bruce Forsyth sings Firefly
Play Your Cards Right
Have I Got News For You
Strictly Come Dancing Gangnam Style and with Anton du Beke
Bruce plays Glastonbury a couple of years ago (he was the oldest person to do so)
Spitting Image
A phone call with John Colshaw
They'll Never Be Another
A full stop doesn't seem quite enough, but... golly. It's like the official end to an entire era of British Showbiz which stretched from the end of music hall through to the 1970s. This is someone who's been sort of there somewhere on a Saturday night my entire life (and I'm getting on a bit). Probably the greatest British exponent of Showbiz itself as an art form and one of the greatest game show hosts.
I realise it seems odd to attribute greatness to a game show host, but it's something that requires skill and judgement and talent and Forsyth had all of those. And he was able to bring out a comic performance in a contestant if there was one in there (especially on The Generation Game), not just using them as his foils.
If feels like there ought to be a vigil at The Palladium, but I'm probably overthinking it.
It's like a trial run for the queen going.
Bloody good run, though. 89. Well done, that man.
posted by Grangousier at 10:06 AM on August 18, 2017 [16 favorites]
I realise it seems odd to attribute greatness to a game show host, but it's something that requires skill and judgement and talent and Forsyth had all of those. And he was able to bring out a comic performance in a contestant if there was one in there (especially on The Generation Game), not just using them as his foils.
If feels like there ought to be a vigil at The Palladium, but I'm probably overthinking it.
It's like a trial run for the queen going.
Bloody good run, though. 89. Well done, that man.
posted by Grangousier at 10:06 AM on August 18, 2017 [16 favorites]
Interesting to think about how big a celebrity it is possible to me within a nation. It is relatively easy to be well known to a particular niche - a little trickier to be known to a whole demographic- but much more unusual to spread that fame out to encompass everybody from teenagers to nonagenarians. Each country might have one or two and the proliferation of media sources today means there might not be any in future. Bruce Forsyth was somebody who went all the way in that respect: ask any Brit over 10 about him and you will get a recognition - probably a few catch phrases. (Even from curmudgeons like me with 2 left feet and a strong aversion to game shows.)
. "Keep dancing!"
posted by rongorongo at 10:53 AM on August 18, 2017 [4 favorites]
. "Keep dancing!"
posted by rongorongo at 10:53 AM on August 18, 2017 [4 favorites]
.
Imagining him pulling the "to see you.....?" with St Peter...
posted by runincircles at 11:30 AM on August 18, 2017 [2 favorites]
Imagining him pulling the "to see you.....?" with St Peter...
posted by runincircles at 11:30 AM on August 18, 2017 [2 favorites]
.
posted by threetwentytwo at 11:46 AM on August 18, 2017
posted by threetwentytwo at 11:46 AM on August 18, 2017
Forsyth did try to break into American showbiz with a one man Broadway show, but it didn't work out.
posted by w0mbat at 11:51 AM on August 18, 2017
posted by w0mbat at 11:51 AM on August 18, 2017
He's got a job at the conveyor belt up there now.
Generation Game was central to 70s life for tiny me. High tea around the telly with Bruce & Anthea.
.
posted by scruss at 1:35 PM on August 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
Generation Game was central to 70s life for tiny me. High tea around the telly with Bruce & Anthea.
.
posted by scruss at 1:35 PM on August 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
Generation Game was central to 70s life for tiny me. High tea around the telly with Bruce & Anthea.
It was excruciating too - I was a stroppy and amazingly know-it-all teenager then, I did not understand the Generation Game.
(I am glad Forsyth had a long, wonderful and - eventually - iconic life. But oh the woe of light entertainment in 1970s tv Britain.)
.
posted by Jody Tresidder at 2:12 PM on August 18, 2017
It was excruciating too - I was a stroppy and amazingly know-it-all teenager then, I did not understand the Generation Game.
(I am glad Forsyth had a long, wonderful and - eventually - iconic life. But oh the woe of light entertainment in 1970s tv Britain.)
.
posted by Jody Tresidder at 2:12 PM on August 18, 2017
If anyone is going to come back from this, it's Brucey.
posted by howfar at 2:43 PM on August 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by howfar at 2:43 PM on August 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
This Yank only knew him from his quite daffy appearance on the Muppet Show. He and Jim Henson's crew seemed cut from the same cloth.
posted by AbnerRavenwood at 6:41 PM on August 18, 2017
posted by AbnerRavenwood at 6:41 PM on August 18, 2017
.
posted by Lesser Spotted Potoroo at 5:18 AM on August 19, 2017
posted by Lesser Spotted Potoroo at 5:18 AM on August 19, 2017
! Bravo fearfulsymmetry
"You're such a lovely audience, so much better than last week's" ~Bruce Forsyth, The Generation Game
posted by Schroder at 7:30 AM on August 19, 2017
"You're such a lovely audience, so much better than last week's" ~Bruce Forsyth, The Generation Game
posted by Schroder at 7:30 AM on August 19, 2017
Didn't he do well: how Bruce Forsyth made Saturday nights swing
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:48 AM on August 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:48 AM on August 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
I had not realised that he had made TV apprearances dating back to before the Second World War - that is pretty remarkable - I mean it must be decades since other performers of that era have retired or died. For pretty much as long as we've had TVs he has been on them.
posted by rongorongo at 9:03 AM on August 19, 2017
posted by rongorongo at 9:03 AM on August 19, 2017
Didn't he do well: how Bruce Forsyth made Saturday nights swing
That's a great article.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:46 AM on August 19, 2017
That's a great article.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:46 AM on August 19, 2017
.
posted by On the Corner at 11:43 PM on August 23, 2017
posted by On the Corner at 11:43 PM on August 23, 2017
The cult Popbitch newsletter had this to say:
>> RIP Brucie <<
Nice to see you; to see you...
A Popbitch mole who bumped into Bruce Forsyth's ex-wife and Generation Game co-star Anthea Redfern at a soiree in Puerto Banus a few years back felt they had to ask Anthea the truth. What did she really see in Bruce Forsyth.
Her reply?
"Simple. He was hung like a fucking horse, darling".
posted by w0mbat at 11:07 AM on September 1, 2017
>> RIP Brucie <<
Nice to see you; to see you...
A Popbitch mole who bumped into Bruce Forsyth's ex-wife and Generation Game co-star Anthea Redfern at a soiree in Puerto Banus a few years back felt they had to ask Anthea the truth. What did she really see in Bruce Forsyth.
Her reply?
"Simple. He was hung like a fucking horse, darling".
posted by w0mbat at 11:07 AM on September 1, 2017
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