BAXTER BASICS

We remember with great fondness the brilliant comedian Stanley Baxter, who passed on recently at the grand old age of 99...

Stanley with Leslie Phillips in The Fast Lady (1962)

BAFTA-winning actor and comedian Stanley Baxter was known for his impressions of famous people, including Queen Elizabeth II, and his BBC series The Stanley Baxter Show garnered large audiences in the 1960s. The Scot featured in a string of films in the same decade, notably Very Important Person, The Fast Lady and Father Came Too!

In the era of lavish entertainment productions on television, Stanley Baxter was the undoubted king. The Glaswegian’s shows were not big in scale. They were off the scale. No expense was spared on programmes that were events in themselves and most certainly had to be filed under “must see”.

In the 1960s, 70s and 80s he was one of the biggest stars on British television. It was back in the day when the term “star” denoted a personality of real talent and near universal recognition.