Ian Handford: A larger than life comic talent

Born Fred Patrick Round Emney, on 12 February 1900, Fred (2) was one of five children born to his father, Fred (1), and mother, Blancher.

As a music hall comedian, Fred (1)’s sister Joan (an actress) and their uncle Arthur Williams were already established entertainers—making it probable that our Fred (2) would follow a similar path to the stage. His four siblings—a sister and three brothers—would not have a music hall career. 

Fred (1), aged 59, died after slipping on soap suds during a knockabout scene in Cinderella. Unfortunately, this fall led to his early death on Christmas Day. Meanwhile, his son—already huge and growing, eventually weighing over 26 stone—lived a long life but, incredibly, also died on a Christmas Day.

Our Fred was forever seen as the “posh fat bloke”—an aristocratic figure, constantly blinking through clouds of cigar smoke and usually topped off with a hat. Born in London, he was educated at Cranleigh School, where he developed a passion for live theatre. He wanted to act and eventually loved playing character parts, only switching to comedy late in his career, first on radio and later television.

Unlike his father, Fred never fell on stage and enjoyed a long and happy life. His first appearance came in 1915, when he played the page boy in Edward Sheldon's play Romance. According to legend, even then he was known as the actor who always outgrew his costume. As a teenager, theatre companies often replaced him when he grew too large for their uniforms—it being too expensive to keep supplying new ones. Undeterred, Fred kept growing, seemingly content with his huge bulk.

When cast as the squire in the Puss in Boots pantomime, he and the audiences continued to grow alike—him in size, them in number. Then, while on tour in a musical comedy in 1917, Fred made a bold decision to leave Britain for America. By 1920, he had joined a touring US vaudeville company, where he remained for more than eleven years.

By 1935, Fred made his film debut in Come Out of the Pantry, and as the Second World War loomed, he appeared on a brand-new medium—television—just before returning to pre-war Britain.

In late 1937, having joined the Gaiety Theatre, he appeared in a trio of comedians by partnering Richard Hearne and Leslie Henson. The successful trio played at the Gaiety right up until it closed in 1938 as war broke out in Europe. Now Fred was lucky enough to once again appear on the new media, early television, playing in sketches as a partner of just Richard Hearne.

In 1942 he played opposite Beatrice Lillie in The Big Top at Her Majesty's Theatre London, being the time the ever-versatile Fred had finally started writing his own scripts. The first of these was co-authoring the play Big Boy, produced in 1945, and then Happy as a King, which audiences loved, and it was actually reported "befitted the actor". 

With the Second World War hostilities at an end, Fred had now decided to concentrate his energy on parts in light opera and musical plays, and it seems he even refused offers to return to the stage and small screen, which had to await the mid-1950s. 

Occasionally, he took a break from his new preference and performed in what he termed "lesser halls”, being the theatre stage and local clubs. He was by now truly "gargantuan", yet luckily remained versatile and could undertake virtually anything the "greater halls" offered him, including his real turning point when playing Admiral Rankin in the musical farce by Pinero – The Schoolmistress.  

(To be continued next week.)