Jim Dale

Infobox actor
name = Jim Dale


imagesize = 150px
caption = Jim Dale with his Barnum costar Glenn Close performing "Busker Alley", 2006
birthdate = birth date and age|1935|8|15|df=yes
birthplace = Rothwell, Northamptonshire, England
occupation = Actor, Lyricist, Narrator, Singer
spouse = Patrica Dale (div.)
Julia Schafler
website = http://www.jim-dale.com
tonyawards = Best Leading Actor in a Musical
1980 "Barnum"

Jim Dale MBE (born James Smith on 15 August 1935) is an English actor and singer-songwriter, best known for his roles in the "Carry On" films, as well as the narrator of the "Harry Potter" audiobook series in the United States, for which he has won two Grammy Awards.

Dale is currently featured on the ABC series "Pushing Daisies", as the Narrator. In the series, he often uses the phrase:," The facts were these."

Biography

Dale was born James Smith in Rothwell, Northamptonshire, where he attended Kettering Grammar School. He did two years National Service in the RAF.

Career

Music career

As a songwriter Dale is best remembered as the lyricist for the movie theme "Georgy Girl", which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1966. The song (performed by The Seekers) reached number 2 in the US charts the following year. Several of his songs entered the UK singles chart including "Be My Girl" (1957)(UK # 2in 1957), "Just Born" (1958), "Crazy Dream" (1958) and "Sugartime" (1958). As a singer he became the first artist under the wing of Sir George Martin who produced many hit records for him. Dale also wrote and recorded the song "Dick-a-Dum-Dum (King's Road)", which became a hit for Des O'Connor in 1969.

Film career

Dale is most famous in the UK for his appearances in eleven Carry On films, a long running series of comedy farces, generally playing the hapless romantic lead. His Carry on career began as an expectant father in Carry on Cabby followed by Carry on Spying 1964, Carry on Jack 1964, Carry on Cowboy 1965 where he played a character called Marshall P Knutt, soon followed by playing Horsa in 1965 film Carry on Cleo, then Follow That Camel 1966, Carry on Screaming 1966, and the famous Carry on Doctor 1967. His last Carry On appearance in the main series was in "Carry On Again Doctor" in 1969, where he broke his arm during filming, as he preferred to do his own stunts. However 23 years later he appeared in the title role in the last 1992 Carry On film, "Carry on Columbus". He was in the silent short 1967 film "The Plank", and played the young Spike Milligan in the film version of "". He starred in "Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World", which also featured Milligan, The National Health directed by Jack Gold, Scandalous, a triple-role as twin brothers and their father in Disney's Hot Lead & Cold Feet, The Hunchback, as a tap dancing executive in Arthur Miller's 1993 The American Clock and a memorable performance as a comic villain in the 1977 Disney films "Pete's Dragon" and "The Spaceman and King Arthur" aka "Unidentified Flying Oddball".

tage career

At the age of eighteen Dale became the youngest professional comedian in Britain, touring all the great Variety Music Halls. On stage he appeared in both straight and musical roles, and has been nominated for five Tony Awards, winning one for "Barnum" when in 1980 he became “The Toast of Broadway” (N.Y.Times), also winning the second of four Drama Desk Awards. In 2006, Dale performed on Broadway (at Studio 54) in the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of "The Threepenny Opera", as Mr. Peachum. In 1970, at the request of Sir Laurence Olivier, he joined the The National Theatre in London as a leading actor. Over the next two years he appeared in "Love's Labour's Lost", "The Merchant of Venice", "The National Health", "The Good Natured Man", "The Captain of Kopenick", and a two hander play with Anthony Hopkins, "The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria". At the Young Vic Theatre, he created the title role in Scapino, which he co-adapted with Frank Dunlop, and played Petruchio in "The Taming of the Shrew". His other West End theatre credits include "The Wayward Way", "The Card", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The Winter's Tale", and most recently the part of Fagin in Cameron Mackintosh’s "Oliver!" at the London Palladium.

His Broadway successes include "Scapino" (Drama Desk Award/Outer Critics Award/Tony Award Nomination), "Joe Egg" (Outer Critics Award /Tony Award Nomination). "Me And My Girl" and "Candide" (Tony Award Nomination). Other credits Off-Broadway include "Travels With My Aunt (Drama Desk Award / Lucille Lortel Award / Outer Critics Award), "Privates On Parade", "The Taming of the Shrew", "The Invisible Man", "The Music Man", "Comedians" (Drama Desk Award nomination and a Lucille Lortel Award nomination), "A Christmas Carol – The Musical", "Address Unknown and "The Threepenny Opera" (Drama Desk Award / Outer Critics Award / The Richard Seff Award and a Tony Award nomination). In November, 2006 Dale starred as "Charlie Baxter" in the Sherman Brothers' musical, "Busker Alley" alongside Glenn Close.

Voice work

To millions of fans in the United States and Canada, Jim Dale is the "voice" of Harry Potter. (In Britain the audiobooks are produced by Bloomsbury, and Stephen Fry reads them.) He has recorded all seven books in the Harry Potter series, and as a narrator he has won two Grammy Awards, six Grammy Nominations and a record nine Audie Awards including "Audio Book of the Year 2004," "Best Narrator 2004/2005/2007," "Best Children's Audio Book 2005," two Benjamin Franklin Awards and eleven Audio File Earphone Awards. He is also the narrator for the Harry Potter video games. He also holds two Guinness World Records: one for having created and recorded 146 different character voices [ [http://www.jim-dale.com/ Jim Dale Home Page ] ] for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," and one for occupying the first six places in the Top Ten Audio Books of America and Canada 2005.

Due to his popularity as the narrator, Dale now narrates the new ABC drama, "Pushing Daisies", adding the "fairy tale" voice for this "forensics fairy tale."

Personal life

In 2003 Queen Elizabeth II awarded Dale with the MBE for his work in promoting English children’s literature.

He has lived in New York since 1980. He was married to Patricia from 1957 until their divorce in 1977. They had 4 children, one of whom, Murray Dale, was briefly an actor in the 1970s children's television series "Boy Dominic". His youngest son, Toby Dale, is also an actor living in London. Another son Adam is an award winning helicopter camera man. Jim's only daughter Belinda died of leukemia. In 1980, Jim married Julia Schafler, the owner of Madison Avenue’s prestigious "Julie: Artisan’s Gallery."

Awards nominations

;Awards
* 1974 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Performance - "Scapino"
* 1980 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Musical - "Barnum"
* 1980 Tony Award Best Actor in a Musical - "Barnum"
* 2006 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical - "The Threepenny Opera"
* 2008 Grammy Award Best Spoken Word Album for Children - "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"

;Nominations
* 1975 Tony Award Best Actor in Play - "Scapino"
* 1985 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Play - "Joe Egg"
* 1985 Tony Award Best Actor in Play - "Joe Egg"
* 1997 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Musical - "Candide"
* 1997 Tony Award Best Actor in a Musical - "Candide"
* 2006 Tony Award Best Featured Actor in a Musical - "The Threepenny Opera"
* 2003 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Play - "Comedians"

References

External links

* [http://www.jim-dale.com/ Jim Dale official website]
*
*
* [http://www.carryonline.com/carryonline/castandcrew.html Jim Dale at Carry On Online]
* [http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=4096 Jim Dale at Aveleyman]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATDJe87hia0 "Carry on Doctor" (1967)]

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title=Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical
years=1979-1980
for "Barnum"
before=Len Cariou
for "Sweeney Todd"
after=Kevin Kline
for "The Pirates of Penzance"