Les Dennis

Infobox Celebrity


image_size = 150px
name = Les Dennis
caption = Les Dennis
birth_date = Birth date and age|1953|10|12|df=y
birth_place = Liverpool, Lancashire, England
birthname = Leslie Heseltine
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Television presenter, Actor
salary =
networth =
spouse = Lynne Webster (1974-early 1990s)
Amanda Holden (1995-2003)
Claire Nicholson (engaged 2007-).
website =
footnotes =
children = Philip Dennis and Eleanor Grace

Les Dennis (born Leslie Heseltine on 12 October 1953 in Liverpool, Lancashire) was an English television presenter and actor. Dennis married actress Amanda Holden in 1995, but they divorced eight years later.

Early life

He was born and brought up in Liverpool where his father worked for a betting shop and his mother worked in a factory. He had a Saturday job in a DIY store whilst still at school and started in entertainment as a stand-up comedian in working men's clubs.

Career

As a comedian in the 1980s Dennis had appeared on numerous light-entertainment shows and worked originally as a stooge to Russ Abbot on "Russ Abbot's Madhouse" and "The Russ Abbot Show" before forming a comedy partnership with fellow impressionist Dustin Gee. Following Gee's death in 1986, he was the host of "Family Fortunes", a sixteen year run from 1987 to 2002.

His theatre work included Amos Hart in "Chicago", Bill Snibson in "Me and My Girl" in the West End. He had starred in "Skylight" at the Water Mill Theatre, Newbury; "Mr Wonderful" at the Chester Gateway Theatre, "Misery" at Oldham Coliseum Theatre; toured in the play "Just Between Ourselves" and appeared with Janet Suzman in "Cherished Disappointments In Love" at London's Soho Theatre. He starred with Christopher Cazenove and John Duttine in a national tour of "Art" and as Norman Bartholomew in Anthony Shaffer's dark comedy "Murderer" at London's Menier Chocolate Factory. He recently starred in a hit season in "Neville's Island" at Birmingham Repertory Theatre. He had also made an appearance on two episodes of Bang Bang, It's Reeves and Mortimer in The Club sketch, where he played himself.

His big screen debut was in the film "Intimate Relations" with Julie Walters, Rupert Graves and Laura Sadler and he appeared in the comedy feature film "Large" and in "Wildlife", a short directed by Nick Allsop.

He had also acted in soap operas "Brookside", "Merseybeat", "Casualty" and the short-lived revival of "Crossroads". Dennis appeared in the second series of the UK "Celebrity Big Brother" during the period that his marriage to Amanda Holden was breaking down again - he described his time in the BB House as 'not one of his wisest moves'. On 11 August 2005 Dennis appeared as a guest star in and episode of the the first series BBC-series "Extras" written by and starring Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. In this appearance, Dennis played 'himself', or at least a totally believable caricature of the public perception of himself, alongside Gerard Kelly as camp theatre director, Bunny.

In September and October 2005 he appeared in "Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon", in which he appeared at the winners' homes to present the prizes they had won. In early 2006, Dennis presented and performed in BBC One's "The Sound of Musicals" and guested in "New Street Law" on BBC One.

In Summer 2006 he played scriptwriter Nick Chase in a new comedy play called [http://www.marlonbrandoscorset.com "Marlon Brando's Corset"] , which toured the UK from July 2006, including a month-long run at the Edinburgh Fringe.

He appeared as a guest in August 2006 on the ITV drama series, "The Bill" starring as a man suspected of murdering his father. Dennis appeared alongside fellow former "Russ Abbot" performer Lisa Maxwell, who plays D.I. Samantha Nixon in the series.

At the 2006 Edinburgh International Television Festival, it was announced Les would make a return to the gameshow genre, presenting a new big-money quiz show titled "In the Grid" for Five TV. The show debuted on 30 October 2006. From April 2007 he also hosted UKTV Gold's "TV Now and Then" quiz show. The same month he guested on BBC One's "Holby City".He appeared on "The Friday Night Project" as a panelist on "Who knows the most about the guest host?" when Rupert Everett guest hosted. In theatre Les guest-starred as narrator in "Side by Side by Sondheim" at the Venue, London.As one of the team, he completed running the Safaricom Marathon in Lewa to raise funds for the BBC Wildlife Fund, screened on BBC One's "Saving Planet Earth" in July.

In August 2007 he starred in the hit play "Certified Male"- about the highs and lows of modern manhood - at the Edinburgh Festival. He then toured in "The Servant of Two Masters", directed by Michael Bogdanov and at Christmas he returned to pantomime after a ten year break, co-starring in "Cinderella" with Hollywood veteran Mickey Rooney at the Sunderland Empire Theatre, produced by First Family Entertainment.

Les Dennis's autobiography, 'Must The Show Go On?', was published by Orion in Spring 2008.

He is engaged to Claire Nicholson, with whom he has a daughter, Eleanor Grace, who was born on 24 April 2008. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7365363.stm|title=Baby girl for TV host Les Dennis|accessdate=2008-04-24|date=2008-04-24|publisher] BBC] He also has a son, Phillip, born in 1979, by his first wife, Lynne. As of 2008, Les narrated the new "funny home video" show on Challenge; "Les Dennis's Home Video Heroes", and appeared in the ITV documentary "Les Dennis' Liverpool", which was, ironically, broadcast a week after BBC Two ran "Alexei Sayle's Liverpool", a three-part documentary on the city.

This Christmas Dennis will appear as Buttons in "Cinderella" at the Liverpool Empire Theatre. The pantomine will also feature Jennifer Ellison as Cinderella, and Cilla Black as the Fairy Godmother.

References

External links

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