Leslie Crowther

Infobox Person
name = Leslie Crowther

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birth_name = Leslie Douglas Sargent Crowther [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19960930/ai_n14064781 Obituary: Leslie Crowther | Independent, The (London) | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ]
birth_date = birth date|1933|2|6|df=y
birth_place = West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire
death_date = death date and age|1996|9|29|1933|2|6|df=y
death_place = Royal United Hospital, Weston, Bath, Somerset, England
death_cause = Heart failure
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nationality = English
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occupation = Comedian, Actor, TV Presenter, Gameshow host
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spouse = Jean Crowther (née Stone)
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children = Lindsey & Elizabeth (twins), Caroline, Charlotte, Nicholas
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Leslie Crowther, CBE (6 February 1933, Nottingham – 29 September 1996, Bath) was an English comedian, actor and gameshow host.

Biography

Leslie Crowther was born in Nottingham. During World War II he was evacuated to a farm on the Isle of Bute in Scotland a few years. In 1943 he moved back to Nottingham, and two years later, he moved to London in 1945 with his parents just after the war ended. [ [http://www.bute-gateway.org/vday/butewar.shtml Bute's War] bute-gateway.org. Retrieved 1 February 2008.] His father, also called Leslie, was also an actor. In a strange coincidence, he died after sustaining injuries in a car crash.

Crowther had stage experience from the mid-1940s. Crowther attended Thames Valley Grammar School and married Jean Stone on 27 March 1954. They had five children. One of his daughters, Liz Crowther, is also an actor. He was a supporter of West Bromwich Albion F.C., and was particularly friendly with officials and players of the club during the Ron Atkinson era (late 1970s to early '80s).

Television career

Crowther made a name for himself in television in the 1950s, with appearances as presenter of such programmes as "The Black and White Minstrel Show", and later the long-running children's institution "Crackerjack" (with Peter Glaze) for the BBC, from 1960 to 1968.

From the 1970s, he also achieved fame as the face of "Stork SB Margarine" for which he appeared in a number of television commercials. In 1971 he made "The Leslie Crowther Show", a comedy sketch show, with three older comics, Arthur English, Chic Murray and Albert Modley ("Eee it's grand to be daft!") as the internal "rep" company. In 1972 and 1973 he appeared in a television sitcom called "My Good Woman" with Richard Wilson, Sylvia Syms and Keith Barron.

He was also the father-in-law of Thin Lizzy vocalist Phil Lynott who married his daughter on St Valentine's day 1980. Like his father before him, Crowther was also an alcoholic, battling the problem throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. On 14 November 1983 he was arrested for drunk-driving. Two weeks later he was fined, and banned from driving for nine months. This did not deter Crowther, who carried on drinking heavily but in October 1988 he turned up at a gala in Glastonbury drunk. This made him realise that he had a serious problem and needed help. Unlike five years earlier, his battle against alcohol addiction received much publicity. From January 1989 to 17 March 1989 Crowther was admitted to Clouds House, a drug and alcohol treatment centre in the Wiltshire countryside, near Shaftesbury. He never drank alcohol again after this.

Leslie Crowther is also remembered as host of the first British version of the popular game show "The Price Is Right", from 1984 to 1988, during which time his "Come on down!" catchphrase entered British television folklore. Crowther said in his autobiography that when "The Price is Right" was axed in the Spring of 1988, a few months before he gave up alcohol, the producers never bothered to contact him directly to inform him of their decision. He was also one of the many hosts of the ITV panel/game show "Whose Baby?" which he presented in the mid-1980's.

From 21 July 1990 he was host of the TV show "Stars in Their Eyes", hosting the first three series and was a popular president of the Lord's Taverners from January 1991 to December 1992. He was a huge cricket fan and had an apartment near London's Lord's Cricket Ground for many years.

The end of a career

Leslie Crowther's entire TV and stage career came was brought to a sudden end on the afternoon of 3 October 1992 on the M5 near Cheltenham, when he sustained serious head injuries in a car crash which nearly killed him. The precise cause of the accident is unlikely ever to be determined. Crowther previously had been very busy with Lord Taverners events and functions, and on 2 October had been to a dinner in Swansea. He then opened a few Allied Carpets stores in Birmingham on the morning of 3 October. It was speculated at the time that he fell asleep at the wheel and, as a result, his Rolls Royce car smashed into the central reservation and overturned several times. The weather at the time was very wet and windy, and perhaps the car skidded into the reservation barrier, with Crowther asleep. Alcohol was not the cause, as a breathalyser test ruled this out.

Crowther was able to tell the police his personal details including his home telephone number and what Warfarin tablets he was taking for his heart condition; he had been diagnosed with heart trouble three years before. In his autobiography, he claimed the stress of the media harassment over his alcoholism in late 1988 and early 1989 brought it on.

Crowther did not appear to be seriously injured, apart from being shaken up and sustaining a cracked bone in his neck. However, after being taken to Cheltenham general hospital, his condition deteriorated and he lapsed into unconsciousness. A brain scan revealed a blood clot had formed on the left-hand side of his brain. Crowther was taken to Bristol's Frenchay Hospital for brain surgery to remove the blood clot that evening. He almost died during the operation, which took four hours. On the Monday afternoon a further scan revealed another blood clot had formed on the same side of his brain. He underwent a second brain operation that lasted two hours and a Tracheotomy to help him breathe. Crowther remained in a coma for 17 days after the accident and was a patient in Frenchay Hospital until February 1993. He came home for the first time on 20 December 1992. Afterwards, Crowther underwent months of occupational therapy and physical therapy.

After the car crash

Crowther was awarded the CBE in the 1993 New Year's Honours list in recognition of his years of charity work and went to Buckingham Palace to collect it in July 1993. On 20 November 1993, he made his first TV appearance since his accident on The Royal Variety Performance, appearing alongside Cilla Black. He published his autobiography, "The Bonus of Laughter" in October 1994 and retired from showbusiness on 4 November 1994, recognising that "I wouldn't be able to do the things I've done again the way I would want to do it, and the way my fans expect". Five days after he retired, he appeared as the subject on "This Is Your Life" for the second time, having first appeared on 28 March 1973. Four months later, in March 1995 Crowther appeared as a guest on June Whitfield's "This is your life" episode, which was to be his final ever TV appearance.

Leslie Crowther died from heart failure on 29 September 1996 in the Royal United Hospital in Bath, at the age of 63, with his wife Jean and family at his side. He had lived near Bath from 1978, whilst maintaining a flat in London overlooking Lords Cricket Ground.

The 30 September 1996 episode of "Bruce's Price is Right", the Bruce Forsyth remake of Crowther's "The Price Is Right" was dedicated to Crowther at the request of Forsyth himself, according to the ITV continuity announcement before the programme. When paying tribute, Forsyth revealed that Crowther had written to him just over 12 months previously, congratulating him on obtaining the job of presenting the "Price Is Right", as it was relaunched on 4 September 1995.

References

External links

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* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19960930/ai_n14064781 Obituary]

Persondata
NAME = Crowther, Leslie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Comedian
DATE OF BIRTH = 1933-02-06
PLACE OF BIRTH = West Bridgeford, Nottinghamshire
DATE OF DEATH = 1996-09-29
PLACE OF DEATH = Royal United Hospital, Weston, Bath, Somerset, England