This wasnt unrestrained hyperbole. Instead, Baxter told Moira he could no longer live with her. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images . He left for a theatre tour of Australia in a Brian Rix farce, leaving his wife behind. Im not. Baxter is appearing on a charges of. Fine, I said. I dont know if you got it? Waiting around outside the entrance to the flats where he lived was making me feel like a burglar casing the joint. Stanley Baxter is arguably the funniest man and one of the most fetching women in Britain. Their relationship was fraught with difficulty Williams called it a very shaky ship but it was underpinned by deep affection. Young was cagey, preferring to ring Baxter before he would talk to me. 'I'm too afraid of what people will think of me,' he said. She would go off to our bedroom and let me take the one opposite.'. . He said, Oh well, if you did I should just follow you. One last piece for the Independent on Sunday, The Invisible Man: Searching for the Reclusive Stanley Baxter. There was also a tiny quote from Baxter in the Times of November 1992, about how the role of Principal Boy should only be played by a woman: All those frills. It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse. He has a talismanic quality that makes people feel hes very much in touch with their lives, and then suddenly, out he zooshes looking really rather sexy. When he stopped doing TV spectaculars, we were told that everybody had an eye on the clock because the clock meant money. Your Trusted Advocate. And then he met Moira, this soft-spoken chic young woman with the Bette Davis eyes. On December 23, 1950, Williams made another note in his diary: 'Stanley wrote to say he is going to marry Moira. Then one night she invited me for my favourite spaghetti up to her little rented flat at 65 Clouston Street and I was seduced back into bed again., The appetite sated, Stanley reckoned the only way to break off the relationship once and for all was to be entirely honest with Moira. Wait and see, was the answer. It wasnt like theatres of today, which are heavily populated with gay people. He is an actor and writer, known for Crooks Anonymous (1962), The Fast Lady (1962) and The Stanley Baxter Moving Picture Show (1974). The star, who is best known for his self-titled comedy shows and his childrens TV series Mr Majeika, stepped away from the spotlight 25 years ago. So: a legend. The charges were dropped, on condition that Baxter promised not to sue the police for wrongful arrest. Just to talk to a faithful hand that takes all the chaff and grain together, keeps whats worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blows the rest away. . Stanley had to move out, he says, for the sake of his own sanity. Dressed in a sailor suit, his hair tonged in waves, he did impersonations of Laurel and Hardy, and Mae West. By that time, I had so many tender feelings for her, he explains. Yes I did, and I spoke to you through my agent. but hes never done one. Im not giving any interviews at the moment. An edge in his voice. Nobody would tell me. Meet Alyssa Carson. With silk gloves up to his armpits and a tiara, he announced himself as the Duchess of Brendagh and delivered a Christmas message that talked of the Queen Mum as a priceless antique. Yes! He had to get on with it, focus on finishing the last 10 days of the panto season and his last 10 days at the Citz. No, for the reason I just gave. As spring approached, Stanley saw even more of the woman with the hooded eyes, even taking her along to his parents home at 5 Wilton Mansions in Glasgow's Kelvinside. We are doing this to improve the experience forour loyalreaders and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. He was happy to talk about the Scottish approach to pantomime, with its emphasis on storyline and tradition, but declined to talk about Baxter as a person. 'Anybody else would have gotten rid of me but she was devoted. London. Back home again, Baxter joined the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, a fine company with aspirations to form a Scottish national theatre. For a nation still mourning the loss of Eric Morecambe, Baxter another survivor of the gentler, pre-television days of variety theatre seemed ready to succeed to the title of Britains Favourite Comedian. Fair enough. He had moved past me to the door, and said good-bye as he shut it. Why? The star, who is best. How? Hes offered stage plays and everything all the time, but he doesnt want to lock himself into eight performances a week for six months, you know? Helen Wright, 67, and Moira. Whatever changes come into society, they have already learnt discretion. The book also details the turbulent period in his life when he arrested on suspicion of soliciting sex in a north London public toilet in 1962. Express. A life without stress you cannae whack it! Lara Clark, who said she was terribly sorry, but she couldnt show me round: the RAC liked to keep a low profile. He is now out of the public eye, but appeared in ITV special Stanley Baxter: Now and Then in 2008 and Channel 5 documentary Comedy National Treasures: Stanley Baxter in 2019. Im a character actor. She is the. If there was one place where he could still feel at home, it was the world of Scottish pantomime. Stanley confesses that he is not comfortable with his sexuality to this day. It is that he has carefully, precisely and often cruelly embodied the particular woman herself. Stanley Livingstone Baxter (born 24 May 1926) is a Scottish actor, comedian, impressionist and author. Robertson is regarded as one of the top Family Law attorneys in Oklahoma. But it was because I knew I'd made the biggest mistake of my life.. WHERE do you start, with only a name to go on? No mention of his wife, Moira, though. Television doesnt work like that: budgets and budgets. This was the defining moment of Stanleys life. Baxter would tell the whole truth, on condition that it remained a secret. But had Moira truly leapt at the idea of leaving Glasgow and friends and family behind? She's just 18 years old and has already started her astronaut training to be the first person to walk on Mars in 2033. Scots who never visit a theatre for the rest of the year still find their way to the panto, where the scenarios and jokes have the familiarity of ritual. Liked by Moira Robertson. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. So I asked if he was aware that there had been a piece in the Sun over the summer, calling for Baxter to come back to television. Pull out the pin, and its every man for himself. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please This is it, I thought, suddenly breathless. I didn't think that she was ever going to make it very big and I suggested she give it up. Instead, he was arrested. This would be no life for you, married to someone who is essentially and primarily a homosexual.'. Yet he was, and is, missed: in England, as the funniest man on television; in Scotland - where they take panto very seriously - as the greatest dame of the century: a master of the double entendre and the quick, stunning costume-change. Tanned and fit-looking, straight-backed, with his broad face exactly as it was on the television years ago, eyes that were calm but curious, and slightly sparkling. Offer price valid until 06/11/2020. They included women, from Shirley Bassey to, later, the Princess of Wales, each precisely observed. Er, or something like it. ' Friends suddenly shunned him, fearful of guilt by association. His act was so daring that he was probably the first TV comedian to impersonate the Queen. There are many gay people these days who are fairly comfortable with their sexuality, fairly happy with who they are. In January 1962, he visited the public toilets in Madras Place, Holloway, hoping to pick up a man for casual sex. . 'She told me she was hearing voices,' Baxter says. In 1970, with The Stanley Baxter Show a huge BBC hit, he moved out of their house and took the apartment in Highgate Village that would be his refuge for the rest of his life. Moira didn't ever leap anywhere, he says softly. 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I dont deserve it, I know, but if anyone can help me at this dreadful period, it is him, Williams wrote before leaving home. It was the future Carry On star Kenneth Williams, also barely out of his teens but playing an old man in a CSE production. After a meal with Baxter in October 1969, Williams wrote: At one point when I said to S. I sometimes feel I am so useless I just want to die. "There are many gay people these days who are fairly comfortable with their sexuality, fairly happy with who they are. I still don't. So he decided that rather than cut his cloth down because hes not a stand-up Channel 4 comedian, is he? 'If you can sing, dance, play a musical instrument or whatever,' the announcement read, 'please apply'. Those who didnt want to be troubled with it could simply take it at face value. You know, the same sort of thing as Kenneth Williams. Shall we say affinity, I asked? I still dont. It was partly a feeling of I'll show them, that I could be as heterosexual as the rest of them.. I have been writing for the Independent on Sunday for more than 20 years, but the edition that appears on Sunday will be the last. 2023 Getty Images. Stanley Baxter is one of my all-time favourites, he said. I was apprehensive about getting involved for all the obvious reasons. She was only using the gate to rest. She was desperate for a baby, something Baxter refused to contemplate. ', To pacify her, Baxter promised they would marry, if she would consent to wait a year. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. 'Silly boy,' the actor noted pithily in his diary. Stanley explained he had tender feelings for Moira but agreeing to continue the relationship was real weakness on my part. She was far more bohemian than me.' Fixated,' he says. It was a dark day. He took her passport, to prevent her from trying to follow him. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. After all, she was with the man she adored. A tabloid, of course, would not be interested in the finer nuances of relationships, and one can understand why Baxter might have preferred to keep such matters to himself. We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse. Not at all? Stanley was up for the challenge. Its such hard, hard work. Im not being naughty, but no. Yet there is one celebrity who has bucked the trend. I began to be scared someone else would do better than me on stage, and my mother would clatter me.'. Its simple and has the few things I need warmth, decent light for reading, a gramophone and a TV if I wish to view. Bingo! Anyone would be insane to choose to live such a very difficult life.' Williams believed Stanley to be taking advantage of Moira and a traitor to the cause. Just to be with. The veteran Glaswegian actor reveals in his new biography The Real Stanley Baxter, written with his approval by Brian Beacom, that his wife of 45 years Moira Robertson knew about his sexuality and he brought men home with her blessing. When his friend Kenneth Williams's diaries were published posthumously in the early Nineties, he fought a legal battle to ensure nothing about his sex life was printed. It was a gloomy place, full of old men moving in slow motion and staring into space. Baxter had married Moira Robertson, an actress at the Citizens Theatre, in the early Fifties. She was 69 years old. He died aged just 26 and Stanley was heartbroken. There was no biography, and no memoir; just a few intriguing references to be found in the published diaries of his close friend Kenneth Williams. Stanley managed to survive the threat to his career just and Moira, as expected stood by her man. Once again, the gates around Baxter had been locked. THE LEAVES on the pavement were being sucked upwards by the cold wind, or turned to mush by rain. So funny that hes disappeared. He went on: Thankfully Moira was very understanding. A Scottish national treasure. Certainly not Kenneth Williams: 'I remember sitting with him in an Italian restaurant, and telling him that I was very low. Chic, with hooded eyes, Moira could have been Bette Davis's younger sister. In London, Stanley found immediate success with TV satire On The Bright Side. He adds that he only agreed not to break things off when she threatened to jump out the window of their flat. Did Bessie Baxter have any idea of Stanleys true sexuality? This girl finally gets to head back to work soon! Ill be calmer tomorrow. See the complete profile on LinkedIn and discover Moira's connections and jobs at similar companies. Millionen hochwertiger Bilder, Videos und Musiktracks warten auf Sie. 'I couldn't put up with very long periods of not being with men,' he says frankly. He had his chance to make a clean break, to move on alone. LWTs press officer had never even heard of him, but promised to investigate. A nice, professional no. Yes, as a 14-year-old hed had a frolic with the maid (despite living in a West End tenement Bessie Baxter insisted upon live-in help) but this was an entirely new adventure. Stanley knew he was gay. A porter at the club confirmed that the comedian did swim in the pool most days. But immediately afterwards she was so sorry.'. Other cuttings described him as practically a recluse. You can tell Ive talked to the press before, cant you? I didn't want to know, but gradually I was falling in love.'. Hes always quite pernickety about who hell speak to, which is why I dont want to say too much about him at the moment. Later that week, Marcus visited her they got on well and found her nursing a dying pigeon by the fire. What would the neighbours think? One of Scotland's greatest comedians has come out as gay but admitted: "I never wanted to be, I still don't." Stanley Baxter, 94, said that he and his wife, Moira Robertson, knew that he was. Stanley asked the same question of himself but pushed the answer aside. 'I'm not. In the book, Stanley admits he hid his sexuality throughout his career and explained he initially decided to end his relationship with Moira when she told him she wanted to get married. There was a sort of obsession.. In terms of countries? . I was utterly overwhelmed. A lot of people are interested in this. But the question is also intriguing: how could someone who once inspired such affection slip from the public gaze so completely, in so short a space of time? Many weeks later, I was browsing for biographical material on someone else when I came across an old copy of Whos Who In Television, with an entry on Baxter. Exclusively representing clients who are going through a divorce and . Stanley was bringing the values of a different time and place into a world that had changed. But although the urgency had gone, the curiosity remained. 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What else did I expect? . IN MARCH 1952, 26-year-old Stanley Baxter, recognised as the brightest young star in the Citizens' Theatre Company, made a decision that was to shock his parents, stun his close friend Kenneth. Bringing businesses together in the emerging, disruptive technology space across; FinTech, Quantum Technologies and Quantitative Trading Technologies through face to face and virtual meetings and events. And Stanley noticed her little eccentricities, her remoteness, her rejection of life's boring rituals of cleaning, cooking, washing laundry, had become more pronounced. They were married for 46 years, This year, he changed his mind. For decades he has hated to venture out: 'I didn't want to be seen as someone who was once Stanley Baxter,' he says. She talked of killing herself, but he was shocked when a friend called round to find the front door wide open and Moira in the bath, the water crimson with blood. She was very good about letting them go to bed with me. I never wanted to be gay. Carrying a plastic shopping bag. What could he do? My mother didnt think any woman was good enough for me [Bessie Baxters principal purpose in life was to grow a showbiz star] but there was more to her criticism of Moira. Everythings being raked around in here ready for Christmas. ', Stanley was terrified. He met Moira daily for lunch. But a fellow member of the club in Pall Mall, which costs up to 500 a year, confirmed that Baxter was frequently there. One more try. Exasperated, his ITV television bosses told him they could no longer afford his extravaganzas. A wee'un would surely have grown up with problems and taken drugs.'. We hope you've really thought about how important it is., And I said nonchalantly, Oh, not nowadays. Yes. She became disruptive. They went on a trip to Amsterdam together in 1964, although Williams who described their sitting in clubs with a load of poofs returned to Britain early. It was the one and only time she had ever reacted in this way. Perhaps that is why hardly anyone noticed when, after 1985, he left the television spotlight altogether, just as the glare was getting hotter. But she did mention several times there was something wrong with Moira, that her emotional balance wasn't quite right. 'I liked her,' Baxter says. Baxter reveals he spent his entire career hiding his sexuality and discussed the impact it had on his relationship with his wife Moira Robertson, who died in 1997, In the book, he says he. Certified Fellow since 2006. Daring that he was probably the first TV comedian to impersonate the.... He lived was making me feel like a burglar casing the joint a. The cause could be as heterosexual as the rest of them later, the gates around Baxter had married robertson! Is he have any idea of Stanleys true sexuality, hoping to pick up a man himself! Tv spectaculars, we were told that everybody had an eye on the pavement were being sucked upwards the. 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