Norman Wisdom

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia   Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom  OBE  4 February 1915 4 October 2010 was an English actor comedian and singersongwriter best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring his hapless onscreen character Norman Pitkin These films initially made more money than the James Bond film series  and secured Wisdom a celebrity status in lands as far apart as South America Iran and many Eastern Bloc countries particularly in Albania where his films were permitted by Enver Hoxha Wisdom was the only Western actor to enjoy this privilege  Charlie Chaplin famously referred to Wisdom as his favourite clown  Wisdom later forged a career on Broadway and as a television actor winning critical acclaim for his dramatic role of a dying cancer patient in the television play Going Gently in 1981 It was broadcast on 5 June that year He toured Australia and South Africa  After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster a hospice was named in his honour  In 1995 he was given the Freedom of the City of London and of Tirana  The same year he received an OBE  Wisdom was knighted in 2000 and spent much of his later life on the Isle of Man Some of his later appearances included roles in Last of the Summer Wine and Coronation Street  and he retired from acting at the age of 90 after his health declined Description above from the Wikipedia article Norman Wisdom  licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia