Gay men up and down the UK lived in constant fear of having their careers and lives wrecked. Can I call you tomorrow, then, to see if youve changed your mind? In a 1963 entry, Williams described Baxter as disarming, honest, charming and hilariously funny all at once. Baxter is appearing on a charges of. But there was no chance of a reconciliation. Say goodbye? Stanley came out of retirement in 2008 to record a retrospective special about his life for ITV. It was so long ago, the production team was disbanded straight after the last show, and theres nobody left here who worked on it. Baxter began his career as a child actor on BBC Scotland and later became known for his British television comedy shows The Stanley Baxter Show, The Stanley Baxter Picture Show, The Stanley Baxter Series and Mr Majeika . A stage smile. But it was a whole new experience. Client stories Our approach Blog FAQs Contact us Feel the value of financial planning First-class financial planning for people who strive for more. . Well, you, really. But he hadnt been in that afternoon. Kenny thought I was making a terrible mistake, says Stanley. And the sex was fine not rockets going off or anything.. Organisieren, kontrollieren, verteilen und messen Sie alle Ihre digitalen Inhalte. I was just ringing for you. This was going nowhere. It had been run over in the street. Fixated,' he says. Stanleys marriage to Moira became difficult over the next few years, as she struggled with mental health issues and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Look, his shows cost a fortune partly because it takes them so long to change and do make-up and so on. We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This was Angus Lennie, once the chef in Crossroads. ' Friends suddenly shunned him, fearful of guilt by association. He saw Moira frequently, but the fractured marriage was always difficult. His last was Mother Goose, at the Kings Theatre, Glasgow, in 1991. Comments have been closed on this article. By then, he had fallen in love for the first time. But Stanley couldnt contain his sexual frustrations. He lived in dread of being exposed in the press as a gay man. . A Gannett Company. This was the defining moment of Stanleys life. Hier knnen Sie Inhalte sammeln, auswhlen und Anmerkungen zu Ihren Dateien hinterlegen. . He said, Oh well, if you did I should just follow you. Bill had girlfriends, but he spent almost all his spare time at the Baxter house, sitting in Stanley's bedroom and talking till the small hours about art and philosophy, 'until we fell asleep, exhausted'. She became disruptive. Instead, he withdrew from the showbiz world. . Finally, I realised that I would have to let Stanley Baxter rest in peace. It was in CSE that Baxter met openly gay men for the first time. Moira tried to take her own life on two occasions. He says now that he'd known for years that he found men more attractive than women, because at the Saturday morning cinema club he could not take his eyes off the half-naked Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan, rather than Maureen O'Sullivan's Jane. He is an actor and writer, known for Crooks Anonymous (1962), The Fast Lady (1962) and The Stanley Baxter Moving Picture Show (1974). There are many gay people these days who are fairly comfortable with their sexuality, fairly happy with who they are. Writer and broadcaster, Interviewer of the Year for the Mail, winner of Radio Academy gold with BBC Radio 4. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com. Offer price valid until 06/11/2020. Television doesnt work like that: budgets and budgets. I explained a great part of the problem was Moira. And Stanley noticed her little eccentricities, her remoteness, her rejection of life's boring rituals of cleaning, cooking, washing laundry, had become more pronounced. There was to be no further co-operation. I had never written anything longer than a thousand words for publication before, but Richard helped me through and opened the door to a career as a feature writer, for which I am extremely grateful. It was a relief. If I wanted a closer look at him it would have to be on my television on 4 January. He took an immediate shine to Baxter. Young was cagey, preferring to ring Baxter before he would talk to me. Too short-sighted for active Army service, he was afraid of being assigned to the merchant navy and the Atlantic convoys, but instead he was ordered to report to the coal pits, as a 'Bevin Boy' one of the conscripted mine workers. Stanley Baxter as the Pantomime Dame in "Jack and the Beanstalk" at the King's Theatre, Glasgow. I wondered if I could have a word? Just let me ask you one thing. She recovered in hospital and wrote to her husband, insisting, 'I'll never do something so foolish again.' Retirement, at the relatively early age of 63, was total. So he wouldnt talk to a newspaper, even over the phone? He went. Moira didn't ever leap anywhere, he says softly. His heart raced as he rushed towards her and pulled her back. He said lots of theatrical things about how marvellous it had been to work with Baxter, with whom he still corresponded from time to time. But by that time he was established as a television comic with his own show, in which he played a series of characters rather than himself. She danced too in the gardens in Highgate Village, naked. Moiras death left Stanley bereft. You need a knowledgeable advisor and determined advocate. Hes never done a chat show in his life. Possibly even liberation is distasteful, because it encourages people to come out and make features of themselves, whereas your social and sexual life should be, as Noel Coward had it, behind closed doors. He divulged: "I couldn't put up with very long periods of not being with men. Stanley explained he had tender feelings for Moira but agreeing to continue the relationship was real weakness on my part. He is an absolute control freak, said the critic Mary Brennan. OK. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. Not him, then. (this was eventually broadcast on Radio 2 earlier this week). Chic, with hooded eyes, Moira could have been Bette Davis's younger sister. He has now returned with his new biography, The Real Stanley Baxter, in which he speaks candidly about his life. Stanley Baxter specials became vanishingly rare: one at Christmas 1976, the next at Easter 1979. He had recorded a radio version of Compton Mackenzies book, Whisky Galore! And as the years progressed, the medicated Moira and Stanley became close again. And then my impulse to pick up the trail again received further encouragement, when, out of the blue, one of the many former associates of Baxter with whom I had placed calls finally decided to ring me back. Still smiling, though. Er, or something like it. Me, said David White. So: Mr White hadnt been having me on Baxter did live in London, then. 'Thankfully Moira was very understanding. My names Cole Moreton, from the Independent on Sunday. And it worked. There was a sort of obsession.. 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. The last panto was in 1991, wasnt it? His lawyer managed to get the charge dropped but the incident left him in fear for his acting career. . He later recalled trying to use his scripts to hide hands encrusted with coal dust, an early indication of the self- consciousness that was to become as ingrained as the coal.Invalided out of the mines with an ear problem, Baxter joined the left- wing Unity Theatre in Glasgow. Express. . In an extract publicised by The Scotsman, Stanley said he tried to split from Moira, who died in 1997, when she wanted to get married. And there he was, coming up the steps to the door. I wrote you a letter. Baxter would go. How would I know what he looked like? 'I was going to top myself,' he says. That would seem to indicate that there might be a return at some point, even just a one-off? Thats a difficult question. She punched me and my glasses flew off. But although the urgency had gone, the curiosity remained. I sat on the edge of the bed and sobbed my heart out, he admits. Hes having a holiday with his wife, Moira. Stanley Baxter as panto dame May 1985:Baxter was desperately unhappy, his personal life a battlefield as he constantly lived in dread of being exposed in the press as a gay man. Baxter appeared alongside Jimmy Logan and Rikki Fulton in extravagantly-produced shows with Ziegfeld-scale sets and dancing girls, but also made his first BBC television appearance in 1951. I couldve hugged him. Other entries in the diary recall Baxter speaking of a desperate clinging to privacy and the rejection of a potentially hostile world. Baxter himself often spoke of wanting to die. Yes. Once stardom had been achieved, he limited his television appearances and won an unusual amount of power over how they were made. Of all those stories, it is hard to imagine anything more sad than this one. 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. The comments below have been moderated in advance. He relished the opportunity to live in pristine order, with a housekeeper to keep the place spotless. Can you just tell me, finally, what city he lives in? There's no doubt about that. 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. And since that time he hasnt been able to surrender the thought had he not married the fragile, vulnerable woman she may have lived more of a happy life. 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