Lionel Blair - Biography

Lionel Blair (born Henry Lionel Blair Ogus 12 December 1931, Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a British actor, choreographer, tap dancer and television presenter. He is the son of Myer Ogus and Deborah (Della) Greenbaum (Mother's name given as Brenner on FreeBMD). His father was a Russian barber; he changed the family name to Blair in his youth.

Early life

Blair came to Britain when he was one year old. His first public performances were with his sister Joyce (born 1932) in London Underground Station air raid shelters during World War II. He attended the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford in 1944, followed by London's West End. He gave up acting for dancing in 1947 although he subsequently appeared in the fringe production, "Out of the Blue" (Chichester) and "Who Killed Agatha' Christie" (national tour) amongst other acting credits.

Career

Blair's camp image came to the fore in the 1960s, when, with his dance troupe, he appeared on television variety programmes. He also appeared in films A Hard Day's Night and Absolute Beginners, cameoed in an episode of The Persuaders! and in television comedy, including the short film, The Plank. In addition, he choreographed films such as Jazz Boat (1960) and The Magic Christian (1969).

Blair is known for being one of the team captains on the gameshow Give Us a Clue from 1979 until the early 1990s and for being the second presenter of the British version of Name That Tune in the 1980s. His skills on Give Us A Clue are mocked in the introduction to Sound Charades on BBC Radio 4's similarly named comedy show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, normally by double entendre going over the top on Blair's camp persona. In one episode the host, Humphrey Lyttelton, introduced the game: "The expert's expert was, of course, Lionel Blair. Who could ever forget opposing team captain, Una Stubbs, sitting open-mouthed as he tried to pull off Twelve Angry Men in under two minutes?". On 29 January 2011, during the Radio 4 show "Saturday Live", hosted by Fi Glover, Blair said of the remarks on the show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue that "My wife hates it" and that he had honestly never heard the remarks on the programme himself until "now with the internet". Referring to the presenter, (the recently deceased Humphrey Lyttelton), he added "People say you should always speak good of the dead. He's dead - good." Blair said in the same interview that he thought that double-entendres about his sexuality were no longer made on ISIHAC (i.e. since Lyttelton's death). In fact, new presenter Jack Dee carries on the tradition with gusto.

Later career

For six years, Blair was a team captain on the BBC2 daytime news based quiz Today's the Day. In 2005, he was one of the celebrities taking part in the Channel Five reality series, The Farm. Blair appeared in the 2007 Christmas special of the Ricky Gervais show Extras, as himself, portraying the end-stages of his showbiz career by trying to keep up his profile by appearing on Celebrity Big Brother alongside Lisa Scott-Lee and X Factor contestant Chico. In July 2010 Lionel Blair appeared in the "Great British Dog Walks" feature on ITV1's "This Morning" with his dog Lola. In 2010 he took part in BBC's The Young Ones, in which six celebrities in their 70s and 80s attempt to overcome some of the problems of ageing by harking back to the 1970s. In December 2010 he appeared briefly in a sketch with Ronnie Corbett and Rob Brydon in BBC1's The One Ronnie.

Personal life

He is the brother of the late British actress Joyce Blair, with whom he sometimes appeared.

He was in the news in 2006 when his pet dog Florence was apparently kidnapped in Surrey. The cross-breed collie disappeared when Blair's wife took her for a walk in a park in Ewell near the couple's home. On 21 September 2006, Blair and comedian Alan Carr helped save a man about to fall from a pier in Blackpool. The man was holding on by his fingers.

Blair and wife Susan celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in March 2007. They have three children and two grandchildren.

Notes

• "Still clued-up after 60 years", The Post, 3 December 2008

External links

• Humphrey Lyttelton's Sound Charade introductions, which often feature Lionel Blair.
• Blair on Lyttelton, on Radio 4's Saturday Live (29 January 2011)
• Lionel Blair in the East End
• Lionel's appearance with dog Lola on ITV1's "This Morning" show