Marty Feldman
| Marty Feldman | |
|---|---|
Feldman in 1969
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| Born |
Martin Alan Feldman 8 July 1934 London, England |
| Died | 2 December 1982 (aged 48) Mexico City, Mexico |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Occupation | Actor, comedian |
| Spouse(s) | Lauretta Sullivan (m. 1959–82, his death) |
| Awards | BAFTAs: Best Light Entertainment Performance 1968 Marty Best writer 1968 Marty |
Martin Alan "Marty" Feldman (8 July 1934 – 2 December 1982) was a British comedy writer, comedian, and actor, easily identified by his bulbous and crooked eyes. He starred in several British television comedy series, including At Last the 1948 Show and Marty, the latter of which won two BAFTA awards. He was the first Saturn Award winner for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Young Frankenstein.
Feldman was born on 8 July 1934 in the East End of London, the son of Jewish immigrants from Kiev, Ukraine, Cecilia (née Crook) and Myer Feldman, a gown manufacturer. He recalled his childhood as "solitary".
A BBC documentary explained that an unsuccessful surgery for his Graves' disease resulted in his eyes protruding (exophthalmos) and being misaligned (strabismus). Leaving school at 15, he worked at the Dreamland funfair in Margate, but had dreams of a career as a jazz trumpeter, and performed in the first group in which tenor saxophonist Tubby Hayes was a member. Feldman joked that he was "the world's worst trumpet player." By the age of 20, though, he had decided to pursue a career as a comedian.
Although his early performing career was undistinguished, he became part of a comedy act--Morris, Marty, and Mitch--that made its first television appearance on the BBC series Showcase in April 1955. Later in the decade, Feldman worked on the scripts for Educating Archie in both its radio and television incarnations with Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe.
In 1954, Feldman first met Barry Took while both were working as performers, and with Took he eventually formed an enduring writing partnership which lasted until 1974. They wrote a few episodes of The Army Game (1960) and the bulk of Bootsie and Snudge (1960–62), both situation comedies made by Granada Television for the ITV network. For BBC radio they wrote Round the Horne (1964–67), their best-remembered comedy series, which starred Kenneth Horne and Kenneth Williams. (The last season of Round the Horne in 1968 was written by others.) This work placed Feldman and Took "in the front rank of comedy writers," according to Denis Norden.
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