Jerry Desmonde
| Jerry Desmonde | |
|---|---|
Desmonde (far right) as Sir Hector in A Stich in Time as he fends off an unwelcome intruder, Norman Pitkin, portrayed by Norman Wisdom (second from left)
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| Born |
James Robert Sadler 20 July 1908 Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, England |
| Died | 11 February 1967 (aged 58) London, England |
| Cause of death | suicide |
| Resting place | Golders Green Crematorium |
| Occupation | Musical theatre performer, comedy foil, presenter and game show host, film, TV and radio actor |
| Years active | 1946-1966 |
| Spouse(s) | Peggy Duncan (1930-1966) (her death) (2 children) |
| Children | Jacqueline & Gerald |
Jerry Desmonde (20 July 1908 – 11 February 1967) was an English stage musical, film, and television actor principally in comedies and drama. He is probably best known as a straight man to Norman Wisdom. He also worked as a comedy foil to Sid Field, notably in their 1946 Golfing sketch. He is sometimes credited as Jerry Desmond.
Jerry Desmonde was born James Robert Sadler in Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, into a family of music hall performers who toured the halls in Scotland, north-east England, and Yorkshire.
Sadler first appeared on stage at the age of 11 and later became part of his family's act The Four Sadlers. He built a career as a song and dance man in musical theatre and later toured parts of the United States in 1927-1928 with Beatrice Lillie and Noël Coward in the two-act revue This Year of Grace. By 1934 he had married Peggy Duncan and they toured as a double act called Peg and Jerry, largely in Scotland.
In the 1940s, Desmonde was briefly a straight man for Scottish comedian Dave Willis and in 1942 he was invited to be straight man for stage comedian Sid Field becoming one of the most celebrated comedy teams ever to appear on stage. They appeared together on stage in three very successful revues, Strike a New Note (1943) and Strike it Again (1944) and Piccadilly Hayride (1946) at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London and in two films, London Town (1946) an infamous flop, and in Cardboard Cavalier (1949). The two men next worked together on a stage play, Harvey at the Prince of Wales Theatre, from which Desmonde was ultimately sacked. In 1950 a few months later, during the play's run Sid Field died of a heart attack.
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