Friday, October 15, 2010

Saying 'goodbye' to Sir Norman Wisdom

I was very sad to hear that Norman Wisdom died last week. Norman Wisdom was an English comic actor who was especially popular in the 1950s/1960s. I used to watch him a lot on TV as a young girl. We always used to say my dad looked like Norman Wisdom...he even had a cap like the one Norman wore as his character 'Norman Pitkin'.

I have never been into slapstick comedy so I was never a great fan of Norman's comedy work. But looking back, I can see what an amazing actor he was. I became a fan of Norman as a 'straight' actor when I saw him in a TV show about a cancer patient "Going Gently".

His death means another link to my childhood is broken.

4 comments:

moira stephens said...

Yes - I understand your comment re broken links to childhood. I didn't paricuarly find him funny but I think that he and others of his time are components of a familiar part of my habitus. They are components of something, an embodied story which is a tale of growing up... or something. I felt similar about the passing of red telephone boxes (no disrespect meant to Norman) but they are human and objective symbols of a time passed. And now I feel I am in a fridge magnet saying "Oh my God I have turned into my mother"!!
PS thank you for your kind comments on my blog - that piece was more about catharsis on a particularly lonely, miserable day! I almost deleted but it seemed to be doing something (good) for me by remaining!

Sarah Stewart said...

I know what you mean about red letter boxes. I felt the same when I heard that Tony Curtis had died. It feels like the old familiar and safe things are going...

I wonder what the "Norman Wisdom" equivalent will be for my kids.

PS: We all turn into our mothers at some stage, don't we :):)

sebastian Panakal said...

Empathy, compassion or a shared experience?, I don't know. I felt sad, reading it.

May be, I am growing into my father.

Sarah Stewart said...

Rajettan: Is turning into our parents a good or bad thing?