One Blair down

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One Blair down

Post by macliam » Thu Nov 04 2021 11:18pm

Henry Lionel Ogus, better known as Lionel Blair, has died, aged 92.

Although there is speculation about his sexuality, Blair married Susan Davis at Kensington Register Office on 21 March 1967, with Bernie Winters as best man - he was 38, she was 21. They had 3 children, one of whom, Lucy, is an actress.

If you've never seen it, have a look at THIS (Royal Variety Performance, 1961, with Sammy Davis Jr.)
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Re: One Blair down

Post by blythburgh » Fri Nov 05 2021 9:16am

A wonderful entertainer and a great dancer. And proof you cannot tell someone's sexuality by their mannerisms. 100% straight in his case but others who are obviously straight are 100% gay.

Thanks for all the entertainment you have given us over the years, Lionel. Not always my choice of music but I could see the talent
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Re: One Blair down

Post by macliam » Fri Nov 05 2021 11:14am

Not my choice of entertainer and a bit of a luvvie, but undoubtedly talented and self-taught. As said, his camp demeanour perhaps gave incorrect signals of his sexuality, but that happened (and happens) on both sides of the equation....

You might have guessed his jewish heritage (Bernie Winters was his Best Man) - but who knew he was Canadian? He also kept his age under wraps for a long time......
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Re: One Blair down

Post by blythburgh » Sat Nov 06 2021 9:06am

I agree with you, macliam. He was a great performer but as he was the same person in real life I do not think he was someone I would want to spend a lot of time with.

I did not guess his Jewish heritage but then never bothered to look at his Wiki page etc. Why should I want to check if any famous person is Jewish or not? Totally irrelevant to me most of the time
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Re: One Blair down

Post by macliam » Sat Nov 06 2021 12:03pm

blythburgh wrote:
Sat Nov 06 2021 9:06am
I agree with you, macliam. He was a great performer but as he was the same person in real life I do not think he was someone I would want to spend a lot of time with.

I did not guess his Jewish heritage but then never bothered to look at his Wiki page etc. Why should I want to check if any famous person is Jewish or not? Totally irrelevant to me most of the time
I'd agree, as I said, just the fact that Bernie Winters was his Best Man left me unsurprised that he had jewish roots - but the fact he was born in Canada was a bigger surprise., because it seemed an unusual move for his parents to emigrate to Canada and then move back to Europe.
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Re: One Blair down

Post by Luke_PieStalker » Sun Nov 07 2021 9:09pm

I liked the story that came out about old Lionel - he was working a show somewhere and every night he would go out to eat at a restaurant and would pay the waiter to call him on the phone after about 15 minutes.

After this happened repeatedly, Lionel was asked - why do you do that?

With a wry grin & after checking nobody else was listening, he simply replied "Thats Showbiz".

Rip Lionel.
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