Widow(er) Shopping

[YoungWillz 19,100]

12 minutes ago, maryportfuncity said:

 

 

So, who gets the most famous comedian's widow title now

 

I'm thinking that's a question that depends on whether you think Paul Daniels was funny, as well as a magician

 

Dunno.

 

If you think Bruce Forsyth was funny, there's a widow knocking around, a beauty queen no less. I don't really know about celebrities and their families, mind, avid readers of celeb mags and the society pages may help.

[time 7,969]

I don't know the answer to mpfc's question, but I do know it's not Cassie, the widow of Mike Winters, as she died in April 2022.

[Octopus of Odstock 1,861]

4 hours ago, maryportfuncity said:

 

 

So, who gets the most famous comedian's widow title now

 

I'm thinking that's a question that depends on whether you think Paul Daniels was funny, as well as a magician

 

 

Is the question, who is the person who had the most famous partner, or is it who is the most famous widow/widower?

If the latter:

Jeffrey Durham

David Sherlock

Judy Loe

 

If the former:

The widows of Sean Lock and Rik Mayall would likely live for a while yet 

 

[Ulitzer95 11,086]

Some popular deceased British comedians and their spouses:

Barry Cryer OBE 1935–2022
Theresa Donovan b. 1932 <--- definitely still with us, unveiled a memorial to him lately

Bernard Manning 1930–2007
Veronica Finneran 1929–1986

Bob Monkhouse OBE 1928–2003
Elizabeth Thompson b. c. 1927 <--- covered by the media in 2001 when their son died, I think there's a good chance she's still alive
Jacqueline Harding 1935–2008

Charlie Williams MBE 1927–2006
Audrey Crump 1937–1999
Janice Greener (now remarried as Janice Brown)

Dave Allen 1936–2005
Judith Stott 1929–2010
Karin Stark b. 1963

Dudley Moore CBE 1935–2002
Suzy Kendall b. 1937
Tuesday Weld b. 1943
Brogan Lane b. 1955
Nicole Rothschild b. 1964

Eric Morecambe OBE 1926–1984
Joan Bartlett 1927–2024

Eric Sykes CBE 1923–2012
Edith Milbrandt 1925–2018

Ernie Wise OBE 1925–1999
Doreen Blythe 1930–2018

Frank Carson 1926–2012
Ruth Campbell 1927–2015

Sir Harry Secombe CBE 1921–2001
Myra Atherton 1924–2017

Janet Brown 1923–2011
Peter Butterworth 1915–1979

Jim Bowen 1937–2018
Phyllis Owen b. c. 1937

John Bird 1936–2022
Ann Stockdale b. 1943
Bridget Simpson b. 1948
Libby Crandon 1946–2012

John Fortune 1939–2013
Susan Waldo 1930–2006 <--- took me ages to crack this one... turns out she was a Yank. Obit here.
Emma Burge b. 1959

Sir Ken Dodd OBE 1927–2018
Anne Jones b. 1942

Les Dawson 1931–1993
Margaret Plant 1937–1986
Tracey Roper b. 1951

Michael Bentine CBE 1922–1996
Marie Barradell 1919–2010
Clementina McCall 1927–2020

Mike Reid 1940–2007
Shirley Collins 1936–2019(?) <--- There is a Shirley E. Reid b. 1936, d. 2019 in Devon that COULD be her, though they don't seem to have a Devon connection. She looked frail at his funeral in 2007.

Norman Wisdom 1915–2010
Doreen Brett 1923–2017
Freda Simpson 1928–1992

Peter Butterworth 1915–1979
Janet Brown 1923–2011

Peter Cook 1937–1995
Wendy Snowden b. c. 1939
Judy Huxtable b. 1942
Chiew Lin Chong 1945–2016

Peter Sellers 1925–1980
Anne Howe 1930–1982
Britt Ekland b. 1942
Miranda Quarry 1947–2020
Lynne Frederick 1954–1994

Ronnie Barker OBE 1929–2005
Joy Tubb 1932–2011

Ronnie Corbett CBE 1930–2016
Anne Hart 1933–2023

Sid James 1913–1976
Berthe Delmont 1911–1976
Meg Sergei 1913–1977
Valerie Assan 1928–2022

Spike Milligan KBE 1918–2002
June Marlow (aka June Marchini) 1929–2018
Patricia Ridgeway 1934–1978
Shelagh Sinclair 1944–2011

Terry-Thomas 1911–1990
Ida Patlansky 1902–1983
Belinda Cunningham b. 1941

Tim Brooke-Taylor OBE 1940–2020
Christine Wheadon b. 1940

Tommy Cooper 1921–1984
Gwen Henty 1920–2002

Tony Hancock 1924–1968
Cicely Romanis 1930–1969
Freddie Ross MBE 1930–2022

Happy to add more names if anyone has any suggestions or wants me to look through records, but only deceased comedians and lets cap it at born 1940 or before 

[Master Obit 331]

20 minutes ago, Ulitzer95 said:

 

Norman Wisdom 1915–2010
Doreen Brett 1923–2017
Fred Simpson 1928–1992
 

 

I never knew Norman Wisdom was that way inclined 

[Ulitzer95 11,086]

5 minutes ago, Master Obit said:

 

I never knew Norman Wisdom was that way inclined 

Changed to Freda. The annoying thing about doing these lists is they're time consuming as it is, so I type them out quickly.

[Master Obit 331]

Just now, Ulitzer95 said:

Changed to Freda. The annoying thing about doing these lists is they're time consuming as it is, so I type them out quickly.

It could be worse. A male friend of mine failed to notice that his phone had autocorrected "thank" to "wank" and consequently sent me a message that he had "a lot to wank me for"

 

He's never actually made good on it, even though I have attempted to redeem it numerous times.

[Master Obit 331]

@Ulitzer95 I think Shirley Collins was 1937 instead of 1936. Ancestry seems to suggest 1937.

[Spade_Cooley 9,022]

36 minutes ago, Ulitzer95 said:

Mike Reid 1940–2007
Shirley Collins 1936–2019(?) <--- I THINK I found her in the death records. Shirley E. Reid b. 1936, d. 2019 in Devon. I can't connect her or Mike to Devon though? She looked frail at his funeral in 2007 so I imagine it's her

 

IMDB has helpfully confused her with the folk singer of the same name (unless someone decided to interview Mike Reid's widow in between David "Ram Jam" Rodigan and Goldie). 

 

Anyway, Reid, his son and his granddaughter (who both pre-deceased him) are all buried close together at St Mary the Virgin Churchyard in Essex, so there's presumably a family plot? The cemetery is still interring bodies, but FIndAGrave (not a perfect resource obv) doesn't mention anyone called Collins or with the first name Shirley buried there in the past decade.

[Ulitzer95 11,086]

2 minutes ago, Master Obit said:

@Ulitzer95 I think Shirley Collins was 1937 instead of 1936. Ancestry seems to suggest 1937.

I would dispute that.

Birth record here. Born as Shirley E. Allder in 1936, then became Shirley E. Collins, then finally Shirley E. Reid.

No?

[Spade_Cooley 9,022]

Right, this might help: here's one of those YouTube guys who wander around cemeteries and read out Wikipedia entries of famous people. Last year he went around Mike Reid's resting place:

 

 

 

And if we take a screengrab of the money shot:

 

 

Someone has left a "My Husband" memento on the stone. So unless Reid's ghost has an erotomania enthusiast, I think we can say Shirl's alive.

[Master Obit 331]

1 minute ago, Ulitzer95 said:

I would dispute that.

Birth record here. Born as Shirley E. Allder in 1936, then became Shirley E. Collins, then finally Shirley E. Reid.

No?

 

I stand corrected - my own fault for not being more thorough - I'd failed to account for the original change. Apologies.

[Ulitzer95 11,086]

1 minute ago, Spade_Cooley said:

 

IMDB has helpfully confused her with the folk singer of the same name (unless someone decided to interview Mike Reid's widow in between David "Ram Jam" Rodigan and Goldie). 

 

Anyway, Reid, his son and his granddaughter (who both pre-deceased him) are all buried close together at St Mary the Virgin Churchyard in Essex, so there's presumably a family plot? The cemetery is still interring bodies, but FIndAGrave (not a perfect resource obv) doesn't mention anyone called Collins or with the first name Shirley buried there in the past decade.

Yeah, I found the plot on FindAGrave. I searched for her on there, and you're correct in saying she isn't on there. Though I'm not sure when that was last updated. Her death was more "recent". I'm still convinced it's her, I just can't work out why she died in Devon.

[Ulitzer95 11,086]

2 minutes ago, Spade_Cooley said:

Right, this might help: here's one of those YouTube guys who wander around cemeteries and read out Wikipedia entries of famous people. Last year he went around Mike Reid's resting place:

 

 

 

And if we take a screengrab of the money shot:

 

 

Someone has left a "My Husband" memento on the stone. So unless Reid's ghost has an erotomania enthusiast, I think we can say Shirl's alive.

Hmmmmmmmm.... allllright you've convinced me. I'll edit the post slightly from likely dead to possibly dead.

[Master Obit 331]

3 minutes ago, Ulitzer95 said:

Hmmmmmmmm.... allllright you've convinced me. I'll edit the post slightly from likely dead to possibly dead.

 

It definitely could be her - Shirley E Allder registered in Q1/1936, and the Shirley Eileen Reid who died in 2019 was born 10/03/1936. 

[Ulitzer95 11,086]

7 minutes ago, Master Obit said:

 

It definitely could be her - Shirley E Allder registered in Q1/1936, and the Shirley Eileen Reid who died in 2019 was born 10/03/1936. 

Yeah I still think it's her. Just appeasing the masses  

[Ulitzer95 11,086]

1 hour ago, Ulitzer95 said:

Terry-Thomas 1911–1990
Ida Patlansky 1902–1983
Belinda Cunningham b. 1941

Just added Terry-Thomas to the list.

Not somebody who I ever in a million years thought would have a living spouse!

[time 7,969]

Dave Allen? His (second) wife gave birth to his son three months after Allen's death in 2005, and was reportedly 42 then.

[Sinbabad 826]

Chryssie Lytton Cobbold, widow of Baron David Lytton Cobbold, has died aged 83.