Des O'Connor

Early life

O'Connor was born in Stepney, East London to Maude (née Bassett) and Harry O'Connor. His mother was Jewish and his father was from Ireland, O'Connor had a Bar Mitzvah. O'Connor had a brother William O'Connor and a sister, Patricia. He was evacuated to Northampton during the Second World War and was briefly a professional footballer with Northampton Town.

After completing his National Service in the Royal Air Force, he worked as a shoe salesman at Church's in Northampton, and for United Counties, both on the road and in the office, before entering show business. Before his break in television, his first theatre appearances were in variety, where he appeared in venues throughout the country.

Career

On stage, O'Connor starred at the Glasgow Empire, MGM Grand, Las Vegas, the Opera House, Sydney and the O'Keefe Centre, Toronto, and made more than 1,000 solo appearances at the London Palladium.

O'Connor also worked with many famous people, from rock and pop stars, actors and TV performers, to politicians, princes, to luminaries such as Frank Sinatra, Adam Faith, Sean Connery, Liberace, the Beatles, Shirley Bassey, Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Cilla Black, Tony Blair and members of the Royal Family. Des pretended to faint at the Glasgow Empire theatre to get off the stage early as the audience was less than impressed by his act.

He has toured with Buddy Holly (during Holly's 1958 stay in Britain) and Jason Donovan.

O'Connor was the first subject of the second incarnation of the long-running television programme This Is Your Life, when the show returned to screens after a five-year absence, produced by Thames Television. He was surprised live on the stage of the London Palladium by Eamonn Andrews in November 1969.

In late 2011, O'Connor starred in Dreamboats and Petticoats at the Playhouse Theatre.

In May 2012, O'Connor replaced Russell Grant in the West End musical, The Wizard of Oz, at the London Palladium, as Professor Marvel, Doorman at the Emerald City, Tour Guide, and The Wizard.

In 2015, O'Connor and Jimmy Tarbuck starred in their own one-off show at the London Palladium to raise money for the new Royal Variety Charity. Due to the success of this show, they toured the country in 2016 from April to October. The venues they visited were (in chronological order), Southampton Mayflower Theatre, Leeds Grand Theatre, Southend Cliffs Pavilion, Bristol Hippodrome, Bournemouth International Centre, and Milton Keynes Theatre.

O'Connor also continued to tour theatres around the UK with his one-man show.

Television

O'Connor has starred in a mainstream television show in almost every year since 1963, a feat that only one other television personality has achieved worldwide (US game show host Bob Barker, who hosted mainstream television shows from 1956 until 2007, with 1966–1972 being in syndication).

Between 1963 and 1971, O'Connor hosted The Des O'Connor Show, a British variety show for eight series on ITV. This was followed by Des O'Connor Entertains, a show which ran for two series between 1974 and 1976 and featured singing, dancing and comedy sketches.

Between 1977 and 2002, O'Connor presented his own chat show series entitled Des O'Connor Tonight which lasted for seven series on BBC Two and later seventeen on ITV.

From 1992 to 1998, O'Connor presented the game show Take Your Pick.

In 1995, 1996 and 1997, O'Connor compèred the Royal Variety Performance.

On 20 January 2001, ITV aired An Audience with Des O'Connor.

From 2002 to 2006, O'Connor co-hosted Today with Des and Mel opposite Melanie Sykes. The show was a live afternoon light entertainment programme aired on ITV. On 12 May 2006, the channel announced that the show would be one of a number to be axed in a "painful, but utterly necessary" move.

On 2 January 2007, O'Connor replaced Des Lynam as co-presenter of the Channel 4 game show Countdown with Carol Vorderman. He left the show in 2008 to spend more time on theatre and entertainment-based projects. Vorderman also left the show. In 2009, O'Connor was replaced by sports presenter Jeff Stelling.

On 8 April 2012, Paul O'Grady hosted The One and Only Des O'Connor, a one-off show that celebrated O'Connor's 80th birthday, with guests including Katherine Kelly, Olly Murs, Robert Lindsay and Melanie Sykes contributing on ITV.

Guest appearances

O'Connor appeared as a guest on The Morecambe and Wise Show a number of times. He was the butt of many a joke by Morecambe, being referred to as "Des – short for 'desperate", and "Death O'Connor". One line, sung to the tune of "Crazy Words – Crazy Tune" was, "Roses are red, violets are blue, Des can't sing, we know that's true!".

On 4 May 2012, O'Connor took part in the TV game show Would I Lie to You?.

On 3 December 2012, O'Connor was invited to celebrate 100 years of the Royal Variety Performance with Bruce Forsyth, Ronnie Corbett and Jimmy Tarbuck.

On 20 December 2012, O'Connor partnered Lee Mack in a celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.

On 21 December 2013, O'Connor appeared in a celebrity edition of The Chase.

On 11 October 2014, O'Connor was a panellist on an episode of Through the Keyhole.

Singing

O'Connor has had a successful career as a singer, recording 36 albums, five of which reached the Top 40 of the UK Albums Chart. O'Connor always took criticism in good humour, even appearing with Morecambe and Wise on their 1975 Christmas Show in a sketch that mocked him. He got his own back on the 1976 Christmas Show when he was in the firing squad at the end of the main sketch.

In 1969, thirteen of O'Connor's variety hours were sold to NBC in the United States, as a summer replacement for the network's Kraft Music Hall. This series was broadcast in more than forty countries and was seen by 200 million people worldwide.

Awards and honours

In 2001, O'Connor was presented with the Special Recognition Award at the National Television Awards for his contributions to television.

He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.

Personal life

O'Connor married four times:

1. Phyllis Gill (married 1953, divorced 1959)
2. Gillian Vaughan (married 1960, divorced 1982)
3. Jay Rufer (married 1985, divorced 1990)
4. Jodie Brooke Wilson (married 23 September 2011)

He had five children: Karen with Phyllis Gill; two daughters, Tracy and Samantha, with Gill Vaughan; one daughter with Jay Rufer; and one son, Adam, with Jodie Wilson. O'Connor received some criticism for having his fifth child (Adam) later in life. Of this he said, "Happily, though, I'm not experiencing that at the moment. I had people saying I was selfish. But what's selfish about that? How can you say to a woman you've been with for 15-odd years, 'No, I've got four and we're not having any more?'. That would be selfish."

Compilation albums