Overview

Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom OBE, born on 4th February 1915, Marylebone, London, England, UK, was an English actor, comedian and singer-songwriter best known for a series of comedy movies produced from 1953 - 1966 featuring his hapless onscreen character, often named Norman Pitkin. Wisdom was awarded the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles in 1953, following the release of Trouble in Store, his first picture in a leading role. He had celebrity status in South America, Iran and many Eastern Bloc countries, especially Albania, where his movies were the only ones featuring Western actors permitted by dictator Enver Hoxha, having also toured Australia, Rhodesia and South Africa. Charlie Chaplin once referred to Norman as his "favourite clown". He later had a career on Broadway in New York City and as a TV actor, receiving critical acclaim for his dramatic role of a dying cancer patient in the TV play Going Gently during 1981. After the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, a hospice was named in Wisdom's honour then he was given the Freedom of the City of London and of Tirana in 1995, being appointed OBE that same year, before receiving a knighthood during 2000.