<Archive obituary> Dickie Henderson: a versatile performer
Michael Rhodes
<The Times, September 23, 1985>
<DICKIE HENDERSON>
<A Versatile performer>
Dickie Henderson, the comedian, died yesterday. He was 62 and had been
suffering from cancer.
Henderson was born into a theatrical family. His father, Dick
Henderson, was a rotund Yorkshire comedian who made the original hit
record of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips", and his sisters, the Henderson
Twins, were dancers. Dickie Henderson made his own debut at the age of
10. His father was touring America in vaudeville and Henderson was at
school in Hollywood when, in 1932, he was offered a role in the film,
"Cavalcade", playing the son of Clive Brook and Diana Wynyard.
He returned to Britain and further schooling and it was not until 1938
that he made his first appearance on the British stage, as an
"eccentric dancer". This was followed by many years in variety,
pantomime and review. He appeared in shows at the London Palladium,
the Princes Theatre and the London Casino.
As an actor he was in the 1955 production of "Teahouse of the August
Moon" which ran for 20 months at Her Majesty's.
Henderson became a national figure in the 1950s through television,
making his first appearance in 1953 in the Arthur Askey Show. For
several years he had his own show on ITV, a domestic comedy series in
which June Laverick played his wife. A neat, dapper man he combined
comedy with dancing and had a reprtoire of classic routines perfected
during his long apprenticeship on the variety stage. In one he became
hopelessly entangled in the microphone wire; in another he
impersonated an aspiring crooner, gradually becoming the worse for
drink.
The late 1950s and 1960s saw him at the peak of his popularity and
during that period he made several appearances in the Royal Variety
performance. After that his variety work declined and he concentrated
on dancing but he returned to comedy in 1977.
He is survived by his wife, Gwyneth, and two children.
PARA