Keith Harris (ventriloquist)

Born in Lyndhurst, Hampshire on 21 September 1947, and near Chester (where he attended a secondary modern school). From age nine Harris appeared on his father Norman's knee as a "dummy" in his ventriloquist act. Harris was severely dyslexic at school and in 2014, he claimed that his dyslexia had cost him millions of pounds because of his inability to read contracts accurately. == Career ==

Harris began creating ventriloquism characters as a teenager. After appearing in summer seasons at holiday resorts, he had spots on the television series ''Let's Laugh (1965). Harris became a popular act on television variety shows, and following a spell as the host of The Black and White Minstrel Show, was given his own show called Cuddles and Company''. He appeared several times on BBC TV's long-running show The Good Old Days. Harris' best known creation, Orville the Duck, came about after he saw some green fur lying around backstage at a performance of The Black and White Minstrel Show in Bristol. Harris recorded "Orville's Song", written by Bobby Crush. It made Number 4 in the UK singles chart in 1983 and sold 400,000 copies. It was later voted the worst song ever recorded. The Keith Harris Show ran on Saturday evenings on BBC1 from 1982 to 1986 and a series for children The Quack Chat Show (1989–90) also on BBC1. Alongside his continued pantomime performances, from the late 1990s Harris and Orville also enjoyed what The Stage described as a "long Indian summer" as they re-emerged on television in a new "era of knowing post-modern irony". Banzai and The Weakest Link (2004). In 2002, he was the subject of a Louis Theroux documentary When Louis Met... Keith Harris. ==Later years==

However, the end of Harris's television show coincided with a period when television was "turning away from variety acts". He became an auctioneer on Bid TV and also appeared in an episode of the first season of the children's television programme The Slammer (2006). According to The Guardian, this renewed attention "established a new cult status for Harris and Orville and triggered a small comeback"; he appeared in Ashes to Ashes (2009) and Shameless (2011), in student unions (with his more adult show, Duck Off), and performed to the housemates in Celebrity Big Brother (2012). ==Personal life==

Harris lived with his fourth wife (married in 1999), Sarah Metcalf, and his two youngest children (born in 2000), in Poulton-le-Fylde, where he converted the local cinema and bingo hall into a jazz nightclub called "Club L’Orange". Illness and death In 2013, Harris had his spleen removed and chemotherapy after a cancer diagnosis. He subsequently returned to work. The cancer returned in 2014. He died at Blackpool Victoria Hospital on 28 April 2015, at the age of 67. ==Legacy==

In Harris's obituary in The Stage, Michael Quinn noted that "For more than a decade, ventriloquist Keith Harris was one of the biggest stars in light entertainment... Together, the saccharine-sweet avian [Orville], acerbic simian [Cuddles] and Harris as straight man and stooge were one of the most high-profile acts of the 1980s". Quinn also pointed out that this popularity faded after that decade, but that Harris nevertheless remained appreciated by audiences until his retirement. The Telegraph, however, remarked that the 2002 Louis Theroux documentary exposed a "darker side" of Harris, "a nervous, edgy man who kept telling rotten jokes" and who struggled to forgive past slights against him. In the same documentary Harris said of Orville that he had "created a monster ... Everybody knows Orville, not everybody knows Keith Harris", but also recognised that the bird had not "burdened" him and had contributed towards his success. ==Discography==

Albums • At the End of the Rainbow (1983) – UK No. 92 Singles • "Orville's Song" (1982) – UK No. 4 • "Come to My Party" (1983) – UK No. 44 • "White Christmas" (1985) – UK No. 40 ==References==