Freddie Davies a brief biog:
Freddie's amazing career has taken him from the tough working men's clubs of the North East of England for thirty shillings a night (£1.50) to the Royal Shakespeare Company. Seasons at the famous London Palladium with Cliff Richard, television shows with the legendary Judy Garland, touring the world with his stand up comedy act and counting among his many fans the late film idol Cary Grant. In a career spanning over 50 years in show business he has seem the demise of the music halls, variety dying along with the night club circuit during the sixties and seventies.
Born in Brixton, Freddie was an evacuee in 1940 and after several stops along the way and a family tragedy his family settled in Salford, Lancashire in 1941, where he stayed until his National Service call up in 1956 resulted in him being ensconced into the Royal Army Pay Corps for two years. On demob in 1958, Freddie applied for and became a famous Butlin Redcoat alongside budding comedians Dave Allen. Jimmy Tarbuck and Mike Newman. He stayed with Butlins honing his craft until 1963 after which he developed the character which was to become a national favourite ‘Mr. Parrotface' With just one appearance on Opportunity Knocks on August 1st 1964 Freddie was an overnight success, the rest being show business history as Freddie went on to become one of the UKs best loved comedy characters appearing in over 500 Television and Radio shows with his unique stand up routine. His act is still acknowledged today after more than 60 years as a professional comedian.
His grandfather, music hall and variety comedian Jack Herbert, toured the country playing in revue and variety until the late fifties and much of Freddie's knowledge and experience was gained by studying many of the great performers of the day from the privileged position of the stage wings. This wonderful grounding and knowledge of the business was invaluable in the development of his future performances. Years later his memory and first hand experience was very useful in forming the basic story line idea and original premise for the critically acclaimed Disney film Funnybones, in which Freddie co-starred with Jerry Lewis, Leslie Caron, Oliver Reed and newcomer, Lee Evans.
An acting career always seemed inevitable but it was not until 1992, after spell in the U.S.A that Freddie was taken seriously as an actor. He has appeared in many television drama series including Casualty, Heartbeat, Preston Front, Hetty Wainthrop investigates, Band of Gold, Medics, Micky Love, Last of the Summer Wine and two series of Harbour Lights. His recent appearances have been as a special guest on My Family the series Born and Bred and Sensitive Skin.
On Stage Freddie has starred in several successful nation-wide theatre tours more recently in the stunning RSC production of The Secret Garden at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon followed by a run in London's West-End at the Aldwych Theatre.
Freddie's appearance as a talking portrait in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban film brought fan letters from a new world wide audience.
Freddie now lives in North Yorkshire with his actress partner Lisa David and Dottie a spoilt King Charles spanniel.
Recently Freddie has become the face of McDonalds in France with a T/V commercial called ‘Grand Papa’
Freddie’s recent acclaimed Biography ‘Funny bones, My life in Comedy’ is still selling well throughout the world