Dawson, Les

▪ 1994

      British comedian (b. Feb. 2, 1934, Collyhurst, near Manchester, England—d. June 10, 1993, Manchester), was a stand-up comic and television personality whose dour, misanthropic humour was reminiscent of W.C. Fields but reflected his own northern England working-class origins. His sardonic put-downs were most often aimed at mothers-in-law, bosses, and other figures of everyday authority that his appreciative audiences could take delight in ridiculing. Dawson was the son of a struggling Manchester bricklayer and left school at the age of 14. After drifting through a series of jobs, he moved to Paris to try his hand at writing; instead, he got into show business—playing piano in a brothel. Back in England he played in working-class clubs, where he found he could make people laugh with his bawdy remarks and barbed retorts to hecklers. He became a hit on radio and on such television programs as "Opportunity Knocks," "Blackpool Night Out," his own long-running "Sez Les," "The Les Dawson Show," and the often inane quiz show "Blankety Blank." Occasionally Dawson acted in plays, most notably in a 1991 BBC production of the Argentine farce Nona. He also wrote several novels, and his autobiography, A Clown Too Many, was published in 1985.

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