Jim Dale

Jim Dale, born James Smith on 15 August 1935 in Rothwell, Northamptonshire, England, is an actor, director, narrator, singer, and songwriter whose career has spanned stage, film, television, and recording across more than six decades. Educated at Kettering Grammar School, he trained as a dancer for six years before making his debut as a stage comic in 1951, becoming one of the youngest professional comedians in Britain at age 17. He subsequently completed two years of national service in the Royal Air Force.

Dale's earliest professional recognition came in music. At 22, he became the first pop singer to work with Parlophone head George Martin, recording the album Jim! in 1958 and placing four singles on the UK charts: "Be My Girl" (1957, No. 2), "Just Born (To Be Your Baby)" (1958, No. 27), "Crazy Dream" (1958, No. 24), and "Sugartime" (1958, No. 25). He also appeared as a presenter and performer on BBC Television's Six-Five Special during this period. Between 1957 and 1958, he served as compère for Stanley Dale's National Skiffle Contest, a touring music competition. As a songwriter, Dale earned nominations for both the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "Georgy Girl," the theme to the 1966 film of the same name, performed by the Seekers. The song reached number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, number three in the UK, and number one in Australia, ultimately selling over eleven million copies worldwide. He also wrote lyrics for the title songs of The Winter's Tale, Shalako, Twinky, and Joseph Andrews, and wrote "Dick-a-Dum-Dum (King's Road)," which became a hit for Des O'Connor in 1969.

In British film, Dale is widely recognized for appearing in eleven entries in the Carry On series, a long-running franchise of comedy farces. His involvement began with small parts in Carry On Cabby (1963) and Carry On Jack (1964), before expanding into principal roles from Carry On Spying (1964) onward. His first lead role in the series was Carry On Cowboy (1965), in which he played Marshall P. Knutt, an English sanitary engineer mistakenly hired as a police marshal. Subsequent entries included Carry On Screaming! (1966), Don't Lose Your Head (1966), Follow That Camel (1967), Carry On Doctor (1967), Carry On Again Doctor (1969), and Carry On Columbus (1992). Outside the series, Dale portrayed the young Spike Milligan in the 1973 film Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall, an adaptation of Milligan's autobiography in which Milligan himself played his own father. Dale received a BAFTA nomination for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles for that performance. He played Dr. Terminus in Walt Disney's Pete's Dragon (1977) and took on three characters, including both male leads, in the 1978 Disney comedy Hot Lead and Cold Feet.

Dale's stage career gained significant stature when Laurence Olivier invited him to join the National Theatre Company in London in 1970, then based at the Old Vic. At the Young Vic Theatre, he created the title role in Scapino, which he co-adapted with Frank Dunlop, and played Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. Earlier stage work included appearances as Autolycus in The Winter's Tale and Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Edinburgh Festivals in 1966 and 1967 for Frank Dunlop's Pop Theatre. In September 1995, he took over the role of Fagin in Cameron Mackintosh's Oliver! at the London Palladium.

Dale's Broadway career extended from 1974 to 2012, encompassing productions including Scapino (1974), Barnum, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1985), Me and My Girl (1986), Candide (1997), and The Threepenny Opera (2006), the last produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company, in which he played Mr. Peachum. He received five Tony Award nominations across his Broadway career, winning the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 1980 for Barnum. His Drama Desk Award wins include Outstanding Actor in a Musical in 1980 and Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical in 2006. For Scapino (1974), he received a Drama Desk Award, an Outer Critics Award, and a Tony Award nomination. A Day in the Death of Joe Egg earned him an Outer Critics Award and a Tony Award nomination, while The Threepenny Opera brought him a Drama Desk Award, an Outer Critics Award, the Richard Seff Award, and a Tony Award nomination. The Road to Mecca is also among his Broadway credits.

Off-Broadway, Dale's credits include Privates on Parade (1989), Travels with My Aunt (1995), for which he received a Drama Desk Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, and an Outer Critics Award, Comedians (2003), and Address Unknown (2004). He played Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at the Theater at Madison Square Garden from 28 November to 27 December 2003, and in November 2006 starred as Charlie Baxter in a one-night concert version of the Sherman Brothers musical Busker Alley alongside Glenn Close, a benefit for the York Theatre Company held at Hunter College in New York City. His one-man show, Just Jim Dale, opened on 15 May 2014 at the Roundabout Theatre Company's Laura Pels Theatre, earning him his fifth Outer Critics Circle Award and his fifth Drama Desk Award, before transferring to the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End in May 2015.

On television, Dale starred in the ABC series Pushing Daisies from 2007 to 2009. His other television credits include hosting BBC's Six-Five Special (1957), ITV's Thank Your Lucky Stars (1965–66) and Join Jim Dale (1969), and Sunday Night at the London Palladium (1973), as well as appearing in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1986) for American Playhouse on PBS, The American Clock (1993), and The Bill Cosby Show (1998). As a narrator, Dale recorded the US audiobooks for all seven novels in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, a body of work for which he won two Grammy Awards.