Tommy Steele
Entertainer Tommy Steele (1936) was Britain's first teen idol and rock 'n roll star. His cheeky Cockney image and boy-next-door looks won him success as a musician, singer and actor.
Tommy Steele was discovered by manager Larry Parnes, who believed Steele could be Britain's answer to Elvis Presley. Most of Steele's 1950's recordings were covers of American hits, such as Singing the Blues and Knee Deep in the Blues. Singing the Blues got to Number 1 in the British pop charts on 11 January 1957. And on film he played his Cockney self in such teen comedies as The Duke Wore Jeans (1958, Gerald Thomas) and Tommy the Toreador (1959, John Paddy Carstairs).
During the 1960's Tommy Steele progressed to a career in stage and film musicals, leaving behind his pop idol identity. He appeared in films including Light Up the Sky! (1960, Lewis Gilbert) and in the West End in the title role of Hans Christian Andersen. He recreated another London - and Broadway - stage role in Half A Sixpence (1967, George Sidney) and played character roles in The Happiest Millionaire (1967, Norman Tokar) and Where's Jack? (1969, James Clavell), although many critics found his personality to be somewhat overwhelming on screen. In Finian's Rainbow (1968, Francis Ford Coppola), co-starring with Petula Clark and Fred Astaire, he had his best known appearance in the movies. His one-man show, An Evening with Tommy Steele, ran for fourteen months in 1979-1980 and is in the Guinness Book of Theatre Facts and Feats as "the longest running one-man show in West End history”. In 1983, he directed and starred in the West End stage production of Singin' in the Rain and in 2003-2005 he had a triumphant return on the stage as Ebenezer Scrooge in Scrooge: The Musical.
Sources: IMDb and Wikipedia.
Tommy Steele
Entertainer Tommy Steele (1936) was Britain's first teen idol and rock 'n roll star. His cheeky Cockney image and boy-next-door looks won him success as a musician, singer and actor.
Tommy Steele was discovered by manager Larry Parnes, who believed Steele could be Britain's answer to Elvis Presley. Most of Steele's 1950's recordings were covers of American hits, such as Singing the Blues and Knee Deep in the Blues. Singing the Blues got to Number 1 in the British pop charts on 11 January 1957. And on film he played his Cockney self in such teen comedies as The Duke Wore Jeans (1958, Gerald Thomas) and Tommy the Toreador (1959, John Paddy Carstairs).
During the 1960's Tommy Steele progressed to a career in stage and film musicals, leaving behind his pop idol identity. He appeared in films including Light Up the Sky! (1960, Lewis Gilbert) and in the West End in the title role of Hans Christian Andersen. He recreated another London - and Broadway - stage role in Half A Sixpence (1967, George Sidney) and played character roles in The Happiest Millionaire (1967, Norman Tokar) and Where's Jack? (1969, James Clavell), although many critics found his personality to be somewhat overwhelming on screen. In Finian's Rainbow (1968, Francis Ford Coppola), co-starring with Petula Clark and Fred Astaire, he had his best known appearance in the movies. His one-man show, An Evening with Tommy Steele, ran for fourteen months in 1979-1980 and is in the Guinness Book of Theatre Facts and Feats as "the longest running one-man show in West End history”. In 1983, he directed and starred in the West End stage production of Singin' in the Rain and in 2003-2005 he had a triumphant return on the stage as Ebenezer Scrooge in Scrooge: The Musical.
Sources: IMDb and Wikipedia.