Biography
This page uses content from the Jim Dale biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.
Jim Dale MBE (born James Smith on August 15, 1935) is an English actor singer and songwriter who is best known for his roles in the Carry On films. He was born in Rothwell, Northamptonshire.
Career
Music career
He wrote the song "Dick-a-Dum-Dum (King's Road)," which became a minor hit for Des O'Connor in 1969, and his lyrics for the movie theme Georgy Girl were nominated for an Academy Award in 1966. The song (performed by The Seekers) reached number 1 in the US charts the following year. Several of his songs entered the UK singles chart including "Be My Girl" (1957), "Just Born" (1958), "Crazy Dream" (1958) and "Sugartime" (1958). As a singer he became the first artist under the wing of the now legendary recording genius Sir George Martin who produced many hit records for him.
Film career
Dale appeared in eleven of the Carry On films, generally playing the romantic lead. He was in the noted silent short film The Plank, and played the young Spike Milligan in the film version of Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall. He also appeared in Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World, which also featured Milligan. He also had success as a comic villain in the Disney films Pete's Dragon and The Spaceman and King Arthur aka Unidentifed Flying Oddball.
Stage career
Jim Dale is an accomplished stage actor, in both straight and musical roles, who has been nominated for four Tony Awards, winning one for Barnum. He is the narrator of the American edition of the Harry Potter audiobooks, and also the Harry Potter DVDs. In 2006, Dale performed on Broadway (at Studio 54) in the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of The Threepenny Opera, as Mr. Peachum. He became “The Toast of Broadway” (N.Y.Times), when he created the flamboyant title role in the now world famous Cy Coleman musical "Barnum" winning him the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award. At the age of eighteen he became the youngest professional comedian in Britain, touring all the great Variety Music Halls.
In 1970, at the request of Laurence Olivier, he joined the British National Theatre as a leading actor. Over the next two years he appeared in Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Merchant of Venice, The National Health, The Good Natured Man, The Captain of Kopenick, and a two hander play with Anthony Hopkins, The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria. 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. His other West End theatre credits include The Wayward Way, The Card, A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Winters Tale, and most recently the part of Fagin in Cameron Mackintosh’s Oliver! at the London Palladium.
His Broadway successes include Scapino (Drama Desk Award/Outer Critics Award/Tony Award Nomination), Joe Egg (Outer Critics Award /Tony Award Nomination). Me And My Girl and Candide (Tony Award Nomination). Other credits Off-Broadway include Travels With My Aunt (Drama Desk Award / Lucille Lortel Award / Outer Critics Award), Privates On Parade, The Taming of the Shrew, The Invisible Man, The Music Man, Comedians (Drama Desk Award nomination and a Lucille Lortel Award nomination), A Christmas Carol – The Musical, Address Unknown and Three Penny Opera (Drama Desk Award / Outer Critics Award / The Rchard Seff Award and a Tony Award nomination). In November, 2006 Dale starred as "Charlie Baxter" in the Sherman Brothers' musical, Busker Alley alongside Glenn Close.
Voice work
To millions of children Jim Dale is the voice of Harry Potter. He has recorded all six books in the Harry Potter series, and as a narrator he has won the Grammy Award 2000, four Grammy Nominations, seven Audie Awards including “Audio Book of the Year 2004”, “Best Narrator 2004/2005/ 2006,” “Best Children’s Audio Book 2005,” two Benjamin Franklin Awards and seven Audio File Earphone Awards. He is also holds two Guinness World Records. One for having created and recorded 134 different character voices for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and for occupying the first six places in the Top Ten Audio Books of America 2005.
Personal life
Dale was awarded an MBE in 2003 for his work in promoting English children’s literature
He has lived in New York since 1980. He was married to Patricia from 1957 until their divorce in 1977. They had 4 children. In 1980, he married Julia Schafler, the owner of Madison Avenue’s prestigious “Julie: Artisan’s Gallery”.
External links
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify the biographical information on this page under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.
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