Morecambe and Wise's tragic health battles before heartbreaking death on stage
Back in the days when there were only three TV channels, millions of Brits would tune into Morecambe and Wise every Saturday to be entertained by one of the most famous double acts to ever grace our screens.
We're talking about 1977, the days of black and white TV when The Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show on the BBC scored one of the highest ever audiences in British television history attracting more than 20 million viewers. Almost 40 years after the death of Eric Morecambe in 1984, we take a look at their fascinating story and tragic health woes that ended their partnership...
Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise pictured rehearsing for their Christmas show in 1973 (Mirrorpix)It may be four decades since Morecambe and Wise's last live appearance on TV but their comedy transcends generations and still lives on today. The pair made millions laugh with their fooling around and silly jokes like: "I always take my wife morning tea in my pyjamas, but is she grateful? . . . No, she says she'd rather have it in a cup". They were one of the most prominent comedy duos in British popular culture and were both appointed OBEs in 1976.
It all began in August 1940, when Ernie Wise met Eric Morecambe, then known as Eric Bartholomew, when they were both in the touring Jack Hylton show Youth takes a Bow. Eric took his stage name from his hometown, the seaside resort of Morecambe in Lancashire. They got on like a house on fire and Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise formed the double act Morecambe and Wise in 1941 which lasted until Eric's death in 1984.
Eric married Joan Bartlett in Margate Kent on Thursday, 11 December 1952 and they later had three children: Gail (born 1953), Gary (born 1956) and Steven (who was born in 1970, but whom they adopted in 1974). When he wasn't making people laugh, Eric was a keen birdwatcher - there's even a statue of him in Morecambe wearing binoculars.
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Meanwhile, Ernie met wife Doreen when she was 15 and married him six years later, sharing 46 happy years until his death in 1999, aged 73. She once disclosed why the pair never had children. "Ernie always said as soon as children are involved, the wife stays at home and that way trouble lies," she said. "He knew about the temptations of being on the road. And I knew that I could never have tolerated infidelity."
Doreen Wise and Joan Morecambe (Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror)Joan once disclosed how Eric and Ernie's friendship was genuine and extended beyond the stage. “They were very good friends indeed, I never knew them to fall out ever," she said. And the pair had a mischievous side both on and off camera, according to Eric's son Gary who has written a book about his famous dad called Forever in the Sunshine.
In it he reveals the boys were regularly thrown out of the cinema during Saturday matinees, because they would go to the front row of the circle with peashooters and fire peas at men with bald heads. Ironically, Eric's mother suggested they should form a double act.
In the book, Gary's sister Gail disclosed: "Nan told me that Dad and Ernie used to drive her mad on train journeys, fooling around, annoying or amusing the other passengers, and that out of desperation she said: 'If you boys can't stop mucking about, why don't you work on a double act of your own?"
Eric suffered health worries for several years. In 1967 while performing in Great Yarmouth, he wrote in is diary about a pain around his heart for four days. The following year he suffered a near-fatal attack while driving back from a gig to his hotel in Leeds. At the time, the comedian smoked 60 cigarettes a day and drank heavily.
He stopped smoking and drinking and cut back on work, and even became a celebrity spokesman for heart research. He suffered another attack in 1979 and underwent bypass surgery. The on Sunday, May 27, 1984 he performed at a charity show at The Roses Theatre in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. After performing six curtain calls, as the house tabs fell he stepped into the wings and collapsed from a third heart attack. This time it was fatal.
His widow, Joan, who was in the audience that night, revealed he would have been delighted that his comedy is still remembered decades after his death. "He used to say to me, 'I do hope we won't be forgotten," she said. "I do hope we will be remembered," and of course they have been remembered. He'd have been over the moon about that, he really would."
The Morecambe and Wise statue greets visitors at the start of a behind the scenes tour at Blackpool's Winter Gardens. (James Maloney/LancsLive)For Eric's son Gary, it was hard to accept that his father had died. "I think, on an unconscious level, we all expected a Harry Houdini return," he writes. "A triumphant reappearance somewhere unexpected, with a little smile and a tap of the famous spectacles: 'Evenin' all – I'm sorry I'm late. But that fooled you all, didn't it!"
Ernie died from heart failure and a chest infection on the morning of 21 March 1999. His wife Doreen died in 2018 aged 86 .As for Morecambe and Wise, they may be gone but they'll never be forgotten - the famous comedy duo have been immortalised in bronze in a statue at the entrance of the Blackpool Winter Gardens.
Forever in the Sunshine by Gary Morecambe, is published by Sphere and costs £25.
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