Victor Spinetti

Spinetti worked between 1929 and 2012 across television actor, film actor, stage actor, writer and comedian and 4 further recorded occupations. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

Victor Spinetti studied at Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and Monmouth School. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is acting, film and theatre. Places of work recorded in the authority are Wales. Distinctions recorded are Theatre World Award.

• Name — Victor Spinetti • Birth Name — Vittorio Giorgio Andre Spinetti • Born — 2 September 1929 • Birthplace — Cwm, Wales • Died — 19 June 2012 • Place of death — Monmouth, Wales • Occupation — Actor, author, poet, raconteur • Education — Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama • Partner — Graham Curnow (1953–1997; Curnow's death) • Years Active — 1961–2012 • Relatives — Henry Spinetti (brother)

Vittorio Giorgio Andre Spinetti was born on 2 September 1929 in Cwm, Monmouthshire, of Welsh and Italian descent from a grandfather who was said to have walked from Italy to Wales to work as a coal miner, just to earn enough money to buy a plough. His parents, Giuseppe and Lily (née Watson), owned the chip shop in Cwm, over which premises the family lived and where Spinetti was born. Spinetti was the eldest of six, and his youngest brother, Henry (born 1951), is a session drummer. Spinetti was educated at Monmouth School and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, of which he later became a Fellow. It was at the college that Spinetti met actor Graham Curnow, who became his life partner.

Before finding roles in acting, Spinetti worked as a waiter and factory worker. He recalled singing in London pubs in the 50s, and working as a paint sprayer to afford his rent. Spinetti started at Dhurjati Chaudhury's Irving Theatre Club on Irving Street, off Leicester Square, London.

• Illustration — Spinetti directing the premiere of Hair in Amsterdam, 1969 Spinetti's work in Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop produced many memorable performances including Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be (1959, by Frank Norman, with music by Lionel Bart), and Oh, What a Lovely War! (1963), which transferred to New York City and for which he won a Tony Award for his main role as an obnoxious Drill Sergeant. He appeared in the West End in The Odd Couple (as Felix); in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in the West End; and as Albert Einstein in a critically lauded performance in 2005 in a new play, Albert's Boy at the Finborough Theatre. He launched his own one-man show of witty reminiscences, A Very Private Diary, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. One of Spinetti's most challenging theatre roles was as the principal male character in Jane Arden's radical feminist play Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven, which played to packed houses for six weeks at the Arts Lab on Drury Lane in 1969. In 1980, he directed The Biograph Girl, a musical about the silent film era, at the Phoenix Theatre. In 1986, he appeared as Fagin in the musical Oliver!, which was the last professional production to use Sean Kenny's original stage design. He appeared on Broadway in The Hostage and The Philanthropist, and also acted in 1995 with the Royal Shakespeare Company, in such roles as Lord Foppington in The Relapse and the Archbishop in Richard III, at Stratford-upon-Avon, although this was not a happy experience for him. Spinetti co-authored In His Own Write, the play adapted from a book by John Lennon with the Beatle which he also directed at the National Theatre, premiering on 18 June 1968, at the Old Vic. Spinetti and Lennon appeared together in June 1968 on BBC2's Release. During the interview, Spinetti said of the play, that "it's not really John's childhood, it's all of ours really, isn't it John?" to which Lennon replied, assuming a camp voice, "It is, we're all one Victor, we're all one aren't we. I mean 'what's going on?'" Spinetti described the play as being "about the growing up of any of us; the things that helped us to be more aware". He also directed Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair, including productions staged in Europe. His many television appearances on British TV, include Take My Wife in which he played a London-based booking agent and schemer who was forever promising his comedian client that fame was just around the corner, and the sitcom An Actor's Life For Me. In 1999 Victor Spinetti played in a Jim Davidson Adult Pantomime of Babes in the Wood (Boobs in the Wood) as Friar Tuck, who had been taking weed. He had been told by The Sheriff of Nottingham (Jim Davidson) to kill his niece and nephew, who were escaped convicts (one of them played by Kenny Baker). In September 2008 Spinetti reprised his one-man show, A Very Private Diary, touring the UK, as A Very Private Diary... Revisited!, telling his life story.

From 1968 to 1969, Spinetti was a cast member of the Marty Feldman sketch show It's Marty, which was written by Barry Took, with contributions by John Cleese, Michael Palin and Graham Chapman, members of Monty Python as well as John Junkin, who appeared with Spinetti in A Hard Day's Night. In 1969 and 1970, Spinetti appeared on Thames Television, alongside Sid James, as one half of Two in Clover over two series. A sitcom about two office workers who jack it all in to become farmers, he starred in all but one of the 13 episodes. His absence in episode No. 3 of the second series was covered by fellow Welsh actor Richard Davies, playing Spinetti's character's brother. In the 1970s, Spinetti appeared in a series of television advertisements for McVities' (now United Biscuits) Jaffa Cakes, as "The Mad Jaffa Cake Eater", a turbaned, Middle-Eastern style character who rode a bicycle and surreptitiously stole and ate other people's Jaffa Cakes, prompting the catchphrase "There's Orangey!" He hosted Victor's Party for Granada. In 1979, he voiced Mr. Tumnus in the USA dubbed version of the 1979 animated adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as well as voice directing for the film. (Spinetti was also the voice of Shift the ape in the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre adaptation of The Last Battle.) Later he voiced arch villain Texas Pete in the popular S4C animated TV series SuperTed (1982–84) and narrated several Fireman Sam audiobooks. In 1988 he appeared alongside Paul Scofield and Mary Steenburgen in The Attic, a World War Two drama about Anne Frank. In 1992, he voiced the King of the Rats in the British children's animated programme Tales of the Tooth Fairies (in the episode The Stolen Present) on BBC, produced by Welsh animation company Calon, formerly Siriol Productions. In 1995, he appeared in the "Finger" episode of the comedy series Bottom, with Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson, as Audrey the Maître d'hôtel. He also starred in the 1999 DVD film Boobs in the Wood with Jim Davidson. From 2000 to 2002, Spinetti played Max, the 'man of a thousand faces', in the children's TV programme Harry and the Wrinklies, which also starred Nick Robinson in the title role.

• Spinetti appears in This Is Your Life. • 1985: The "All I Need Is a Miracle" music video by Mike and the Mechanics as the club owner.

Spinetti's poetry, notably Watchers Along the Mall (1963), and prose appeared in various publications. His memoir, Victor Spinetti Up Front...: His Strictly Confidential Autobiography, published in September 2006, is filled with anecdotes and personal insights into life with the Beatles as well as previously unpublished photos of the Fab Four. In conversation with BBC Radio 2's Michael Ball, on his show broadcast on 7 September 2008, Spinetti revealed that Princess Margaret had been instrumental in securing the necessary censor permission for the first run of Oh, What A Lovely War!.

Spinetti lived in Brighton with his partner of 44 years, Graham Curnow. They were openly non-monogamous, and Spinetti openly talked about other sexual encounters in his memoir. Curnow appeared in the 1959 British horror film Horrors of the Black Museum. Curnow became seriously ill towards the end of his life, and Spinetti sold most of his Beatles memorabilia to ensure Curnow was comfortable. Curnow died in 1997.

Spinetti had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in February 2011 after collapsing onstage on Valentine's Day. He suffered a spinal fracture and discovered only by chance that he had a tumour. He was at first treated in London, but after being cared for by his sister and brother-in-law he moved to the Velindre Cancer Centre in Whitchurch for radiotherapy. He died from the disease at Monnow Vale Integrated Health and Social Care Facility in Monmouth on the morning of 19 June 2012. His funeral was conducted by Ajahn Khemadhammo.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1963 — The Saint — Commisionaire — Episode: "The Romantic Matron" • Richard the Lionheart — Pierre — Episode: "The Heir of England" • 1964 — Zero One — Roberto — Episode: "A Case of Charity" • 1966 — Thirty-Minute Theatre — George — Story: "Not for Just an Hour" • 1969 — Opening Night — General Irrigua — Story: "Cat Among the Pigeons!" • 1969- 1970 — Two in Clover — Vic Evans — 12 episodes • 1973 — Harriet's Back in Town — Aubrey Stokes — 2 episodes • 1975 — Whodunnit? — Randel — Episode: "Worth Dying For" • 1979 — The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe — Mr. Tumms — TV Movie • Take My Wife — Maurice Watkins — 6 episodes • 1978 — BBC Play of the Month — Hatch — Story: "The Sea" • 1980 — Time of My Life — Vittorio — 1 episode • 1983 — Sweet Sixteen — Ken Green — 3 episodes • BBC Play of the Month — Trivelin — Story: "Infidelities" • 1983- 1986 — SuperTed — Texas Pete (voice) — 35 episodes • 1984 — Danger: Maramalade at Work — Chef Robbo — Episode: "Marmalade and Chef Robbo" • Mistral's Daughter — Bianchi — 3 episodes • 1986 — Emu's All Live Pink Windmill Show — Captain Squint — 4 episodes • Sins — Susumu — 1 episode • 1988 — The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank — Herman Van Dann — TV Movie • Bad Boys — Inspector Oiseau — 2 episodes • 1989 — The Further Adventures of SuperTed — Texas Pete (voice) — 6 episodes • The Paradise Club — Elliot Rossini — Episode: "Family Favours" • 1990 — Omnibus — Dr. Gachet — Episode: "Van Gogh" • 1991 — An Actor's Life For Me — Desmond Shaw — 6 episodes • Paul Merton: The Series — Soldier — 1 episode • Singles — Louis — Episode: "From Russia with Love" • 1992 — Secrets — Sigmund Vandenhoff — 2 episodes • Take Off with T-Bag — Darren Katz — Episode: "The Red Shoes" • Tales of the Tooth Fairies — The King of the Rats (voice) — Episode: "The Present" • 1995 — The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Attack of the Hawkmen — Bragas/ Major D. — TV Movie • Bottom — Maitre'd — Episode: "Finger" • 2000 — In the Beginning — Happetezoah/ Pharoah's Magician — 2 episodes • 2000- 2002 — Harry and the Wrinklies — Max — 13 episodes • 2002 — First Degree — Founder — 9 episodes • 2005 — High Hopes — Daniel Gold — Episode: "Every Picture Tells A Story" • New Tricks — Binky — Episodes: "Old and Cold"

Victor Spinetti was born on 2 September 1929 in Cwm. Spinetti held the nationality of United Kingdom. Spinetti was educated at Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and Monmouth School. Recorded sibling: Henry Spinetti. Spinetti worked as television actor, film actor, stage actor and writer, and the authority record catalogues a further 5 occupations under the same name, among them comedian, poet, actor, narrator and director. Spinetti was active from 1961 to 2012. Spinetti worked in Wales. Spinetti worked in English.

• Illustration — At Monmouth School on speech day, 2009 Spinetti gained international fame during the 1960s due to his association with the Beatles. He appeared in the first three Beatles films: A Hard Day's Night (1964), Help! (1965), and Magical Mystery Tour (1967). He also appeared on the Beatles' 1967 Christmas recording, released to members of their fan club. The best explanation for this long-running collaboration and friendship might have been provided by George Harrison, who told Spinetti, "You've got to be in all our films... if you're not in them me Mum won't come and see them – because she fancies you." But Harrison also later told him, "You've got a lovely karma, Vic." Paul McCartney once described Spinetti as "the man who makes clouds disappear". Spinetti made a small appearance in the promotional video for Wings' song "London Town" from the 1978 album of the same name. Spinetti's July 2010 performance of the song "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", at the Festival Theatre, Malvern in Worcestershire, was available on "The Beatles Complete on Ukulele" podcast. Spinetti appeared in around 30 films, including The Gentle Terror (1961), Sparrows Can't Sing (1963), The Wild Affair (1964), Becket (1964), Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew (1967), The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968), Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (1969), This, That and the Other (1969), Start the Revolution Without Me (1970), Under Milk Wood (1971), Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World (1973), The Great McGonagall (1974), The Little Prince (1974), The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), Voyage of the Damned (1976), Emily (1976), Hardcore (1977), Casanova & Co. (1977), Under the Cherry Moon (1986) and The Krays (1990). Spinetti's last on-screen appearance was in the DVD release of the independent film Beatles Stories by American musician Seth Swirsky, issued to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' first recording sessions at Abbey Road.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1958 — Behind the Mask — Minor Role — Uncredited • 1961 — The Gentle Terror — Joe • 1963 — Sparrows Can't Sing — Arnold • 1963 — Stolen Hours — Freddy Cadogan - Party Guest — Uncredited • 1964 — Becket — French Tailor — Uncredited • 1964 — A Hard Day's Night — T.V. Director • 1964 — I Think They Call Him John — Co-Narrator (with Bessie Love) • 1965 — Help! — Foot • 1965 — The Wild Affair — Quentin • 1967 — The Taming of the Shrew — Hortensio • 1967 — Magical Mystery Tour — Army Sergeant • 1968 — The Biggest Bundle of Them All — Captain Giglio • 1969 — Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? — Critic Sharpnose • 1970 — Start the Revolution Without Me — Duke d'Escargot • 1970 — A Promise of Bed — George • 1970 — Defeat of the Mafia — Charles Agostino • 1971 — Under Milk Wood — Mog Edwards • 1973 — Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World — Professor Ribart • 1974 — The Little Prince — The Historian • 1975 — The Great McGonagall — Mr. Stewart / Second-Lieutenant Rotlo / Supposed John Brown / Gentleman / Revolutionary / Cardinal / Policeman • 1975 — The Return of the Pink Panther — Hotel Concierge • 1975 — Dick Deadeye, or Duty Done — Dick Deadeye — Voice • 1976 — Emily — Richard Walker • 1976 — Voyage of the Damned — Dr. Erich Strauss • 1977 — Casanova & Co. — The Prefect • 1977 — Hardcore — Duncan • 1986 — Under the Cherry Moon — The Jaded Three No. 1 • 1990 — The Krays — Mr. Lawson • 1990 — Romeo.Juliet — Tybalt / Benvolio — Voice • 1991 — The Princess and the Goblin — Glump — Voice • 1999 — Julie and the Cadillacs — Cyril Wise • 1999 — Dragon Tales — Narrator (Audiobooks)