Jim Dale
Jim Dale
and Glenn
Close in 2006 performing Busker Alley. |
| Born: |
15 August 1935 (1935-08-15) (age 71)
Rothwell, Northamptonshire,
England |
| Occupation: |
Actor, Lyricist, |
| Spouse: |
Patrica Dale (div.)
Julia Schafler |
| Children: |
four |
Jim Dale MBE (born James
Smith on 15 August 1935) is an English actor, singer, and songwriter who is best known for his
roles in the Carry On films and
as the narrator of the Harry Potter audiobook series in the United
States. He was born in Rothwell, Northamptonshire.
|
Contents
- 1 Career
- 1.1 Music
career
- 1.2 Film
career
- 1.3 Stage
career
- 1.4 Voice
work
- 2 Personal
life
- 3 External
links
|
Career
Music career
As a songwriter Dale is best remembered as the lyricist for
the movie theme Georgy Girl,
which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1966. The song
(performed by The Seekers) reached number 2 in the US
charts the following year. Several of his songs entered the UK singles
chart including Be My Girl (1957)(UK # 2in 1957), Just
Born (1958), Crazy Dream (1958) and Sugartime
(1958). As a singer he became the first artist under the wing of Sir
George Martin who produced many hit records for him. Dale also wrote
the song Dick-a-Dum-Dum (King's Road), which became
a minor hit for Des O'Connor in 1969.
Film career
Dale appeared in eleven of the Carry
On films, generally playing the romantic lead. His last appearance in
the main series was in Carry
On Again Doctor in 1969, however 23 years later he appeared in the
title role in Carry on Columbus.
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 appeared in
Digby, the
Biggest Dog in the World, which also featured
Milligan. He 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
At the age of eighteen Dale became the youngest professional
comedian in Britain, touring all the great Variety Music Halls. On
stage he appeared in both straight and musical roles, and has been
nominated for four Tony Awards, winning one for Barnum.
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.
In 1970, at the request of Laurence
Olivier, he joined The National Theatre in
London 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 fans in the United
States Jim Dale is the "voice" of Harry Potter (In Britain the audiobooks
are produced by Bloomsbury, and Stephen
Fry reads them.). He has recorded all seven 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 the narrator on the Harry Potter movie DVDs. He 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 one
for occupying the first six places in the Top Ten Audio Books of
America 2005.
Due to his popularity as the narrator of these audiobooks,
Dale is set to narrate the upcoming ABC
drama, Pushing Daisies, adding the "fairy
tale" part of this "forensics fairy tale".
Dale was also featured as a special guest on the July 28th,
2007 episode of National Public Radio's weekly news quiz show, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me."
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,
one of whom, Murray Dale, was briefly an actor in the 1970s children's
television series Boy Dominic. In 1980, he married
Julia Schafler, the owner of Madison Avenue’s prestigious “Julie:
Artisan’s Gallery."
External links
Preceded by
Len Cariou
for Sweeney Todd |
Tony
Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical
1980
for Barnum |
Succeeded by
Kevin Kline
for The Pirates of Penzance |
| v • d • e J.
K. Rowling’s Harry Potter
series |
| Philosopher's
Stone |
book |
film |
book/film
differences |
game |
soundtrack |
| Chamber of
Secrets |
book |
film |
book/film
differences |
game |
soundtrack |
| Prisoner of
Azkaban |
book |
film |
book/film
differences |
game |
soundtrack |
| Goblet of
Fire |
book |
film |
book/film
differences |
game |
soundtrack |
| Order of the
Phoenix |
book |
film |
book/film
differences |
game |
soundtrack |
| Half-Blood
Prince |
book |
(film) |
|
| Deathly
Hallows |
book |
(film) |
|
| Other books |
Other games |
Fantastic
Beasts and Where to Find Them
Quidditch Through the Ages |
Harry Potter:
Quidditch World Cup
Lego Creator: Harry Potter
|
| World:
Timeline • Characters
• Places • Magic
• Spells • Wandlore • Objects • Plants • Potions • Beasts • Blood purity • The Dark Arts • Money
• Laws • Ministry
of Magic • Publications •
Quidditch |
|
Fandom • Religious
opposition • Legal
disputes • Parodies • Influences and
analogues
Translations • Films
• Lego • Theme park • Trading card game
J.
K. Rowling • Mary GrandPré • Jim Dale • Stephen
Fry
|
| v • d • e Carry On films |
| Principal cast: Kenneth
Williams | Joan Sims
| Charles Hawtrey
| Sid James
| Kenneth
Connor | Peter
Butterworth | Bernard
Bresslaw | Hattie
Jacques | Jim Dale
| Barbara
Windsor | Patsy
Rowlands | Jack
Douglas | Terry
Scott |
Films: Sergeant
• Nurse
• Teacher
• Constable
• Regardless
• Cruising
• Cabby
• Jack
• Spying
• Cleo
• Cowboy
• Screaming
• Don't
Lose Your Head • Follow
That Camel • Doctor
• Up the Khyber
• Camping
• Again
Doctor • Up the Jungle
• Loving
• Henry
• At Your Convenience
• Matron
• Abroad
• Girls
• Dick
• Behind
• England
• That's
Carry On! • Emmannuelle
• Columbus
TV: Laughing
• Christmas Specials
Unmade:
Spaceman
Upcoming:
London |
