 Billy Connolly - This Scottish comedian had difficulty
cracking the American TV market, but surprised pundits worldwide by proving he
had more acting mettle than previously expected when he scored a success as the
guardsman who becomes Queen Victoria's special friend in "Mrs. Brown" (1997).
Tall, gray-haired and generally bearded, Billy Connolly has been a well-known
personality in the UK since the 1970s, primarily for his bawdy comedic routines.
After his parents' divorce, Billy Connolly and his younger
sister lived with his father and two aunts. He was considered odd by his
schoolmates, as he had developed the habit of visiting graveyards. Despite
initially being a good student, Billy Connolly lost interest in school and
dropped out at 15. A period of work as a delivery boy for a bookstore and a
bread baker was followed by a five-year apprenticeship as a shipyard welder. He
spent a brief tour building an oil rig off the coast of Nigeria before returning
home. Billy Connolly drifted into music as a banjo and guitar player in various
venues in and around Glasgow. After working in several bands, he and Tam Harvey
formed the folk duo The Humblebums, which expanded into a trio when Gerry
Rafferty joined. Between songs, Billy Connolly began to tell jokes, becoming an
instant hit. Harvey eventually left the group, and Connolly and Rafferty
continued to perform together until 1971 when the former set out on a solo
career, performing comedy and music in clubs, mainly in Scotland and the North
Country. His routines tended to look at how absurd life can be for the common
folk. Always full of surprises, he spent a season with the King Theatre in
Glasgow, then released an album and had the Number One hit song in the UK in
1975, "D.I.V.O.R.C.E.".
That same year, Billy Connolly became notorious after telling
a slightly off-color joke involving murder and a bare bottom on the British
interview show "Parkinson". He made his screen debut in "Big Banana Feet"
(1975), a film version of his comedy tour of Ireland. Connolly continued to
build on his reputation as a comic and was even tapped to open for Elton John on
his 1976 American concert tour. After a disastrous appearance in Australia, the
comedian returned to the UK and launched "The Billy Connolly Extravaganza", an
intense three-month concert booking throughout Britain. He branched out in 1977
with his first play "An' Me Wi' a Bad Leg", which met with less than stellar
reviews. Subsequent unsuccessful attempts as a playwright convinced Billy
Connolly to concentrate his talents on what he did best.
By 1978, he took a one-time complete turn from stand-up
comedy and barroom musical performances to appear in the Scottish Opera
production of "Die Fledermaus". At the decade's end, Connolly was fully
established on the British comedy-music scene and decided to move into features.
After the limited 1979 release of "Absolution", which starred Richard Burton
(not released in the USA until 1988), Connolly co-wrote and appeared with the
creme of British comedy in a concert for Amnesty International which was filmed
as "The Secret Policeman's Ball" (1981). Connolly was then asked to participate
in the prestigious Edinburgh Festival in 1979. He wrote a play for the Festival,
"The Red Runner," which was performed to packed houses and continued its run
after the Festival closed. By 1982, his album "Pick of Billy Connolly," went
gold almost immediately and by the mid-80s, he was firmly established as a
screen presence in such British features as "Bullshot" (1985) and "Water"
(1986), both directed by Dick Clement and little-seen outside the UK.
When the Fox Network aired "Freedomfest: Nelson Mandela's
70th Birthday Celebration" in 1988, Connolly was a virtual unknown in the United
States, but his performance caught the attention of producers and interest in
him grew. He was brought to the USA by HBO in 1990, and performed in "Whoopi
Goldberg and Billy Connolly in Performance", a special produced at the Brooklyn
Academy of Music in which Goldberg "introduced" Billy Connolly. When Howard
Hesseman left the successful ABC sitcom "Head of the Class" that same year, the
network used the Scotsman as a replacement. Connolly was brought in as an
Oxford-educated teacher well able to handle the genius-level students in the
special high school group. The show lasted another season and half to
diminishing ratings, but there was some complaint from the audience that Billy
Connolly's accent was too thick for the American ear. The comic headlined his
own 1991 HBO special "Billy Connolly: Pale Blue Scottish Person" and followed
with the short-lived ABC sitcom "Billy" (1992), in which he was a college
instructor who marries one of his students in order to remain in America. After
the demise of the series, Connolly's American profile receded. He played an
auction emcee in "Indecent Proposal" (1993) and voiced the Scottish settler for
Disney's animated "Pocahontas" (1995).
Returning to Scotland, he played the title role of a an
Edinburgh rake in "Deacon Brode" (1996), which went virtually unseen in the USA.
But the following year, he scored a triumph as the hunting servant who brings
Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) out of her depression after the death of Prince
Albert in "Mrs. Brown". With the film's rave reviews on both sides of the
Atlantic, Billy Connolly, now in his 50s, had arrived as an actor.
Billy Connolly continued to work steadily thereafter, turning
in fine performances in many films, perhaps most notably for actor-director
Stanley Tucci in 1998's "The Impostors." In 2002 he appeared in another highly
visible role, playing the recipient of Michelle Pfeiffer's poisonous wrath in
"White Oleander," to be followed by even more mainstream exposure in 2003's
"Timeline," director Richard Donner's lackluster adaptation of the Michael
Crichton bestseller, and a more winning turn as Tom Cruise's loyal junior
officer in "The Last Samurai" (2003). After popping up as himself in Overnight
(2004), a documentary depicting the rags-to-riches-to-rags story of screenwriter
Troy Duffy, Billy Connolly appeared as Uncle Monty in Lemony Snipets A Series
of Unfortunate Events, the Jim Carrey vehicle adapted from the popular series
of childrens books.
Contact Grabow for more information or to book Billy Connolly
for your next corporate or private event.
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