Max Wall

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Max Wall

King Bruno the Questionable from Jabberwocky (1977)
Background information
Birth name(s): Maxwell George Lorimer
Date of birth: 12 March 1908(1908-03-12)
Birth location: Brixton, London, England
Date of death: 21 May 1990 (aged 82)
Death location: Westminster Hospital, London, England
Genre(s): Music hall, television & film comedian

Max Wall (12 March 1908–21 May 1990) was the stage name of English comedian Maxwell Lorimer. His performing career covered theatre, films and television.

Contents

[edit] Early years

Wall was a son of the successful music-hall entertainer Jack (Jock) Lorimer and his wife Stella. He was born near The Oval, at 37 Glenshaw Mansions, Brixton Road, Brixton, London SW9 0DS. In 1918, during a First World War air raid, Wall was saved from death by his cast iron bed-frame, but both his younger brother and their nanny were killed by a bomb dropped from a German Zeppelin which also destroyed their house.

[edit] Career

Wall made his stage début at the age of 14 as an acrobatic dancer in a pantomime, but is best remembered for his ludicrously attired and hilariously strutting Professor Wallofski. This creation notably influenced John Cleese, who has acknowledged Max Wall's influence on the creation of his own Ministry of Silly Walks sketch for Monty Python. After appearing in many musicals and stage comedies in the 1930s, Wall's career went into decline, and he was reduced to working in obscure nightclubs. He then joined the RAF during WW2 and served for 3 years until he was invalided out in 1943.

Wall re-emerged when producers and directors rediscovered his comic talents, along with the expressive power of his tragic clown face and the distinctive sad falling cadences of his voice. He secured television appearances, and having attracted Beckett's attention, he won parts in Waiting for Godot and Krapp's Last Tape. In 1966 he appeared as Père Ubu in Jarry's Ubu Roi, and in 1972 he toured with Mott the Hoople on their "Rock n' Roll Circus tour", gaining a new audience. His straight acting gained him this review in 1974:

"Max Wall makes Olivier look like an amateur in The Entertainer at Greenwich Theatre..." (The Guardian, 27 November 1974)

He also appeared in Crossroads, Coronation Street and what was then Emmerdale Farm. He also played an ex-con in Minder, with George Cole.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Wall occasionally performed a one-man stage show, An Evening with Max Wall, in which he recaptured the humour of old-time music-hall theatre.

His last film appearance was in the 12-minute movie A Fear of Silence, a dark tale of a man who drives a stranger to a confession of murder by answering only Yes or No to his questions; those two words, repeated, were his only dialogue. The film won a gold award in the New York Film and TV Festival.

[edit] Death

On the afternoon of 20 May 1990, Wall fell at Simpson's restaurant in central London, fracturing his skull. He never regained consciousness, and died early the next morning at Westminster Hospital. He was 82. He was buried in Highgate Cemetery.

Wall was survived by four sons, Michael, Melvin, Martin and Meredith, and a daughter, Maxine.

[edit] Trivia

  • Wall did not own a telephone, always attending his local telephone box at 1pm Monday to Saturday if he was at home to collect incoming calls.

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Wall, Max
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lorimer, Maxwell George
SHORT DESCRIPTION English music hall artist
DATE OF BIRTH 1908-03-12
PLACE OF BIRTH Brixton, London, England
DATE OF DEATH 1990-05-21
PLACE OF DEATH Westminster Hospital, London, England