The Real Stanley Baxter

Stanley Baxter delighted over 20 million viewers at a time with his television specials. His pantos became legendary. His divas and dames were so good they were beyond description.

Baxter was a most brilliant cowboy Coward, a smouldering Dietrich. He found immense laughs as Formby and Liberace. And his sex-starved Tarzan swung in a way Hollywood could never have imagined. But who is the real Stanley Baxter?

The comedy actor’s talents are matched only by his past reluctance to colour in the detail of his own character. Now, the man behind the mischievous grin, the twinkling eyes and the once- Brylcreemed coiffure is revealed.

In a tale of triumphs and tragedies, of giant laughs and great falls from grace, we discover that while the enigmatic entertainer could play host to hundreds of different voices, the role he found most difficult to play was that of Stanley Baxter.

Author Biography

Brian Beacom maintains that the stress produced while working with the Herald for the past 30 years (during which time he picked up several Arts Writer of the Year awards), while writing several showbiz biographies (including a Sunday Times bestseller – The Real Mrs. Brown), and even when coming up with a weekly column, has never created anything like the anxiety endured while appearing in panto, as Buttons, in the Glasgow Pavilion production of Cinderella.