'I admired how fashionable she looked. For decades he has hated to venture out: 'I didn't want to be seen as someone who was once Stanley Baxter,' he says. You know, the same sort of thing as Kenneth Williams. Shall we say affinity, I asked? A Scottish national treasure. Sharing his guilt at the time, the veteran actor wrote: "I couldn't entertain such a thought [marriage] and I felt the relationship simply had to stop, so I broke it off. The pair developed a closeness that meant when they weren't working they enjoyed a movie or dinner together. Stanley Baxter is one of the most successful entertainers of his generation and for many years had his own Bafta-winning TV series. At the same time, Moira's mental health deteriorated. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. 'There are many gay people these days who are fairly comfortable with their sexuality,' he says. But he hadnt been in that afternoon. He was sent to India, and then further East to Burma, where he was promoted to corporal and assigned duties as a typist (Class 3). Stanley was freaked out at my turning up at his house. . Instead, he was arrested. And after nearly a year of thinking about this man, after all the work I had done to find him, I had absolutely no idea what to say. The BBC couldnt help, and neither could London Weekend Television, for whom Baxter had made many of his most successful shows in the Seventies. By that time, I had so many tender feelings for her, he explains. Back home again, Baxter joined the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, a fine company with aspirations to form a Scottish national theatre. I thought she would be still be heartbroken. Im not. Im not giving any interviews at the moment. An edge in his voice. Stanley walked through the doors of the Gorbals theatre and into theatre heaven, loving this avant-garde world populated by the likes of Sybil Thorndyke and Duncan Macrae. Then, in early autumn, I heard that Channel 4 was working on a compilation of the best of Baxters television shows, to be screened this Christmas. Too short-sighted for active Army service, he was afraid of being assigned to the merchant navy and the Atlantic convoys, but instead he was ordered to report to the coal pits, as a 'Bevin Boy' one of the conscripted mine workers. Would he like to explain why? Ive often wondered how her life would have turned out had she married a devoted heterosexual husband., He adds, his voice breaking: I will never know why she loved me so much. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group, Harry suggests he and Meghan will NEVER give up their royal titles after Anderson Cooper asked why they don't renounce them and live privately during explosive 60 Minutes interview: Prince blasts 'what difference would that make? She was far more bohemian than me.' What had happened to Stanley Baxter? . No, you might publish it. There were things he might like to say, but it wouldnt be in keeping to do so. Say sorry? Well, you, really. I dont think I could go on then. Well, I spoke to your television company, and they said you might be doing some soon. She recovered in hospital and wrote to her husband, insisting, 'I'll never do something so foolish again.' Of all those stories, it is hard to imagine anything more sad than this one. When he first came to fame in the Fifties, his identity was largely irrelevant: we were content to let stars glitter from afar. After all, she was with the man she adored. Scots who never visit a theatre for the rest of the year still find their way to the panto, where the scenarios and jokes have the familiarity of ritual. Fred Baxter, knowing his son was unconvincing in the role of Happy Groom, attempted a last-minute derailment. In this remarkable new authorised biography, which Stanley originally refused to have published before his death for fear of being judged journalist Brian Beacom reveals the secrecy and sadness that have haunted the entertainer all his life. It was the one and only time she had ever reacted in this way. Ill tell you, he said, managing to communicate weariness down the line. A Gannett Company. Your Trusted Advocate. As a last shot I rang David White, who said I had been very naughty. Moiras death left Stanley bereft. Which is not good, when youre in your sixties, is it? 'It was real weakness on my part,' he says now. Just to talk to a faithful hand that takes all the chaff and grain together, keeps whats worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blows the rest away. Instead, Baxter told Moira he could no longer live with her. And he met Moira Robertson, a 22-year-old who had worked her way up from the wardrobe department to the stage. moira@scoliosisbracing.co.za +27 76 883 9526 Virginia Way Offices 0 Hamman Street Stellenbosch Fine, but not much help to me. 'I could be as heterosexual as the rest of them.'. Why did Stanley agree to marry Moira? They were married for 46 years, This year, he changed his mind. Meanwhile, Moira had landed part-time work with a milliner but it didnt seem to hold her interest. She called him her Sonny Boy and, as his precocious talent emerged, had him perform at every family gathering. Join Facebook to connect with Moira Robertson and others you may know. Its Christmas, he said. Baxter is appearing on a charges of soliciting and public indecency. 'I couldn't put up with very long periods of not being with men,' he says frankly. Oh yes? Still smiling. Alec Guinness and John Gielgud had both been charged with Importuning. Moira Robertson & Stanley Baxter, 1962 British actress Moira Robertson (year of birth unknown-1997) and her husband, British comedian and actor Stanley Baxter, at Clerkenwell Magistrates Court in London, England, 5th March 1962. Tanned and fit-looking, straight-backed, with his broad face exactly as it was on the television years ago, eyes that were calm but curious, and slightly sparkling. Moiras role, however, was reduced from Actress to Wife. I dont deserve it, I know, but if anyone can help me at this dreadful period, it is him, Williams wrote before leaving home. I wrote you a letter. He probably knew the way I felt about him. (Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images), 4897x4870px (41,46 x 41,23 cm) - 300 dpi - 6 MB. Jul 1988 - Present34 years 4 months. The Real Stanley Baxter, by Brian Beacom. A year later, on March 5, 1952, the train sped west to Moiras parents home in Dumbarton for the ceremony. It was in CSE that Baxter met openly gay men for the first time. Yet there is one celebrity who has bucked the trend. Helen Wright and Moira Robertson were in a police raid (Image: Spindrift) Two Glasgow pensioners caught with more than 24,000 of cocaine are behind bars. His last was Mother Goose, at the Kings Theatre, Glasgow, in 1991. I felt vulnerable. To order a copy for 17.60 go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193. Stanley Baxter was born on May 24, 1926 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. As I approached the flats, a figure bundled up in odd layers of clothing and a heavy overcoat came towards me, and turned towards the gate. Helen Wright, 67, and Moira. He reckoned it would at least a few years before the couple arrived at Wedding Central. Absolutely not? Yes. Im not a personality, he once said. Therapy proved useless: his psychiatrist, learning that he was married, advised him simply to return to his wife. . His agent advised him to engage the celebrity barrister David Jacobs, who had recently won a libel case for Liberace when a newspaper implied the flamboyant entertainer was gay. The changing weather had given me a cold, so the stout went straight to my head, and the meal was tasteless. Stanley Baxter specials became vanishingly rare: one at Christmas 1976, the next at Easter 1979. But she did mention several times there was something wrong with Moira, that her emotional balance wasn't quite right. However the charges were dropped when the police officers who arrested him admitting he was on his own at the time. We like to think we can find out anything about anyone, as a matter of professional pride, and the challenge of doing so can get under your skin. Not him, then. But where? Its such hard, hard work. Royal Family will find it 'impossible' to compromise with Sussexes, Shamima Begum never considered turning back during journey to ISIS, Russian pro-war fanatic warns Britain could be 'wiped off the map', BBC Breakfast celebrates forty years of hilarious bloopers, Russian marksman flees Ukraine to reunite with wife before being shot, Motorists slowly drive down snowy hill in treacherous conditions, Bungling helicopter pilot blows over stadium roof injuring eight, Ken Bruce will be joining the Greatest Hits Radio family in April, As it happened: UK Government blocks Scotland's new gender law, Kamala opts out of kneeling with Biden for Warriors photo op, Extinction Rebellion douse the Home Office building in black paint, Harrowing moment woman begs father not to kill himself. They would meet for lunch every day. In that moment, I thought the world had changed. HP10 9TY. Stanley Baxter, Actor: Crooks Anonymous. hed rather not do them. He is an actor and writer, known for Crooks Anonymous (1962), The Fast Lady (1962) and The Stanley Baxter Moving Picture Show (1974). I have been writing for the Independent on Sunday for more than 20 years, but the edition that appears on Sunday will be the last. We are doing this to improve the experience forour loyalreaders and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. He says now that he'd known for years that he found men more attractive than women, because at the Saturday morning cinema club he could not take his eyes off the half-naked Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan, rather than Maureen O'Sullivan's Jane. Unknown to Stanley, Moira had ditched her medication and the demons raged again. How could it happen? Wait and see, was the answer. Baxter staged full-scale MGM musicals and played every role. He wanted to be left alone, so why not? 'I'm not. And the new rules dont apply just to celebrities on the A-List: newsreaders and weather girls must also be prepared to have the minutiae of their lives subjected to close scrutiny, or at the very least have Loyd Grossman look through their keyholes. The last panto was in 1991, wasnt it? But not a complete no: perhaps, hed said, perhaps yours will be the one. He lived in dread of being exposed in the press as a gay man. Auditions were in Singapore and, after arriving there in December 1946 by flying boat, he was taken under the wing of a stooped, grey-haired man with a dusty moustache and a strident, nasal voice. Stanleys marriage to Moira became difficult over the next few years, as she struggled with mental health issues and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. After all, the pair had spent endless hours discussing sexuality, preferences and honesty. He took her passport, to prevent her from trying to follow him. Im not entirely sure who I am. 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