Marty Feldman


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Marty Feldman
Born Martin Alan Feldman
8 July 1934(1934-07-08)
London, England
Died 2 December 1982 (aged 48)
Mexico City, Mexico
Spouse(s) Lauretta Sullivan
(1959-1982)

Martin Alan "Marty" Feldman (8 July 1934[1] – 2 December 1982) was an English writer, comedian and actor, notable for bulging eyes, the result of a thyroid condition known as Graves' disease.

Contents

Early life

Feldman was born in London's East End, the son of Jewish immigrants from Kiev.[2] His memory of childhood is that it was "solitary".[3] Leaving school at 15, he worked at the Dreamland fun fair in Margate.[3] By the age of 20 he had decided to pursue a career as a comedian.

Career

In 1954, Feldman formed a writing partnership with Barry Took.[3] For British television, they wrote situation comedies such as The Army Game, Bootsie and Snudge, and the BBC radio show Round the Horne, which starred Kenneth Horne and Kenneth Williams.[3] This put Feldman and Took "in the front rank of comedy writers" (Dennis Norden).[3]

The television sketch comedy series At Last the 1948 Show featured Feldman's first screen performances.[3] The other three performers needed a fourth and Brooke-Taylor and Cleese had Feldman in mind.[3]. In one sketch on 1 March 1967, Feldman harassed a patient shop assistant (John Cleese) for a series of fictitious books, achieving success with Ethel the Aardvark Goes Quantity Surveying. The sketch was revived as part of the Monty Python stage show and on Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album (both without Feldman).

Marty Feldman was co-author, with John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Tim Brooke-Taylor, of the "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch, which was also written for At Last the 1948 Show.[3] The "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch was performed during Amnesty International concerts (by members of Monty Python — once including Rowan Atkinson in place of Python member Eric Idle), as well as during Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl and other Monty Python shows and records. This has led to the "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch being considered a Python sketch, the origin and co-authorship by non-Python writers Marty Feldman and Tim Brooke-Taylor overlooked or forgotten. Feldman was also script editor on The Frost Report with future members of Monty Python.[3] He wrote the "Class" sketch, Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett facing the audience in descending order of height declaring their social status.[3]

Following his At Last the 1948 Show, Feldman had a series on the BBC called Marty (1968)[3], which also featured Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Junkin and Roland MacLeod with Cleese as a writer [3]. Feldman won two BAFTA awards. The second series in 1969 was renamed It's Marty (the second title being retained for the DVD of the show); in 1971 he was signed to a series co-produced by ATV and ABC TV entitled The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, this show lasted one series. In 1974, Dennis Main Wilson (producer for the UK television show Till Death Us Do Part) produced a short sketch series for Feldman on the BBC entitled Marty Back Together Again — a reference to reports about the star's health. But this never captured the impact of the earlier series. The Marty series proved popular enough with an international audience (the first series won the Golden Rose Award at Montreaux) to launch a film career. His first feature role was in 1970s Every Home Should Have One.[3]

Feldman spent time in Soho jazz clubs.[3] He found a parallel between "riffing" in a comedy partnership and the improvisation of jazz.[3]

In 1971 Feldman gave evidence in favour of defendants at the Oz trial.[3] He would not swear on The Bible, choosing to "affirm".[3] Throughout his testimony he was disrespectful to the judge .[3]

Feldman's performances on American television included The Dean Martin Show and Marty Feldman's Comedy Machine. On film, he was Igor (pronounced "EYE-gore") in Young Frankenstein where many lines were improvised. Gene Wilder says he had Feldman in mind when he wrote the part.[3] At one point, Dr Frankenstein (Wilder) scolds Igor with the phrase "Damn your eyes!" Feldman turns to the camera, points to his misaligned eyes, grins and says, "Too late!"

Feldman met American comedy writer Alan Spencer on the set of Young Frankenstein when Spencer was a teenager. Spencer was a fan of Feldman as a writer and performer. Feldman offered Spencer guidance that led the him to create the television show Sledge Hammer!.[4]

He also made one LP, I Feel a Song Going Off (1969), re-released as The Crazy World of Marty Feldman. The songs were written by Dennis King, John Junkin and Bill Solly (a writer for Max Bygraves and The Two Ronnies).[5]

In 1976, Feldman ventured into Italian cinema, starring with Barbara Bouchet in 40 gradi all'ombra del lenzuolo, (Sex with a Smile), a sex comedy.

Feldman appeared in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother and Mel Brooks' Silent Movie, as well as directing and starring in The Last Remake of Beau Geste. He guest-starred in the "Arabian Nights" episode of The Muppet Show.

Personal life

Feldman married Lauretta Sullivan in January 1959. She had proposed, after Feldman had not following nine months of daily dating. They remained married until his death in 1982.[6]

He had one younger sister, Pamela.[7]

Death

On December 2nd, 1982, Marty Feldman died from a heart attack in a hotel room in Mexico City. This occurred during the making of the film Yellowbeard. Cartoonist Sergio Aragonés was filming nearby, introduced himself to Feldman that night, frightened Feldman and possibly induced his heart attack. Aragones was dressed for his role as an armed policeman. He ran up to Feldman, startling him. He has told the story with the punchline "I killed Marty Feldman". The story was converted into a strip in Aragones' issue of DC Comics' Solo.[8]

As a result of his death, Feldman's character "Gilbert" dies toward the end of the movie Yellowbeard by falling into a pit of acid.

On the DVD commentary of Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks cites factors that may have contributed to Feldman's death. He smoked sometimes six packs of cigarettes daily, drank copious amounts of coffee and ate a diet high in eggs and dairy products. During filming in Mexico he also suffered food poisoning after eating contaminated shellfish. Michael Mileham, who made the behind-the-scenes movie Group Madness about the making of Yellowbeard, said he and Feldman swam to an island where a local was selling lobster and coconuts. Mileham and Feldman used the same knife on their lobsters. Mileham said he got shellfish poisoning next day, then theorised that since Feldman used the same knife he also could have been poisoned. Sometimes it takes days to feel food poisoning and this could have been a factor. The stress of altitude—2,300m (7,546 ft) where the air is thin—may also have been a factor.

He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California near his idol, Buster Keaton, in the Garden of Heritage.[3]

Filmography

Television series

  • Marty Back Together Again (1974)
  • The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine (1971-1972)
  • The Marty Feldman Show (1972)
  • Marty Abroad (1971)
  • Marty Amok (1970)
  • Marty (1968)
  • At Last the 1948 Show (1967)

Further reading

  • From Fringe to Flying Circus -- Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960-1980 — Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980.

References

  1. ^ Marty Feldman biography — Screen Online, United Kingdom
  2. ^ MOVIE MEMORY Marty Feldman 1977
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Marty Feldman: Six Degress of Separation, BBC FOUR
  4. ^ It's Good To Be The King: The Seriously Funny Life Of Mel Brooks by James Robert Parrish
  5. ^ Kettering Magazine Issue #2
  6. ^ Marty Feldman at the NNDB website
  7. ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  8. ^ I Killed Marty Feldman; Solo #11, p.4-11, August 2006 [1]

External links

Wikiquote
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Marty Feldman
At Last the 1948 Show
Tim Brooke-Taylor — Graham Chapman — John Cleese — Marty Feldman — Aimi MacDonald






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