Popular British comic and TV host Bob Monkhouse lost his fight against cancer on Monday, passing away peacefully in his sleep at his Bedfordshire, England home. He was 75.
Peter Pritchard, who was his manager for 38 years, announced the news Monday with the words: "Sadly, I have to announce the death of Bob Monkhouse OBE. Bob died peacefully in his sleep this morning at his home after a lengthy battle with cancer."
The quick-quipping entertainer, who began his career back in the Forties writing radio jokes for the likes of Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope, had hosted a Bob Hope tribute in August and hoped he was winning his two-year fight against illness. Over the past few days, however, his condition worsened dramatically.
Perhaps best known as the frontman for the popular TV game show The Golden Shot, Bob was famed for his deadpan delivery and a distinctive style that could be interpreted as either appealing or simply smarmy. Even his daughter Abigail once remarked, "Either you like him or you don't."
His six-decade career saw the Kent-born star cover a huge range of ground, not just as a comic and TV host but also as an actor in films such as 1958's Carry On Sergeant. Bob's autobiography, Crying With Laughter, boosted his career in 1993, when he was at a critical age in career terms. "People who hadn't noticed me or had written me off as a gameshow host started to reassess me," he remarked. "Suddenly I was in fashion again and reaching new people. I wouldn't have known what to do if I retired anyway."
His personal life, meanwhile, was marked with tragedy: his eldest son Gary, who had cerebral palsy, died in 1992, a year before Bob was awarded an OBE. In 2001, his other son Simon, with whom he had not spoken for 13 years, died of an overdose.
Bob was divorced from his first wife Elizabeth, the mother of the two boys and daughter Abigail, in 1972. He died at the home he shared with his second wife Jacqueline.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
