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Harry Secombe

A venerated comic, actor and singer, Welshman Sir Harry Secombe began performing stand-up and musical comedy on stage during the mid-1940s. Secombe was able to parlay his success as a stage comedian into a career in radio, first bringing his talents to the playful 1950s ventriloquism hit "Educating Archie." Then, with friends and fellow comedians Spike Milligan, Michael Bentine, and Peter Sellers, Secombe wrote and performed the comedy series "The Goon Show" on BBC Radio. The surreal program ran from 1951 to 1960, and proved to be enormously influential. The late 1950s found Secombe putting his admirable tenor to good use, as he released several charting records in the United Kingdom. He also branched out into the world of cinema, playing the lead in the Ealing Studios comedy drama "Davy." In 1968, he had a supporting role in the classic family musical "Oliver!," and the same year, his sketch series, "The Harry Secombe Show," debuted on BBC One. The show lasted until 1973. In the early 1980s, Secombe was knighted for his contributions to the entertainment industry. Around this time, he began appearing on music-oriented television programs such as "Secombe With Music" and often appeared on Christian-themed shows such as "Highway." He continued to work on religious series through the 1990s.