Michael Patrick Smith, CBE, known professionally as Michael Crawford, is an English actor, comedian and singer. He played Frank Spencer in British sitcom Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, which first made him a household name, and the title role in the musical The Phantom of the Opera. Since 1987, he has served as the leader of the Sick Children’s Trust as well.
About Michael Crawford in brief
Michael Patrick Smith, CBE, known professionally as Michael Crawford, is an English actor, comedian and singer. He played Frank Spencer in British sitcom Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, which first made him a household name, and the title role in the musical The Phantom of the Opera. Crawford has also published the autobiography Parcel Arrived Safely: Tied With String. Since 1987, he has served as the leader of the Sick Children’s Trust as well and acted as a public face for the British social cause organization. Crawford was brought up by his mother, Doris Agnes Mary Pike, and her parents, Montague Pike and his wife, Edith. His mother’s first husband, Arthur Dumbell \”Smudge\” Smith, who was not his biological father, was killed, aged 22, on 6 September 1940 during the Battle of Britain, less than a year after they married. Sixteen months after Smith’s death, Crawford was born, the result of a short-lived relationship, and given his mother’s surname, which was that of her first husband. He attended St Michael’s, a Catholic school in Bexleyheath which was run by nuns who Crawford later described as not being shy in their use of corporal punishment. He made his first stage appearance in his school production of Benjamin Britten’s Let’s Make an Opera, conducted by Donald Mitchell, in 1955. In 1958 he was hired by the English Opera Group to create the role of Jaffet in another Britten opera, Noye’s Fludde, based on the story of Noah and the Great Flood.
He appeared in hundreds of BBC soap operas, such as Billy Bunter of Emergency – Ward 10, and Probation Officer Two, One Living Dead One. In 1961 he appeared in an episode of One Step Beyond Britain called The Villa in which he strobe with a character called Francis Drake, a 26-part adventure series made by ITCerence Morgan and starring Jean Jean Morgan. He also appeared in two children’s films, including Blow Your Own Own Blow, and Soapbox for The Children’s Foundation’s Film Foundation. He has been awarded numerous awards during his career, which has included many film and television performances as well as stagework on both London’s West End and on Broadway in New York City. His performance in the latter earned him both the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and Laurence Olivier Award for best actor in a musical. He was advised to change his name from Michael Ingram to avoid confusion with a television newsman called Michael Ingram who was registered with British Equity. He went on to perform in a wide repertoire, including Neil Simon’s Come Blow Your Horn, Oscar Wilde’s Twelfth Night, The Move After Checkmate and others. His maternal grandmother was born in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and lived to be 99 years old. He is the father of two children, a son and a stepson.
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This page is based on the article Michael Crawford published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
