AFTER A SHORT ILLNESS, Roy passed away peacefully yesterday afternoon, Sunday
15th March. It's very sad news. At 83, Roy had a career that gave us a
great comedian, excellent straight actor.. and proved himself to be our
most knowledgeable and authoritative variety and comedy historian too. Hudd was a
treasure, for so long. Back in 1968, he appeared in his first feature
film with #PeterCushing
.. 'The Blood Beast Terror'. Not the best of films, but an extremely
enjoyable experience for Roy, who he said, 'savoured every minute
working with Peter!' Roy had a very productive and long career in both
radio and theatre.. both will now be a sad place without him . . #RoyHudd 16 May 1936 - 15 March 2020.
ROY HUDD, hosted BBC Radio 2 sketch show The News Huddlines from 1975 until 2001 and also starred in Broadchurch and as Archie Shuttleworth in Coronation Street. His TV career began in 1964 with satirical series That Was The Week That Was after a stint as a Butlin’s Redcoat in Clacton alongside Sir Cliff Richard. He went on to perform in variety shows in London and became a huge fan of music hall, later writing books on the subject.Born in Croydon in 1936, he worked in telephone exchanges for the RAF.
ABOVE: During our 20th Anniversary of Peter Cushing's passing, we shared ROY HUDD's memory of working with Peter on the film 'The Blood Beast Terror' READ IT HERE!
HIS INTEREST in entertaining was sparked when he went to live with his grandmother who regularly took him to Croydon’s Empire Theatre. Hudd made his professional debut as a comedian in 1957 at the Streatham Hill Theatre, where he was billed as The Peculiar Person. Across a varied career, he appeared in Call The Midwife, Midsomer Murders and Holby City, as well as Dennis Potter’s Lipstick On Your Collar, and Karaoke. Other projects include acclaimed comedy-drama Common As Muck and David Jason’s The Quest.
HUDD'S passion for music hall meant that alongside writing books, he also re-recorded and restored old music hall records, and appeared in a revival show called The Good Old Days. He was the longstanding president of the British Music Hall Society, and chose the genre as his specialist subject when he appeared on Celebrity Mastermind in 2014.
HUDD WAS awarded an OBE for services to entertainment in the 2004 New Year Honours List. Three years ago, Roy provided the narration to Donald Fearney's mammoth dvd documentary on Amicus films, 'Amicus : The Vault of Horror's'.
