Bruce Forsyth

One of Britain's most popular entertainers of the modern era, Bruce Forsyth is a TV legend - a song and dance man who's been a top family entertainer for five decades. Growing up in London, where his mother was a singer and his father was a mechanic (and one of his ancestors gave his name to the forsythia plant), Bruce was inspired to become an entertainer after watching a Fred Astaire film. At 14 he had a song, dance and accordion act called Boy Bruce, The Mighty Atom and made his TV debut on a talent show in 1939. He became a popular variety act during the Second World War but became a household name when he started presenting the TV show Sunday Night At The London Palladium in 1958. He went on to appear in the movie Star! - a biopic of Gertrude Lawrence - with Julie Andrews and cemented his fame presenting a series of prime time TV shows like The Generation Game, Bruce Forsyth's Big Night, Play Your Cards Right and The Price Is Right; creating a host of catchphrases in the meantime. One of his biggest successes was still to come, however, when he landed the job of presenting hugely popular UK TV show Strictly Come Dancing. Bruce recorded four albums - Both Sides Of Bruce (1977), Come Get It (1979), Mr Entertainment (2007) and These Are My Favourites (2011) - and in 2011 received a knighthood from the Queen.

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