Larry Grayson (born William Sulley White; 31 August 1923 – 7 January 1995) was an English comedian and television presenter. He hosted the BBC's Saturday-night peak-time TV game show The Generation Game in the late 1970s and early 1980s, employing his high-camp, English music hall humour.
His camp stand-up act consisted mainly of anecdotes about a cast of imaginary friends including Everard, Apricot Lil, Slack Alice and Pop-it-in Pete the Postman. A museum in his home town Nuneaton documents his life and work, and a memorial has been established.
Biography
Grayson was born William Sulley White in Banbury, Oxfordshire, in 1923. His parents were unmarried and he never met his father. He recounted how his "one true love" had been his best friend from school days, Tom Proctor, who was killed at age 21 at the Battle of Monte Cassino during the Second World War. Grayson said he never got over this loss, and he is not known to have had any other significant relationships (albeit one biographer recalls "a brief smokescreen" when he was said to be engaged to Crossroads actress Noele Gordon).
Homosexual acts between men were illegal in England and Wales until the 1967 Sexual Offences Act (when Grayson was 44), and even after that, coming out as gay would have damaged his television career. During his life Grayson was targeted by gay-rights campaigners who picketed his shows calling for him to be open about his sexuality, while the Gay Liberation Front also protested against his stereotypical camp portrayals of gay men for comedic purposes. Grayson's biographer, Tony Nicholson, observes: "...many gay people acknowledge how important his contribution to camp culture was, and how his mass popularity did perhaps help spearhead greater acceptance of the LGBT community."
Early career
Grayson left school at the age of 14 and began working professionally as a supporting drag act on the comedy club circuit. While the origin of the name Larry is unknown, his management at the time felt a two-syllable first name would be more memorable and go better with the surname Grayson.
thumb|right|Regent Cinema, [[Redcar, where Grayson coined his catchphrase, "Shut that door!"]]
Over the next 30 years he toured the UK in male revues and drag shows, as well as in variety shows at venues including working men's clubs, regional theatres and the Metropolitan in London.
While he performed as Billy Breen at the New Pavilion Theatre Redcar (now the Regent Cinema) he first used what became his familiar catchphrase "shut that door" when a side door had been left open causing a cold breeze to blow across the stage straight from the sea. During this period, Grayson was briefly managed by Eve Taylor, who renamed him Larry Grayson and is credited with being the source of the phrase, as several of her clients revealed that whenever she wanted to discuss money or personal issues with her clients she would always tell them to "shut that door". Taylor struggled to find him the right opportunities and they parted, and Grayson became a client of Michael Grade.
Television career
An early TV appearance in the 1950s had led to complaints about his act being too outrageous, and Grayson had resigned himself to a career off television. Then in the early 1970s his club act was seen by Michael Grade, then an agent, who signed him.
Following several successful appearances in ATV variety shows, Grade's uncle, impresario Lew Grade, gave Grayson a contract to front a show, Shut That Door! (1972), and slightly later, the Larry Grayson Show.
In 1974 he released the single Just Another Pretty Face on Pye Records.
Grayson also made two cameo appearances in the Midlands-based soap opera Crossroads, as a flouncing, difficult customer at the Crossroads Motel and as the chauffeur at the wedding of Meg Richardson, played by his close friend Noele Gordon. In real life Grayson could not drive.
The Generation Game
Grayson's popularity peaked when he was hired by the BBC to present the Saturday night show The Generation Game in 1978, as the replacement for Bruce Forsyth. The show was successful, once attracting an audience of 25 million (due to a strike at ITV) at its peak. Grayson was assisted by his co-star Isla St Clair, whom he frequently referred to as "my lovely Isla".
Despite its popularity, by 1981 The Generation Game was being overtaken in the ratings by ITV's rival show Game for a Laugh. Grayson decided to leave The Generation Game in 1982 while it was still relatively successful, in the expectation that the BBC would offer him another high-profile Saturday night show; this did not materialise.
Later life
Grayson went into unintentional semi-retirement, living alone at his house in Nuneaton with his pet dogs, although he did return to television to present the game show Sweethearts for ITV in 1987. Grayson moved with his adoptive older sister Flo to Torquay, Devon, where they lived in separate neighbouring bungalows, during his semi-retirement, but moved back to Nuneaton after two years when he became bored and missed his close family and friends.
Obituaries
Journalist Suzi Pritchard wrote in The Guardian:
Ken Dodd, a fellow comedian, said of Grayson: