Billy Connolly

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Billy Connolly (Sidney, 2012)
Billy Connolly (2006)

Sir William "Billy" Connolly CBE (born November 24, 1942 in Anderston , Glasgow ) is a Scottish comedian , musician , presenter and actor . In his homeland he is also known by the nickname "The Big Yin" ("The Great").

Childhood and youth

Billy Connolly was born in Glasgow as a descendant of Irish immigrants and grew up in various working-class suburbs of the city. Early on, he had ambitions to become a comedian. At the age of 15, however, he left school and, like many of the working class children at the time, became a welder in the Glasgow shipyards . During this time he became interested in folk music and learned different instruments. In the 1960s he finally gave up the welding profession to devote himself to music.

Career

Folk music

Together with Tam Harvey , Billy Connolly formed a band called The Humblebums , in which Gerry Rafferty was later a member. Connolly sang, played the banjo and guitar, and entertained the audience with jokes and anecdotes between pieces . When the band broke up, he became a solo artist and comedian. Billy also became known outside Scotland through appearances on the television show Parkinson .

His early albums were a mixture of comedy and weird and more serious musical elements. In 1975 he was able to land a number one hit in England with the comedy title DIVORCE . Little by little, the comedy part increased and the music part decreased, so that the program has practically no musical interludes since the 1980s. Even so, he still records music and sang in the movie Lemony Snicket , for example .

Stand-up comedy

Billy Connolly is best known as a stand-up comedian. In addition to his appearance and his broad Glaswegian dialect, his trademark is his powers of observation and the free use of curses as well as his unconventional choice of topics, especially in the 1970s and 1980s (from faecal issues to illness to the working class and blasphemy). One of his most famous programs, "The Crucifixion", compares the Last Supper to a boozy night in Glasgow and was boycotted by many radio stations of the time.

actor

In the 1970s, Billy Connolly began his third career as an actor, with which he was first successful as the lead actor on the sitcom Head of the Class in 1990, followed by another show called Billy .

Since then he has been successful not only as a comedian, but also as a character actor in various films. Best received by the critics was his role in Her Majesty Mrs. Brown , in which he starred with Dame Judi Dench . He received BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations for his role .

He also played the coveted role of the murderer in the Columbo episode "Mord nach Takten" (original title: "Murder with too many notes"), which was first broadcast in 2001.

On February 8, 2012, the New Zealand film director Peter Jackson announced that Billy Connolly would be seen as the dwarf leader Dain II. Eisenfuß in the film adaptation of the Tolkien novel The Hobbit .

Others

In recent years, Billy Connolly filmed a series of travelogues under the name Billy Connolly's World Tour of ... , which combine serious reports on the history, culture and locals of the respective country with excerpts on the respective topic from his stage program.

In 1998, he was dedicated a two-hour tribute called Erect for 30 Years , which includes commentary from Sean Connery , Whoopi Goldberg , Robin Williams , Dustin Hoffman, and others. Two biographies of Billy Connolly were written by his second wife, Pamela Stephenson .

The main voice actor for Connolly is Thomas Danneberg .

In September 2013 it was announced that Connolly had prostate cancer and Parkinson's disease . He announced that he would continue to work and perform. A few weeks later he had a successful operation and doctors declared him cancer free.

Awards

Billy Connolly in 2001 from the University of Glasgow with the honorary doctorate awarded. In 2003 he received a BAFTA for Lifetime Achievement and the title of Commander of the British Empire (CBE). In 2010 he was honored by the City of Glasgow with the Freedom of the City award.

Filmography (selection)

Discography

Albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
UK UK
1974 Solo concert UK8th
gold
gold

(33 weeks)UK
1975 Cop Yer Whack For This UK10
gold
gold

(29 weeks)UK
Words and Music UK34 (10 weeks)
UK
Get Right Intae Him UK6th
gold
gold

(14 weeks)UK
live UK-
silver
silver
UK
1976 Atlantic Bridge UK20th
silver
silver

(9 weeks)UK
1978 Raw meat for the balcony UK57
silver
silver

(3 weeks)UK
1981 Pick of Billy Connolly UK23
gold
gold

(8 weeks)UK
1987 Billy and Albert UK81 (2 weeks)
UK
1998 Classic Connolly UK-
gold
gold
UK
2002 Classic UK82 (1 week)
UK
Two night UK84 (1 week)
UK
2020 The Ultimate Collection UK69 (1 week)
UK

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
UK UK
1975 DIVORCE
Get Right Intae Him 		UK1
silver
silver

(10 weeks)UK
1976 No Chance (No Charge) UK24 (5 weeks)
UK
1979 In the Brownies
Riotous Assembly 		UK38 (7 weeks)
UK
1985 Super Gran UK32 (9 weeks)
UK

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stefan Servos: Billy Connolly is Dain Eisenfuß. herr-der-ringe-film.de , February 9, 2012, accessed on February 9, 2012 .
  2. ↑ Billy Connolly treated for prostate cancer surgery and is diagnosed with Parkinson's on .independent.co.uk v. 16th September 2013
  3. ^ Billy Connolly receives the all-clear from prostate cancer. October 2, 2013, accessed October 13, 2013 .
  4. ^ Comedian Connolly given freedom of Glasgow AFP, August 21, 2010
  5. ↑ a b Chart sources: UK
  6. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Connolly, Billy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Connolly, William (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor
DATE OF BIRTH November 24, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Anderston, Glasgow , Scotland