| Gary Wilmot | |
| Honorific Suffix: | MBE |
| Birth Name: | Harold Owen Wilmot |
| Birth Date: | 8 May 1954 |
| Birth Place: | Lambeth, London, England |
| Occupation: | Singer, presenter, actor, comedian, writer, director |
| Years Active: | 1978-present |
| Children: | 2 |
Harold Owen "Gary" Wilmot, MBE (born 8 May 1954) is a British singer, actor, comedian, presenter, writer and director who rose to fame as a contestant on New Faces.[1] As a television presenter, he is best known as the host of You and Me, So You Want To Be Top and Showstoppers. His West End credits include Me and My Girl, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Prince of Egypt, and Wicked.
Wilmot was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2018 Birthday Honours for services to drama and charity.[2]
Wilmot was born in Lambeth, London, into a mixed-race household; his mother was English, and his father, Harry, was Jamaican and arrived in Britain on the Empire Windrush in 1948. Harry was a member of vocal harmony group The Southlanders,[3] but died of a brain tumour in 1961, when his sons were still young. Despite these show business roots, Wilmot's upbringing was outside of the limelight. He worked on building sites and in factories, but soon realised manual labour was not a career he wished to pursue.[4]
Wilmot started his career in entertainment after a friend informed an agent of his talent, and soon began to perform as part of the variety circuit. However, his big break came in 1978, when he featured as part of a comedy double act with Judy McPhee on New Faces; the pair were later finalists. This would lead to numerous television appearances on Copy Cats, Knees Ups, Cue Gary!, and The Keith Harris Show. One of his most notable television roles was with the BBC children's quiz show So You Want To Be Top, which he co-presented with Leni Harper.[5]
In 1994, Wilmot hosted Showstoppers, a programme which featured him performing songs from musicals alongside special guests.[6] Originally commissioned as a one-off series in which celebrities were given ten days to learn and perform a song, Wilmot was asked to record a further series of six spectaculars due to popular demand. He also starred in and directed a tour of Showstoppers which proved so popular that its original sixty dates were increased to one hundred and sixty.[7]
In 1989, Wilmot made a move into musical theatre debuting in the West End production of Me and My Girl, playing the role of Bill Snibson at the Adelphi Theatre.[8] He played the role to critical acclaim for two years, with Jack Tinker describing him as a "Musical Talent of the Highest Order". Wilmot was subsequently nominated in the "Best Actor" category at the Olivier Awards, and theatre tour of a new comedy, Teething Troubles followed. He was also cast as Joe in Carmen Jones at the Old Vic before starring in the world premiere of the Barry Manilow musical Copacabana at London's Prince of Wales Theatre.
In 2001, Wilmot joined The New Shakespeare Company to play Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, and the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance national tour with Sue Pollard as Ruth, in 2001–2002. The national tour of Giles Havergal's adaptation of the Graham Greene novel Travels with My Aunt followed. In 2003, he was Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium, taking over from Michael Ball,[9] and returning in 2006 and 2007 on the UK tour. Wilmot also played Billy Flynn in the national touring company of Chicago.[10]
Other stage productions Wilmot has appeared in include H.M.S. Pinafore, Santa Claus the Musical,[11] Oliver!,[12] Half a Sixpence, The Wizard of Oz, The Goodbye Girl, One for the Road, Confusions, Lord Arthur Saville's Crime, and a national tour of the successful Watermill Newbury Theatre production of Radio Times.[13]
Wilmot has recently appeared in Flowers for Mrs Harris at Chichester Festival Theatre, Little Miss Sunshine at the Arcola Theatre, Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear - the Musical! at the National Theatre, London, Jethro in The Prince of Egypt at the Dominion Theatre, The Wizard in Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre and Elisha J. Whitney in Anything Goes at the Barbican Centre in the West End.
Wilmot has also appeared in many pantomimes since 1986. Most recently he has appeared as the dame in the London Palladium pantomimes for Qdos Entertainment such as Dick Whittington (2017), Snow White (2018) and Goldilocks and the Three Bears (2019) co-starring Julian Clary, Paul Zerdin and Nigel Havers.[14]
Wilmot's solo albums include Love Situation, The Album, and Double Standards.[15]
In 1991, Wilmot teamed up with record producer Nigel Wright to record a medley featuring songs from Walt Disney film The Jungle Book. "The Bare Necessities Megamix"[16] was a medley of "I Wanna Be Like You" and "The Bare Necessities", released under Wright's UK Mixmasters name. The record, executive produced by Simon Cowell, reached the top 20, ultimately peaking at number 14. This chart success gave the record a slot on BBC One's Top Of The Pops, with Wilmot featuring in the clip used for the video breakers on the programme originally broadcast on 12 December 1991[17] but Gary Martin appearing as the vocalist instead of Wilmot, in the studio a week later. In 2004, Wilmot embarked on his own national concert tour My Kind of Music taking him to many major concert venues throughout the country.[18]
| Year | Title | Role | Director | Theatre | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989–91 | Me and My Girl | Bill Snibson | Mike Ockrent | Adelphi Theatre, London[19] | |
| 1991 | Carmen Jones | Joe | The Old Vic, London | ||
| 1991 | Teething Troubles | UK Tour | |||
| 1993 | Me and My Girl | Bill Snibson | Mike Ockrent | UK Tour | |
| 1994 | Copacabana | Stephen / Tony | [20] | ||
| 1995 | Me and My Girl | Bill Snibson | UK Tour | ||
| 1997 | The Goodbye Girl | Elliot Garfield | Albery Theatre, London[21] | ||
| 1997–98 | The Goodbye Girl | Elliot Garfield | UK Tour | ||
| 1998–99 | Oliver! | Fagin | UK Tour | ||
| 1999–2000 | One for the Road | Andy Hay | Bristol Old Vic | ||
| 2000 | One for the Road | UK Tour | |||
| 2001 | Confusions | UK Tour [22] | |||
| 2001 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Bottom | Regents Park Open Air Theatre[23] | ||
| 2001 | Pirates of Penzance | The Pirate King | Regents Park Open Air Theatre[24] | ||
| 2002 | Travels with my Aunt | Henry | UK Tour[25] | ||
| 2003–04 | Chitty Chitty Bang Bang | Caracticus Potts | Adrian Noble | London Palladium[26] | |
| 2004–05 | Cinderella | Buttons | Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton | ||
| 2005 | HMS Pinafore | Dick Deadeye | Regents Park Open Air Theatre[27] | ||
| 2005–06 | Santa Claus the Musical | Southampton Mayflower[28] | |||
| 2006 | Chitty Chitty Bang Bang | Caracticus Potts | Adrian Noble | Birmingham Hippodrome[29] | |
| 2006–07 | Peter Pan | Captain Hook | Grimsby Auditorium | ||
| 2007–08 | Half a Sixpence | Arthur Kipps | UK Tour[30] | ||
| 2007–08 | The Wizard of Oz | Southampton Mayflower[31] | |||
| 2008 | Jude Kelly | Royal Festival Hall[32] | |||
| 2009 | Billy Flynn | Walter Bobbie | UK Tour[33] | ||
| 2010 | Lord Arthur Savile's Crime | Septimus Podgers | Christopher Luscombe | UK Tour[34] | |
| 2010–11 | The Invisible Man | Thomas Marvel | Ian Talbot | Menier Chocolate Factory[35] | |
| 2011 | Radio Times | Sammy Shaw | Caroline Leslie | Watermill Theatre[36] | |
| 2011–12 | Cinderella | Buttons | Christoper Dunham | Richmond Theatre | |
| 2012 | Radio Times | Sammy Shaw | Caroline Leslie | UK Tour[37] | |
| 2012 | Bowl of Cherries | Various | Andrew C Wadsworth | Charing Cross Theatre[38] | |
| 2013–14 | Snow White | Nora Crumble | Michael Harrison | Birmingham Hippodrome | |
| 2014 | The Pajama Game | Vernon Hines | Richard Eyre | Shaftesbury Theatre, London[39] | |
| 2014 | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels | Andre | Jerry Mitchell | Savoy Theatre, London[40] | |
| 2014–15 | Jack and the Beanstalk | Dame Trot | Michael Harrison | Birmingham Hippodrome | |
| 2015 | Oklahoma! | Ali Hakim | Rachel Kavanaugh | UK Tour[41] | |
| 2015 | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels | Andre | Jerry Mitchell | UK Tour[42] | |
| 2015–16 | Aladdin | Widow Twankey | Russell Labey | Milton Keynes Theatre | |
| 2017 | The Wind in the Willows | Badger | Rachel Kavanaugh | London Palladium[43] | |
| 2016 | End of the Rainbow | Anthony | Daniel Buckroyd | UK Tour[44] | |
| 2016 | Big The Musical | George McMillan | Morgan Young | Theatre Royal[45] | |
| 2017–2018 | Dick Whittington | Sarah the Cook | Michael Harrison | London Palladium | |
| 2018 | Flowers for Mrs Harris | Major / Monsieur Armande | Daniel Evans | Chichester Festival Theatre[46] | |
| 2018 | Sweet Lorraine | — | Writer, Director | Regis Centre[47] | |
| 2018–2019 | Snow White | Mrs Crumble | Michael Harrison | London Palladium | |
| 2019 | Little Miss Sunshine | Grandpa | Mehmet Ergen | Arcola Theatre[48] | |
| 2019 | Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear | Jonathan Ripples | Amy Hodge | The Royal National Theatre[49] | |
| 2019–20 | Goldilocks and the Three Bears | Dame Betty Barnum | Michael Harrison | London Palladium | |
| 2020 | Jethro | Scott Schwartz | Dominion Theatre[50] | ||
| 2020 | Pantoland at the Palladium | Dame | Michael Harrison | London Palladium | |
| 2021 | Anything Goes | Elisha Whitney | Kathleen Marshall | Barbican Theatre, London | |
| 2022 | Wicked | The Wizard of Oz | Apollo Victoria Theatre | ||
| 2022–23 | Jack and the Beanstalk | Queen Nigella | Michael Harrison | London Palladium | |
| 2023–24 | The Wizard of Oz | The Wizard of Oz / Professor Marvel | Nikolai Foster | London Palladium[51] | |
| UK & Ireland Tour | |||||
| 2023–24 | Peter Pan | Mrs Henrietta Hook | Michael Harrison | London Palladium | |
| 2024 | Something Rotten! | Nostradamus | Tim Jackson | Theatre Royal Drury Lane |
| - | Year | Title | Role | Channel / Production | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | New Faces | Himself | |||
| 1983–85 | So you want to be Top | Presenter | BBC | ||
| 1983 | Chas & Dave's Knees-Up | LWT | |||
| 1984 | Mike Reid's Mates and Music | Himself | ITV | ||
| 1984 | You and Me | Presenter | BBC | ||
| 1985 | The Bob Monkhouse Show | Himself | BBC | ||
| 1985–86 | Copy Cats | Himself | LWT | ||
| 1985 | The Keith Harris Show | Himself | BBC | ||
| 1986 | Saturday Gang | Himself | LWT | Writer[52] | |
| 1986 | This is Your Life | Himself | ITV | ||
| 1987 | Aspel & Company | Himself | LWT | ||
| 1987–88 | Cue Gary | Himself | ITV | Writer[53] | |
| 1989 | The Book Tower | Presenter | Yorkshire Television | ||
| 1989 | Fun with Numbers | Presenter | Carlton Home Entertainment | VHS only | |
| 1992–93 | Junglies | Various Characters (Voice) | ITV | ||
| 1994–95 | Showstoppers | Presenter | BBC | ||
| 1999 | Hetty Wainthropp Investigates | Guest Appearance | BBC | Comic Relief Special | |
| 2001 | An Audience with Des O'Connor | Himself | LWT | ||
| 2003 | Never Mind the Buzzcocks | Himself | BBC | Series 13, Episode 8 | |
| 2017 | The Keith & Paddy Picture Show | Winston Zeddmore | BBC | Series 1, Episode 2: 'Ghostbusters' | |
| 2020 | Dr Seuss' The Grinch Musical! | Grandpa Who | NBC | [54] | |
| 2020 | Jane McDonald and friends | Himself | Channel 5 | ||
| 2021 | Fireman Sam | Trevor Evans | Cartoonito |
| - | Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Lollipop Dragon: The Great Christmas Race | Lollipop Dragon / Hairy Troll (Voice) | Television film[55] | |
| 1986 | Lollipop Dragon: The Magic Lollipop Adventure | Lollipop Dragon (Voice) | Television film[56] | |
| 1994–95 | Lazarus | [57] | ||
| 1997 | The Tony Ferrino Phenomenon | Himself | Television film |