Jim Dale facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jim Dale
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Dale with his Barnum co-star Glenn Close in 2006
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| Born |
James Smith
15 August 1935 Rothwell, Northamptonshire, England
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| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1951–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Patricia Gardiner
(m. 1957; div. 1977)Julie Schafler
(m. 1981) |
| Children | 4 |
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Jim Dale (born James Smith on August 15, 1935) is a talented English actor, composer, director, narrator, singer, and songwriter. In the United Kingdom, he became famous as a pop singer in the 1950s. He also became a leading actor at the National Theatre.
He is one of the last actors still with us who starred in many of the popular British Carry On comedy films. Jim Dale also became a big star on Broadway, performing in famous shows like Scapino, Barnum, Candide, and Me and My Girl.
Many people know his voice from the U.S. audiobooks of all seven Harry Potter novels. For these, he won two Grammy Awards. He also appeared in the TV series Pushing Daisies and the Disney movie Pete's Dragon. Jim Dale was even nominated for a BAFTA Award for his role in the film Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall. As a songwriter, he was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for the song "Georgy Girl".
Contents
Early Life and Beginnings
Jim Dale was born James Smith in Rothwell, Northamptonshire, England. His parents were William Henry and Miriam Jean Smith. He went to Kettering Grammar School.
Before becoming an actor, he trained as a dancer for six years. He made his first appearance as a stage comedian in 1951. He also served two years in the Royal Air Force.
A Look at Jim Dale's Career
Music and Songwriting
When he was 22, Jim Dale was the first pop singer to work with George Martin, who later became famous for producing The Beatles. Jim Dale had four hit songs on the UK singles chart in the late 1950s. These included "Be My Girl" and "Sugartime." He also released an album called Jim! and appeared on the BBC TV show Six-Five Special.
Jim Dale is well-known for writing the lyrics for the movie song "Georgy Girl" in 1966. This song earned him nominations for an Academy Award for Best Original Song and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. The song, performed by the Seekers, was a huge hit worldwide, selling over 11 million copies. He also wrote songs for other films like Shalako and Joseph Andrews.
Film Roles
Jim Dale's first film was Break-In in 1956. He is most famous in Britain for starring in eleven Carry On films. These were a series of popular British comedy movies. He often played the main romantic character who was a bit clumsy or unlucky.
His Carry On journey started with smaller parts in Carry On Cabby (1963) and Carry On Jack (1964). From Carry On Spying (1964) onwards, he had bigger roles. Some of his notable Carry On films include Carry On Cowboy (1965), where he played a sanitary engineer mistaken for a police marshal, and Carry On Screaming! (1966). He also appeared in Carry On Doctor (1967) and the later film Carry On Columbus (1992).
In 1973, Jim Dale played a young Spike Milligan in the film Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall. For this role, he was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles. He also played Dr. Terminus in Walt Disney's Pete's Dragon (1977). In the 1978 Disney comedy Hot Lead and Cold Feet, he played three different characters!
Stage Performances
At just 17 years old, Jim Dale became one of Britain's youngest professional comedians. He toured many variety music halls.
In 1970, the famous actor Laurence Olivier invited Jim Dale to join the National Theatre Company in London. There, he created the main role in Scapino and played Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew.
On Broadway, Jim Dale has been nominated for five Tony Awards, winning one for his role in Barnum in 1980. The New York Times newspaper even called him "The Toast of Broadway." He also won several Drama Desk Awards and Outer Critics Awards for his stage work. Other Broadway shows he starred in include A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Me and My Girl, and The Threepenny Opera.
In 2014, he wrote and performed his own one-man show called Just Jim Dale. This show looked back at his nearly sixty years in entertainment.
Television Appearances
Jim Dale has hosted and appeared in many television shows. He was a host for BBC's Six-Five Special in 1957 and ITV's Thank Your Lucky Stars in 1965-66. He also hosted Join Jim Dale and Sunday Night at the London Palladium.
From 2007 to 2009, Jim Dale was the unseen narrator for every episode of the ABC drama Pushing Daisies.
Voice Acting Work
In the United States, Jim Dale is widely recognized as the voice of the Harry Potter audiobooks. He narrated all seven novels in the series for the U.S. versions. His Harry Potter narrations are highly praised. He won two Grammy Awards for these (in 2001 and 2008) and received many other awards, including ten Audie Awards.
He also holds a Guinness World Record for having the first six places in the Top Ten Audio Books of America and Canada in 2005. He previously held records for creating the most character voices for an audiobook (134 for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and 146 for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows).
Jim Dale also narrates the Harry Potter video games and many extra features on the Harry Potter DVDs. He narrated the Peter and the Starcatchers audiobook series and other musical audiobooks like SPIN: The Rumpelstiltskin Musical.
Honors and Awards
In 2003, Jim Dale was awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire). This honor was given to him by the Queen for his work in promoting children's English literature.
He has received numerous awards throughout his career, including:
- 1966 International Laurel Award for Best Song (Georgy Girl)
- 1974 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance (Scapino)
- 1980 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical (Barnum)
- 2001 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
- 2008 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)
- Inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2009.
He has also received many nominations for prestigious awards, including:
- 1967 Academy Award for Best Original Song (Georgy Girl)
- 1967 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song (Georgy Girl)
- 1974 BAFTA Academy Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles (Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall)
- Multiple Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominations for his stage performances.
Selected Filmography
- Six Five Special (1958) as Presenter
- Raising the Wind (1961) as Violinist
- Carry On Cabby (1963) as Expectant Father
- Carry On Spying (1964) as Carstairs
- Carry On Cowboy (1965) as Marshall P. Knutt
- Carry On Screaming! (1966) as Albert Potter
- Follow That Camel (1967) as Bertram Oliphant West
- Carry On Doctor (1967) as Dr. Jim Kilmore
- The Plank (1967) as Painter
- Carry On Again Doctor (1969) as Dr. Jimmy Nookey
- Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World (1973) as Jeff Eldon
- The National Health (1973) as Barnet/Dr. Boyd
- Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1973) as Terence "Spike" Milligan
- Pete's Dragon (1977) as Dr. Terminus
- Hot Lead and Cold Feet (1978) as Jasper Bloodshy/Wild Billy Bloodshy/Eli Bloodshy
- Unidentified Flying Oddball (1979) as Sir Mordred
- Carry On Columbus (1992) as Christopher Columbus
- The Hunchback (1997) as Cloplin
- Pushing Daisies (2007) as The Narrator
