Comedy / News
June Whitfield Comedy Legend award
June Whitfield received the inaugural Comedy Legend award at Bristol’s Slapstick Festival yesterday. In a career spanning six decades, Whitfield has appeared on radio, television and film alongside some of the biggest names in the business, many of who queued up to pay tribute to her in pre-recorded pieces shown on stage at the Bristol Old Vic.
In a quirk of timing, Steptoe & Son is currently being performed on that very stage, and one of the clips shown from the 87-year-old’s illustrious career was from the original BBC comedy, where she played a tart with who Albert falls in love.
Matthew Sweet spoke to Whitfield in between clips spanning the 1950s to the present day, which included Hancock’s Half Hour, Terry and June, and Absolutely Fabulous.
Whitfield was presented with her award, in the shape of a golden Morph, by Peter Lord and David Sproxton from Aardman, alongside Slapstick Festival founder Chris Daniels, before video tributes from the likes of Joanna Lumley, Barry Cryer and Christopher Ecclestone. Even Dame Edna Everage joined the party.
Alongside reminisces and a few forgotten names and plays, Whitfield dispensed one sage piece of advice: “If you learn your lines and don’t bump into the furniture, you are halfway there.”
She also said why she loves her job: “I love to be in something that makes people laugh, because laughter is the best medicine. To make people laugh is wonderful.”
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