 Greenock |
Chic Murray lived from 6 November 1919 to 29 January 1985. He was a comedian and an actor. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline.
Charles Thomas McKinnon Murray was born in Greenock on the south bank of the River Clyde. After leaving school at the age of 14, he started work as an apprentice engineer in Kincaids Shipyard in Greenock in 1934. Meanwhile he was using his talents as an entertainer with amateur groups such as "The Whinhillbillies" and "Chic and His Chicks".
Chic married Maidie Dickson and then formed a successful double act with her, their mixture of jokes and songs going down well with theatre audiences and, eventually, on television. Billed as "Maidie and Murray" or the "The Tall Droll with the Small Doll" a highlight of their career would have been an appearance at the 1956 Royal Variety Show at the London Palladium: but this was cancelled because of the Suez Crisis.
Chic subsequently forged a successful solo career, ending up with a BBC Scotland series called "Chic's Chat". He also acted in films such as Casino Royale (1967), and appeared as the headmaster in the 1980 Scottish film, Gregory's Girl. In 1984 he played the Liverpool Football Club manager Bill Shankly in the musical play You'll Never Walk Alone. He died in Edinburgh in 1985 at the age of sixty-five. He is widely regarded to have been one of the most influential Scottish comedians of the 20th Century.
