Memorial to Bernie Winters, Golders Green Crematorium
Bernie Winters (born Bernie Weinstein; 6 September 1930[1] – 4 May 1991), was an English comedian, actor, musician and TV presenter, and the comic foil of the double act Mike and Bernie Winters with his older brother, Mike. Winters later performed solo, often with the aid of his St Bernard dog, Schnorbitz.
Biography
Bernie Winters was born Bernard Weinstein at the City of London Maternity Hospital, 102 City Road, Holborn, on 6 September 1930.[1] His father was a bookmaker. Winters served in the merchant navy and performed as a musician at dances and weddings before forming the double act Mike & Bernie Winters with his brother Mike, whom he called "Choochie-Face" on stage.[2] In October 1957, the duo appeared on Six-Five Special and were described in the Daily Mirror as top comics for Britain's teenage TV audience.[3] They had been recommended to the show's presenter Josephine Douglas by Tommy Steele with whom they had been on a stage tour. They both left the show the same day that she did, on 10 May 1958.
The two brothers split up in 1978, and Winters hosted his own comedy show, Bernie (1978–1980) for ITV. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Winters also presented The Big Top Variety Show, a television series of variety shows from a circus ring. In 1984, he presented the second series of the game show Whose Baby?. He also became a regular on shows such as Punchlines and Give Us a Clue and gave an impression of Bud Flanagan on television and later on stage, with Leslie Crowther as Flanagan's partner Chesney Allen.
On 14 August 1990, after several months of discomfort and stomach pains, he had a nine-hour operation on his stomach. Cancer was removed. However, though he was never told, Winters' condition was already terminal, and he died on 4 May 1991, at The London Clinic at the age of 60.
He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium in London on 8 May, and his ashes interred in the Garden of Remembrance. Among the mourners in attendance were John Inman and Rose-Marie.[5] A memorial plaque was erected in the West Memorial Court there.
