Bruce Forsyth
Bruce Forsyth
Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson CBE is an English television presenter and entertainer whose career spans 75 years. In 2012, Guinness World Records recognised Forsyth as having the longest television career for a male entertainer. Forsyth came to national attention from the mid-1950s through the ITV series Sunday Night at the London Palladium. Since then he has hosted series such as The Generation Game, Play Your Cards Right, The Price Is Right and You Bet!. He co-presented Strictly Come Dancing from...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionGame Show Host
Date of Birth22 February 1928
CityLondon, England
I can tell by the way somebody walks if they can dance or not. Just by the rhythm.
It's very nice to get the title, and especially to know that you have made contact with young people and that they like what you're doing.
You can't call Ronnie Barker a comedian - he was an actor and a great writer.
I'd like to be next to Judy Dench purely because I think she might get me a part as a Bond villain. I think I would be a good villain.
Probably more than anybody else, I loved Nat 'King' Cole as a performer - not only his singing but his piano playing. Whenever he had a new record come out, I'd get it and try to learn how he was playing. And he was one of the nicest people I'd ever met.
You can only be as good as your audience. Sometimes you can be as bad as your audience, but you have to remember you can never be better than them.
I've always been a family entertainer. Every show I have done has been suitable for any age - parents never need to worry that, if they pop out of the room, I'll say anything untoward.
When I was a child, life felt so slow because all I wanted to do was get into show business. Each day seemed like a year, but when you get older, years pass like minutes. I wish there was a tape recorder where we could just slow our lives down.
Television is great but for me, as a performer, nothing compares to a live theatre show.
In the old days, variety turns like me learned how to cope with failure - we all had nights when we 'died' on stage - but today's youngsters simply don't have that experience. For them, it really is instant make or break time - hence, all the tears and, hence, all the potential emotional damage.
A round of golf is the ideal antidote to stress.
Just doing any kind of work - even an interview for breakfast television - makes me feel happy.
My holidays are very important. Mind you, I take a very long one every year.
No one - apart from my agent, perhaps - should leave one of my shows in tears.