Anthony Newley - Acting, Music and Satire

Acting, Music and Satire

Newley's first major film role was as Dick Bultitude in Peter Ustinov's Vice Versa (1948) followed by the Artful Dodger in David Lean's Oliver Twist (1948), based on the Charles Dickens novel. He made a successful transition from child to actor star in British films of the 1950s, broken by his national service. During the 1950s he appeared in many British radio programmes and for a time appeared as Cyril in Floggits starring Elsie and Doris Waters. But it was probably the film Idol on Parade that most changed his career direction. In the film he played a rock singer called up for national service.

Newley's successful pop music career as a vocalist began in May 1959 with the song "I've Waited So Long", a number 3 hit in the UK charts thanks to the exposure it received as being featured in the film Idle On Parade. This was quickly followed by his number 6 hit "Personality" and then two number-one hits in early 1960: "Why" (originally a 1959 U.S. hit for Frankie Avalon) and "Do You Mind?" (written by Lionel Bart).

The 1960 ATV series, The Strange World of Gurney Slade, which Newley devised and starred in, ran for one series. A comedy series of six half-hour programmres, it completely rejects the sitcom format being made without a laughter track or studio audience. It has an unusual premise: Newley's character is trapped inside a television programme which is Gurney Slade itself.

As a songwriter, he won the 1963 Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "What Kind of Fool Am I?", but he was also well known for "Gonna Build a Mountain", "Once in a Lifetime", "On a Wonderful Day Like Today", "The Joker" and comic novelty songs such as "That Noise" and "The Oompa-Loompa Song", and his versions of "Strawberry Fair" and "Pop Goes the Weasel". He wrote songs that others made hits including "Goldfinger" (the title song of the James Bond film, Goldfinger, music by John Barry), and "Feeling Good", which became a hit for Nina Simone and the rock band Muse, as well as a signature song for singer Michael Bublé. It was featured in a jam recorded live at The Fillmore West for Traffic's 1969 LP, "Last Exit." It has also been covered by Joe Bonamassa on his album "The Ballad of John Henry".

He wrote ballads, many with Leslie Bricusse, that became signature hits for Sammy Davis, Jr., Shirley Bassey and Tony Bennett. During the 1960s he also added his greatest accomplishments on the London West End theatre and Broadway theatre stage, in Hollywood films and British and American television.

With Leslie Bricusse, he wrote the musical Stop the World - I Want to Get Off in which he also performed, earning a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. The play was made into a (poorly received) film version in 1966, but Newley was unable to star in it because of a schedule conflict. The other musicals for which he co-wrote music and lyrics with Bricusse included The Roar of the Greasepaint—the Smell of the Crowd (1965) and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), based on the children's book by Roald Dahl.

When he collaborated with Bricusse, the two men referred to themselves as the team of "Brickman and Newburg", with "Newburg" concentrating mainly on the music and "Brickman" on the lyrics. Ian Frasier often did their arrangements. For the songs from Hieronymous Merkin, Newley collaborated with Herbert Kretzmer.

In 1963, Newley had a hit comedy album called Fool Britannia!, the result of improvisational satires of the British Profumo scandal of the time by a team of Newley, his then-wife Joan Collins, and Peter Sellers. It peaked at number 10 in the UK Albums Chart in October 1963.

Newley's contributions to Christmas music are highlighted by his rendition of "The Coventry Carol" which appears on many anthologies. He also wrote and recorded a novelty Christmas song called "Santa Claus Is Elvis". And there is a notorious album of spoken poetry which has Newley appearing in the nude on the sleeve with a similarly attired young model.

Newley played Matthew Mugg in the original Doctor Dolittle and the repressed English businessman opposite Sandy Dennis in the original Sweet November. He also hosted Lucille Ball on a whirlwind tour of mod London in the TV special Lucy in London (1966). He performed in the autobiographical, Fellini-esque and X-rated Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?, which he also directed and co-wrote with Herman Raucher. He performed in Quilp (based on Dickens's 'The Old Curiosity Shop'), for which he composed some songs ('Love Has the Longest Memory of All'). His last feature role in the cast of the long-running British TV soap opera EastEnders was to have been a regular role, but Newley had to withdraw after a few months when his health began to fail.