Vic Oliver

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Vic Oliver
Vienna University
Occupations
  • Entertainer
  • musician
  • actor
  • radio comedian
Years active1919–1964
Spouses
Sarah Millicent Hermione Churchill
​
​
(m. 1936; div. 1945)​
Natalie Frances Conder
​
​
(m. 1946)​
Children1
Parent(s)Baron Viktor von Samek
Charlotte Wallner
Military career
AllegianceAustro-Hungarian Empire
Service/branch
First World War

Victor Oliver von Samek (8 July 1898 – 15 August 1964) was an Austrian-born British musician, entertainer, comedian and actor, most popular between the 1920s and 1950s.[1]

Early life and musical career

He was born in

Austrian cavalry as adjutant to Prince René of Bourbon-Parma, and at the end of the war escaped to France on a forged passport.[4]

After the war he briefly worked as a banker and for a textile manufacturer,[3] and performed as a drummer in a jazz band in Rouen and Le Havre. He travelled to the United States at the end of 1922, and played in vaudeville shows as a pianist and occasional vocalist. He joined a jazz group, The Nine Nights of Jazz, in 1923, and the following year formed a double act with violinist Margaret Crangle. After their act broke up, in 1927 he was appointed as conductor and compere of a travelling radio show in the U.S., with a portable transmitter.[4]

As a comedian and musician

In 1928, he reunited with Crangle. He discovered his gift for comedy by chance when he apologised to his audience after falling from a piano stool and found that his apologies "drew more laughs than did his accident".

Holborn Empire.[4]

He was principal comedian in

C. B. Cochran's revue Follow the Sun at the Adelphi Theatre, where he met Winston Churchill's daughter Sarah. After Oliver returned to New York to play in the revue It's the Tops, Churchill joined him there and they were married amid much publicity on Christmas Day 1936.[4] Winston Churchill did not approve of Oliver, who had been divorced at least once,[3] possibly twice. Some thought there was negativity also towards those involved with music halls.[5]

Oliver featured in a string of popular revues, just before and after the start of the

Second World War, including Black and Blue, Black Velvet, and The Night and the Music. During the war he starred in the BBC radio show Hi, Gang![6] and appeared in many others, including Oliver Twist, Yankee Doodle Do, and Vic Oliver Introduces.[4] He was Roy Plomley's first "castaway" guest on Desert Island Discs, on 29 January 1942.[7] This lost broadcast was recalled in 2012 in a BBC radio documentary about Oliver's life in Britain.[8]

He had aspirations as a conductor and in 1944 founded the Vic Oliver Concert Orchestra, which gave light classical concerts as well as complete opera performances.

Variety Playhouse as a primetime radio show featuring music, comedy and light drama; the show did not survive him.[6] In 1962 he appeared in Discord in Three Flats (1962) with Cicely Courtneidge and Jack Hulbert
.

Personal life and death

As a Jew, his name was reportedly listed on a

blacklist (known as "The Black Book") of people to be arrested and killed immediately in the event of a successful German invasion of Britain.[7] He became a naturalised British subject in 1948.[3]

Oliver became a supporter of First Division club Brentford and was vice-president of the club in the early 1950s.[2] He later became president of the Brentford Supporters' Club.[2]

Oliver and Sarah Churchill divorced in 1945.[7] It was noted[who?] that Oliver never capitalised on his relationship with Sarah Churchill, despite attractive offers. Oliver married Natalie Frances Conder in 1946 in Westminster, London, and they had one daughter.

He collapsed and died during a performance in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1964, aged 66.[3][7]

Portrayal

Oliver was briefly portrayed in the 2002 film The Gathering Storm. He was played by Gerrard McArthur.

Works

  • Oliver, Vic (1954). Mr. Showbusiness: The autobiography of Vic Oliver (hardcover) (First ed.). London: Harrap.

Filmography

References

  1. ^ "Vic Oliver". BFI. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  2. ^
    ISBN 1-874427-57-7
    .
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Vic Oliver Dead..", New York Times, August 16, 1964. Retrieved 9 February 2023
  4. ^
    ISBN 0-236-40053-3
    .
  5. ASIN B000L3RZ72
    .
  6. ^ a b c Obituary, The Times Online, Monday, 17 August 1964; p. 10, accessed 13 February 2015
  7. ^ a b c d e Alex Hudson (26 January 2012). "The castaway who annoyed Churchill". BBC News. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
  8. ^ "Vic Oliver: The First Castaway Remembered – BBC Radio 4 Extra". BBC. Retrieved 17 June 2018.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vic_Oliver&oldid=1176237838"