
Leslie Dennis Heseltine,
known as Les Dennis (born 12 October 1953) is a British comedian, television
presenter and actor, best known as the presenter of Family Fortunes for 15
years from 1987 until 2002. He currently plays Michael Rodwell in Coronation Street .
Les was born in Garston, His father worked in a betting shop after service in
the Royal Navy during World War II and a period as a football player on the
books of Liverpool F.C. (but did not play for the first team), whilst his
mother worked in a factory. He attended the Stockton Wood and Joseph Williams
primary schools and then Quarry
Bank High
School after passing the Eleven plus exam. He had
a Saturday job in Burton 's
clothes store whilst still at school and started in entertainment as a stand-up
comedian in working men's clubs. His first radio appearance was in 1971 on
Stuart's BBC Radio Merseyside series Variety Time (the programs were taped in
front of a live audience in Merseyside clubs). In 1974, he won "New
Faces", an ITV talent show and appeared on numerous light-entertainment
shows. In 1982, he joined as one of the team on Russ Abbot's Madhouse and The
Russ Abbot Show before forming a comedy partnership with fellow impressionist
Dustin Gee, which in turn led to a series of their own, The Laughter Show.
Following Dustin's sudden and unexpected death on 3 January 1986, Les carried
on The Laughter Show as a solo performer and became the third host of Family
Fortunes for a fifteen-year run from 1987 to 2002.
His theatre work included Amos
Hart in Chicago , Bill Snibson in Me and My Girl
in the West End . He toured in Hairspray as
Wilbur Turnblad alongside Michael Ball, Brian Conley and Michael Starke. He starred
in the touring production of Legally Blonde The Musical playing the role of
Professor Callahan. Dennis has appeared in Brookside ,
Merseybeat, Family Affairs, Casualty, the short-lived revival of Crossroads and
Hotel Babylon. He first appeared on Coronation
Street in March 2014 as Michael, who was caught by
Gail Platt attempting to burgle her house. He returned as a full-time cast
member in June 2014 after he apologized to Gail and the two have gone on to
form a bond.

His hopes of being able to
progress to university were dashed when he had to leave school and get a job
after his father was badly injured in an industrial accident. He then worked as
a clerk in a docklands warehouse and at the United States Consulate in Liverpool , before being called up for national service
with the Royal Corps of Signals. He developed a taste for acting when posted in
the Army to SHAPE in Paris .
He spent five years honing his acting skills in repertory theatre, before
venturing into films and television in the 1960s. He appeared in the popular
British television series Coronation
Street in 1960 and in an episode of The Avengers,
but it was his role as the left-wing son-in-law in Till Death Us Do Part (1965)
that brought him recognition. From a working-class background, he is a strong
supporter of the Labour Party. He has served as president of Equity, the
actors' union. He has been married four times and has eight daughters. By his
first wife Gale Howard he has two daughters, including Cherie, a prominent
Queen's Counsel, who is married to former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Booth
suffered a stroke in 2010. He has suffered from Alzheimer's disease since 2004.
Derek Robert Nimmo (19
September 1930 – 24 February 1999) was an English character actor, producer and
author. He was born in Liverpool and was educated at Booker Avenue Infants and Junior School
as well as Quarry Bank High School
and began his stage career at the Hippodrome Theatre in Bolton, Lancashire . It was during this time that he made a cameo
appearance in the Beatles' film, A Hard Day's Night (in which he appeared as
"Leslie Jackson", a magician with doves). He appeared in a number of
British films and television series, as aristocrats, including starring roles
in the television comedy series The World of Wooster (as "Bingo
Little"), and in the comedy film One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (as
"Lord Southmere"), as well as appearing in the James Bond spoof film
Casino Royale. Derek Nimmo made his name as the Reverend Mervyn Noote in the
British sitcom All Gas and Gaiters (1966). By the time the series finished,
Nimmo was identified with the stereotype of a traditional British clergyman and
he went on to play a bungling monk in another BBC clerical sitcom, Oh, Brother!
and its sequel series Oh, Father! in 1966, he appeared in the second series of
The Bed-Sit Girl. Derek Nimmo appeared on stage in many West
End plays and starred in the musical Charlie Girl, which contained
a scene specially written to allow him to perform his party trick of wiggling
his toes. He also became a regular panelist on the popular BBC radio show Just
a Minute, and had a chat show on BBC Television, If It's Saturday, It Must Be
Nimmo, from 24 October to 19 December 1970.
He married Patricia Brown
in 1955; they had three children, Amanda, Timothy and Piers. In December 1998,
Nimmo attended a National Treasures celebrity lunch in the boardroom of the
Daily Express newspaper along with Sir Peter O'Sullevan, Joan Collins, Dame
Beryl Bainbridge, Dickie Davies and Sue MacGregor amongst others.
He had recently returned
from a Middle East tour of Run For Your Wife
and was in sparkling form. After lunch he asked to be driven to the Garrick
Club for further refreshment, and then returned to his Kensington home. He and
his wife later went out to dinner. On their return, Nimmo was checking an external
alarm when he lost his footing and fell down a stone staircase into the
basement. He suffered head injuries and was taken to the Chelsea
and Westminster Hospital where he remained in a coma
until his death in February 1999.
He is buried in the
churchyard at Easton Maudit, a small rural village in Northamptonshire where he
kept a home.

Rita married photographer
Terry Bicknell in 1962. They had two daughters, Dodonna and Aisha Bicknell. In
1981, she married Iraqi cinematographer Ousama Rawi, spending eight years in Canada with
him. She now divides her time between Germany
and London ,
with her partner since the mid-1990s, writer Hans-Heinrich Ziemann. n July
2009, Tushingham received an Honorary Fellowship from Liverpool John
Moores University
for "outstanding and sustained contributions to the Performing Arts."
Sources
Wikipedia
BBC
ITV
Robert F Edwards