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Explore the latest developments concerning Comedian Stanley Baxter.

Comedian Stanley Baxter dies aged 99

Scottish actor and comedian Stanley Baxter has died at the age of 99.

Born in Glasgow in 1926, he was one of the biggest stars on British television for several decades.

Baxter starred in a number of hit series between the 1960s and the 1980s, and was also known for his acting roles and as a pantomime regular.

His friend and biographer Brian Beacom said Baxter died on Thursday in Denville Hall, a north London care home for entertainment figures where he had lived since late 2023.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland's Lunchtime Live programme, actress Elaine C Smith said Baxter was "an inspiration" and his death felt like "the end of something".

‘Astonishing’: how Stanley Baxter’s TV extravaganzas reached 20 million

The Scottish star used his exceptional gift for impersonations to create genre-mashing specials that were as epic as the Hollywood films they parodied. He was a perfectionist performer with huge talent

The description “special” is overused in television schedules; Stanley Baxter’s programmes justify it. The comedian is one of the few stars whose reputation rests on a handful of astonishing one-offs – standalone comic extravaganzas screened in the 1970s and 1980s, first by ITV’s London Weekend Television and then the BBC.

In both cases, the networks ended their associations with Baxter not because of lack of audience interest – at their peak, the shows reached more than 20 million viewers – but due to the colossal costs demanded by the performer’s vast and perfectionist visual ambition. One of Baxter’s favourite conceits was to re-create, in witty pastiche, scenes from big-budget Hollywood movies that made it look as if his versions had also spent millions of dollars.

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