Eric Sykes Movies and Career Information

Eric Sykes, CBE (born 4 May 1923) is an English radio, television and film writer, actor and director whose performing career has spanned more than 50 years. He is widely acknowledged as one of the most significant figures in British radio and TV comedy in the latter 20th century and he frequently wrote for and/or performed with many other leading comedy performers and writers of the period, including Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, John Antrobus and Johnny Speight. Sykes first came to prominence through his many radio credits as a writer and actor in the 1950s, most notably through his work on The Goon Show. He became a TV star in his own right in the early 1960s when he co-starred with Hattie Jacques in several popular BBC comedy television series. A trademark of Sykes's work is the idea of taking a single comic idea to its extremes, as epitomised by what is probably his best remembered work, the famous slapstick film "The Plank". Sykes was educated at Ward Street Central School in Oldham. He joined the Royal Air Force during World War II and qualified as a wireless operator with the rank of Leading Aircraftman. Sykes's entertainment career began during World War II