Early life and career
Will Fyffe was born on 16 February 1885 in a tenement at 36 Broughty Ferry Road, Dundee, [3] the eldest child of John Fyffe (1864–1928), a ship's carpenter, and Janet Rhynd Cunningham (1858–1949), a music teacher.
His father was interested in theatrical entertainment and operated a Penny Geggy, in which Will gained experience as a character actor.
In his 20s, Fyffe joined Will Haggar Junior's Castle Theatre company, touring the South Wales Valleys from its base in Abergavenny. Fyffe and his wife are featured in an advert for the Castle Theatre in the Portable Times in 1911.
Fyffe's screen debut was in 1914 when William Haggar, Will Junior's father and a pioneer silent film producer, made a 50-minute version of the classic Welsh tale The Maid of Cefn Ydfa, which was first screened in Aberdare in December of that year. Reviewed in The South Wales Echo in 1938, the film disappeared, but was rediscovered in 1984 in a family cupboard and conserved. 38 minutes survives in the Welsh Film Archive in Aberystwyth. In the film, Fyffe plays Lewis Bach, the loyal servant of the maid. [4] He appealed against conscription in 1918 on grounds of his occupation, serious hardship and ill health. [5]
As a character actor, he was much in demand in Hollywood and Britain, starring and co-starring in dozens of productions, with Finlay Currie, Patricia Roc, John Laurie, Duncan MacRae, John Gielgud, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Margaret Lockwood and Charles Hawtrey. His last film was The Brothers, released shortly after his death. In Owd Bob, (To the Victor in America), Fyffe plays the 'likeable old curmudgeon' McAdam,. The New York Times describes Fyffe's performance as fitting "snugly into the mental dossier we have been compiling under the heading 'great performances'". [6] Ted Black at Gainsborough Pictures promoted Fyffe's persona in a series of pictures. [7]
Although he became well known as a talented actor for the breadth of his on-screen characterisations, Fyffe was a successful music hall artist (singer-songwriter and comedian), creating a succession of comic characters, whose story he narrated with his unique form of delivery. Fyffe would start his song, pausing in the middle to give a monologue with details of the song's story, then resume the song where he left off. Daft Sandy, the village idiot, was one of Fyffe's more popular characters. The drama critic James Agate referred to this as "a masterpiece of tragi-comedy".
In 1937, Fyffe appeared in the Royal Command Performance at the London Palladium, one of numerous appearances, and he became regarded as Queen Elizabeth's favourite entertainer. As one local commentator put it:
"...we are sure the lasting thrill for us all was the finale, Will Fyffe, a wonderful Scottish comedian, was top of the bill. To finish, he sang a song. On the second chorus, the scenery changed completely, and down the aisles came Scottish Pipers. The artists all appeared around a rostrum in front of the orchestra, and we filled the stage, in Scout uniform complete with red scarf. It was the greatest thrill of our young lives. As the National Anthem was played, we faced the Royal Box and sang as we had never sung before."
For a period, Fyffe developed a successful stage partnership with Harry Gordon, playing with him in pantomime for many years, most notably at the famed Alhambra Theatre Glasgow.
In 1939, Fyffe was the ninth most popular British star at the box office. [8] He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1942 Birthday Honours. [9]
"I Belong to Glasgow"
It was when Fyffe wrote and recorded the song "I Belong to Glasgow" that he became a worldwide star. According to Albert Mackie's The Scotch Comedians (1973), [10] Fyffe found the inspiration for the song from a drunk he met at Glasgow Central Station. The drunk was "genial and demonstrative" and "laying off about Karl Marx and John Barleycorn with equal enthusiasm". Fyffe asked him "Do you belong to Glasgow?", and the man replied "At the moment, at the moment, Glasgow belongs to me."
The song is believed to have been written in 1920, but it is unclear if it was first released that year. A known release of the song in 1921 shows it as a B side to "I'm 94 To-Day". [11] The song was released as an A side in 1927. [12]
He was so popular that the Empire Theatre in Glasgow ran a 'Will Fyffe' competition, with dozens of entrants singing "I Belong to Glasgow". Heavily disguised as himself, Fyffe entered the competition for a bet, but he only won the second prize. [13] According to theatre manager and historian, W. J. MacQueen-Pope: "Will Fyffe was a man of great honesty and integrity", and these traits comes across in his songs when heard today.
Fyffe died by falling from a hotel room window. [2] After an operation on his right ear in 1947, Fyffe went to recuperate at his own hotel in St Andrews. One night, he fell from the window of his suite and was taken to the local cottage hospital, where he later died. [3] [13] [14]
Fyffe was buried in his adopted home city of Glasgow, at Lambhill Cemetery, three days later.
Fyffe was survived by a son Will Fyffe Jnr (1927–2008), a musical director who wrote a musical about his father's life, and a daughter, Eileen.
