'Last slapstick comedian' Charlie Drake dies
Charlie Drake pictured in 1961
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Sunday, 24, Dec 2006 12:00
Slapstick comic Charlie Drake has died at the age of 81 following a long illness brought on by two strokes.
The comedian's manager of 37 years Laurie Mansfield said Drake had died peacefully in his sleep at a retirement home for entertainers in Twickenham, west London.
Drake was a popular figure in the 1960s and 1970s with his eponymous show, gaining surprise hits with comical songs My Boomerang Won't Come Back and Mr Custer.
And his manager today described him as the "last of the great slapstick comedians", dubbing his death as an "end of an era".
"His timing was acknowledged by everybody as being the very, very best and his passing is a great personal loss for me. He was a great, great comic talent," Mr Mansfield said.
"He was probably the most stubborn man I ever met. He knew what he wanted and would not accept compromise on getting what he wanted."
The son of a newspaper seller, Drake was born in Elephant and Castle, south London, and leaves behind three sons.