Les Dennis Biography |Les Dennis

Les Dennis (Leslie Dennis Heseltine) was born on 12th October 1953 in Garston, Liverpool, United Kingdom. He is a television presenter, actor, and comedian. He is popularly known for his role as Michael Rodwell in Coronation Street.

He was the presenter of Family Fortunes for 15 years from 1987 until 2002.

Les Dennis Age | What age is Les Dennis?

Leslie Dennis Heseltine known as Les Dennis, is an English television presenter, actor, and comedian. He was the presenter of Family Fortunes for 15 years from 1987 until 2002. He was born on 12th October 1953 in Garston, Liverpool, United Kingdom (65 years as of 2018)

Early life

Dennis was born in Garston, Liverpool. His father worked in a betting shop after serving in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, and was listed as a football player on the books of Liverpool but did not play for the first team. His mother worked in a factory.

For a while, he lived in Speke and attended the Stockton Wood and Joseph Williams primary schools, and Quarry Bank High School after passing the 11-plus, by which time his family had moved to Childwall. He had a Saturday job in men’s clothing store Burton’s while still at school, and started in entertainment as a stand-up comedian in working men’s clubs.

Les Dennis Net Worth|How much is Les Dennis worth?

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Les Dennis Father

His father was Leslie Heseltine, Les Dennis revealed that he died at the age of 65. This was after he was also diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition – the same one that killed both his father and his long-standing comedy partner, Dustin Gee.

“The parallels with this storyline are quite freaky. Michael has been diagnosed with hypertrophic ­cardiomyopathy – Dustin had dilated cardiomyopathy, while my dad died from a heart condition.

Amanda Holden says BGT ‘liberated her’ after her split from Les Dennis

Fresh from the news that she has signed a record deal and will showcase her talents on Britain’s Got Talent, Amanda Holden has paid tribute to the show’s boss Simon Cowell.

She has revealed that she feels incredibly lucky that Simon picked her to appear on the talent show’s judging panel, admitting that it allowed her to step away from the headlines about her private life.

Before her marriage to husband Chris Hughes – with who she shares daughters Lexi and Hollie – she was married to Les Dennis.

She cheated on him with actor Neil Morrissey. Now Amanda admits that her role on BGT allowed her to move away from headlines about her love life and let the British public see the real her.

Speaking to The Mirror, she revealed: “Starting out on Britain’s Got Talent was liberating for me.”At the time I was with Chris, we’d been together for something like five years, but people still kept going on about Les and Neil.”

She said BGT allowed her to shatter people’s “preconceived ideas” of her. Amanda added: “I think I was able to make a wider audience understand that I probably wasn’t as bad as I’d been portrayed, or as naughty as I’d been portrayed.

I am naughty, I stand by that, but in a good way!”Saying that the show is now “the biggest thing in my life”, Amanda admits she was “lucky” that Simon Cowell picked her to appear on the show. She said: “Simon picked me because I was in a very well-known drama at the time.

“I was lucky that I was in Wild At Heart and he knew me. My career as an actress has essentially been put on hold because BGT has been the biggest thing in my life.”

Amanda has recently been enjoying a sunshine holiday with her family, before returning to work on her Heart breakfast show next week.

Les Dennis Wife|Is Les Dennis still married?

He married Lynne Webster in 1974 and divorced in 1990. On 4th June 1995 he married actress Amanda Holden, they temporarily split in 2000 when Holden’s affair with actor Neil Morrissey was exposed in the press, before eventually separating in December 2002 and divorcing in 2003.

Claire Nicholson Les Dennis

Dennis met Claire Nicholson in 2005 and got married on 23rd November 2009.

Children

He has a son Philip from his first marriage to Lynne Webster. He has two children from his marriage to Claire, Eleanor Grace born on 24 April 2008 and Thomas Christopher born on 14 April 2011.

Les Dennis Coronation Street

He played Michael Rodwell a former convict who befriended Gail McIntyre in 2014 through a Restorative Justice scheme, much to the disapproval of her family. Michael and Gail entered into a relationship following his release from prison and he moved into 8 Coronation Street a few months later.

A more settled Michael decided it was the right time to trace his long-lost family, but was shaken to learn that he could be suffering from a hereditary heart condition. With his diagnosis confirmed, he decided to contact his son Gavin, and slowly built up a relationship – unaware that it was actually Gavin’s former flatmate Andy Carver who’d turned up using Gavin’s identity,

but the longer the pretense continued, it was decided to hide the truth from Michael as it was possible that the shock could kill him. Michael died from a painfully slow heart attack while begging the conniving Pat Phelan to save him.

Les Dennis Family Fortunes

He presented Family Fortune from 1987 to 2001. Family Fortunes is a game show based on the American game show Family Feud. The game involves two families providing answers to ‘everyday questions’ that were surveyed by 100 members of the British public before the show to win cash prizes (and sometimes mystery prizes for giving a correct answer).

Les Dennis Comedy Partner|Who is Les Dennis partner?|Is Hugh Dennis related to Les Dennis?

Les Dennis’ Comedy Partner was Gerald Harrison who performed under the name Dustin Gee. Dustin Gee was an English impressionist and comedian, best known for his double act with fellow comic, Les Dennis.

He was born on 24 June 1942 in York and died on 3 January 1986. Gee’s funeral was held on 9 January 1986, at St Oswald’s Church, at Fulford, York. Three hundred people attended, amongst them Elizabeth Dawn, Bill Tarmey, Thelma Barlow, Dana, John Hamp, The Krankies, John Birt and Les Dennis. He was later cremated at a private ceremony.

Peter Hugh Dennis (born 13 February 1962), known professionally as Hugh Dennis, is an English comedian, actor, writer, impressionist, and voice-over artist, best known for being one half of Punt and Dennis with comedy partner Steve Punt, and playing Pete Brockman, the father in the BBC One sitcom Outnumbered.

Career

Early work and Family Fortunes
As a comedian, Dennis worked the North West social and working men’s clubs. He was given his earliest opportunities by Liverpool-based husband and wife theatrical agents Stuart and Dorene Gillespie (who had themselves been a successful variety act) and whom Dennis in his autobiography credits with discovering him.

His debut radio broadcast 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.

Dennis almost became the first contestant ever to score the maximum 120 points on New Faces; but had to settle for 119 when Tony Hatch gave him 9 out of 10 in his final mark, drawing derision from the rest of the panel that included Arthur Askey.

In 1982, he joined as one of the teams 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 Gee’s sudden and unexpected death on 3 January 1986, Dennis 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.

It was at a recording of an episode of Family Fortunes in 1997 that Les Dennis was surprised by the This Is Your Life team, with host Michael Aspel coming onto the set just at the conclusion of one episode to present Les with the “big red book” and to say “This is your life” to the astounded comedian.

Aspel had arranged for the Family Fortunes buzzer to keep sounding at the end of the episode where Dennis usually says goodbye to the viewers, and to have the words “Les Dennis Tonight…” appear on the Family Fortunes big studio screen, much to the bewilderment of Dennis, who realised what was happening only when he turned around and saw Michael Aspel walking onto the set.

Theatre
His theatre work includes Amos Hart in Chicago and Bill Snibson in Me and My Girl in the West End. He has starred in Skylight at the Water Mill Theatre, Newbury, Berkshire; Mr. Wonderful at the Gateway Theatre, Chester; Misery at the Coliseum Theatre, Oldham; toured in the play Just Between Ourselves, and appeared with Janet Suzman in Cherished Disappointments In Love at London’s Soho Theatre.

He starred with Christopher Cazenove and John Duttine in a national tour of ‘Art’ and as Norman Bartholomew in Anthony Shaffer’s dark comedy Murderer at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory. He also starred in a hit season in Neville’s Island at Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

Dennis appeared in the role of Mr. Fulton in High School Musical 2 in a UK tour from late August 2009 to February 2010. He had also made an appearance on two episodes of Bang Bang, It’s Reeves and Mortimer in The Club sketch, where he played himself.

When he took part in a video-only special of Shooting Stars in 1993, Vic Reeves when introducing him pronounced his name as though it were French, saying “Les Dennis, the French fire engine”.

He toured in Hairspray as Wilbur Turnblad alongside Michael Ball, Brian Conley, and Michael Starke – who alternated the role of Edna Turnblad. He starred in the touring production of Legally Blonde The Musical in 2012, playing the role of Professor Callahan.

In 2017, Dennis played the role of Uncle Fester on the UK tour of the musical production of The Addams Family. The production starred Samantha Womack and Carrie Hope Fletcher and was produced by James Yeoburn and Stuart Matthew Price for United Theatrical, Katy Lipson for Aria Entertainment and Music & Lyrics in association with Festival Theatre, Edinburgh.

Film
Dennis’s big-screen debut was in the film Intimate Relations with Julie Walters, Rupert Graves and Laura Sadler and he appeared in the comedy feature film Large and in Wildlife, a short directed by Nick Allsop.

Other acting work
Dennis has appeared as Jeff Evans in Brookside (2001), Merseybeat, Family Affairs, Casualty, the short-lived revival of Crossroads and Hotel Babylon (2006; guest appearance).

Big Brother
Dennis appeared in the second series of the UK Celebrity Big Brother during the period when his marriage to Amanda Holden was breaking down again – he described his time in the BB House as “not one of his wisest moves”, although he went on to finish as runner-up to Mark Owen.

2005–2007
On 11 August 2005, Dennis appeared as a guest star in an episode of the first series of BBC sitcom Extras, written by and starring Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. In this appearance, Dennis portrayed a fictional version of himself, alongside Gerard Kelly, who played a camp theatre director, the recurring character Bunny. Dennis would go on to say that “you could say Extras changed my life.”

In early 2006, Dennis presented and performed in BBC One’s The Sound of Musicals and guested in New Street Law on BBC One.

In summer 2006, he played scriptwriter Nick Chase in a new comedy play called Marlon Brando’s Corset, which toured the UK from July 2006, including a month-long run at the Edinburgh Fringe.

He appeared as a guest on August 2006 on the ITV drama series, The Bill starring as a man suspected of murdering his father. Dennis appeared alongside fellow former Russ Abbot performer Lisa Maxwell, who played D.I. Samantha Nixon in the series.

At the 2006 Edinburgh International Television Festival, it was announced Dennis would make a return to the game show genre, presenting a new big-money quiz show titled In the Grid for Channel 5. The show debuted on 30 October 2006 and aired for one series. From April 2007, he also hosted UKTV Gold’s TV Now and Then quiz show. The same month he guest-starred on BBC One’s Holby City.

He appeared on The Friday Night Project as a panelist on “Who knows the most about the guest host?” when Rupert Everett guest hosted. In theatre Dennis guest-starred as a narrator in Side by Side by Sondheim at the Venue, London.

As one of the team, he completed running the Safaricom Marathon in Lewa to raise funds for the BBC Wildlife Fund, screened on BBC One’s Saving Planet Earth on July 2007.

In August 2007, he starred in the hit play Certified Male—about the highs and lows of modern manhood—at the Edinburgh Festival. He then toured in The Servant of Two Masters, directed by Michael Bogdanov and at Christmas he returned to pantomime after a ten-year break, co-starring in Cinderella with Hollywood veteran Mickey Rooney at the Empire Theatre, Sunderland, produced by First Family Entertainment. Dennis’s autobiography, Must The Show Go On? was published by Orion in early 2008.

In April 2008, Dennis toured in Eurobeat Almost Eurovision prior to a West End season in the show. Also in 2008, he narrated the home video clip show on Challenge, Les Dennis’s Home Video Heroes, and appeared in the ITV documentary Les Dennis’ Liverpool, which was, coincidentally, broadcast a week after BBC Two ran Alexei Sayle’s Liverpool, a three-part documentary on the city.

During Christmas 2008 panto season, Dennis appeared as Buttons in Cinderella at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool. The pantomime also featured Jennifer Ellison as Cinderella and Cilla Black as the Fairy Godmother. At Christmas 2008, Les was featured on the Wombats’ Christmas single and video Is This Christmas? in aid of MENCAP.

Dennis was a celebrity player on Alan Carr’s Celebrity Ding Dong in 2008; he began the episode by mentioning how the set was a ripoff of the Family Fortunes set, only to have Alan Carr interrupt him by making an “X” with his arms and imitating the infamous “UH-UHH!” sound.

In 2009, Dennis played Herbert Soppitt in J. B. Priestley’s When We Are Married at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds and the Playhouse, Liverpool. At Christmas 2009, he returned to the Liverpool Empire to appear in Peter Pan with Fonz actor Henry Winkler and again in 2010 to play the role of Aladdin’s brother, Wishee Washee in Aladdin.

As of 2010, Dennis presents the children’s TV series Fee Fi Fo Yum for CBBC.

From 17 October 2011, Dennis was due to start a week-long stint in Countdown’s Dictionary Corner.

In 2011 he again worked with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, with recurring appearances as a fictionalized version of himself in the Warwick Davis comedy series, Life’s Too Short. From August 2012, he performed in the play Jigsy at the Assembly Rooms (Edinburgh) as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

2013–present
In 2013 Dennis was reunited with Warwick Davis when the pair joined the cast of the West End production of Monty Python’s Spamalot at London’s Playhouse Theatre. His next theatrical appearance came in an adaptation of Peter James’ novella The Perfect Murder”.

In 2013, Dennis was a contestant in Celebrity MasterChef. He finished as runner-up to Ade Edmondson. He has since returned to the show as a guest judge.

In December of that year, Dennis appeared in an episode of Midsomer Murders titled “The Christmas Haunting”.

Coronation Street
On 23 January 2014, it was announced that Dennis would join the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street, playing the part of Michael Rogers (later changed to Michael Rodwell after press release), a petty burglar.

He began filming on 27 January 2014 and made his first appearance on TV on 24 March 2014. The show’s producer Stuart Blackburn said: “Les is a fantastic performer and a real coup for Corrie. I can’t wait for him to join the team”.

On 18 November 2016, Dennis’s character Michael Rodwell was killed off from Coronation Street – after suffering a heart attack and being left for dead by the show’s villain, Michael’s love rival Pat Phelan.

After Coronation Street
In April 2017 Dennis took the role of the Addams family uncle, Fester, in The Addams Family UK tour.

TV Shows and Movies

• Since 1960: Coronation Street
• 1980 – 2004: Family Fortunes
• Since 2001: Celebrity Big Brother
• 1984 – 1991: The Laughter Show
• Since 1986: The Russ Abbot Show
• Since 2010: Fee Fi Fo Yum
• Since 1997: Wyrd Sisters
• 1999: Bang, Bang, It’s Reeves and Mortimer
• 2006 – 2007: In the Grid
• 2008: Les Dennis’s Home Video Heroes
• Since 1987: The Les Dennis Laughter Show
• 2002 – 2004: Engie Benjy
• Since 1980: Russ Abbot’s Madhouse
• Since 1984: Go For It
• 1996: Intimate Relations
• 2004: Fat Slags
• 2001: Large
• 2004: The Second Quest

Les Dennis Interview

Last night on Earth … What’s your poison?

Les Dennis: A bottle of beautiful red wine. No point worrying about units on your last night. I noticed Howard Marks chose the same wine I would choose when you asked him this question. Brunello Da Montalcino. It’s a stunning Tuscan red that demands a large plain crystal glass and is best drunk on an Italian terrace with the one you love.

Last Supper … What are you ordering?

Les Dennis: If it’s to go with the wine it would be Italian food. I’d start with a bowl of Linguini Vongole, then a lamb dish, probably rack of lamb and finish with a pannacotta with lots of fresh mints. Same thinking as the last drink… sod the calories!

The last person, you’d want to share a drink with?

Les Dennis: Already answered that one. It would be my beautiful partner Claire. Would prefer to say wife, and we’re working on that one.

Last time you shed a tear and why?

Les Dennis: I cry all the time, especially when children are involved. The films on Comic Relief always move me. I have such respect for the work Richard Curtis and co do.

Last refuge … where would you go?

Les Dennis: Home to Liverpool. That might sound strange as I live in London, but Liverpool is my spiritual home and I feel calmer there.

Last the course … tips on loot, love & life?

Les Dennis: Love comes when you least expect it and when it does it changes your life for good. Your family is your most valuable asset and, as we are seeing in these tough times, will help you much more than money. Live every day as if it’s your last… one day you’ll be right.

Last but one… random question: as a die-hard Liverpool fan, how much sleep have you lost over the current plight of Leeds United?

Too worried about losing sleep over Liverpool to worry about Leeds, sorry! I’ve got a fondness for Leeds though, so good luck and sleep well!

Famous Last Words?

If I’m up there I’ll give you the money myself!

Source: On Yorkshire Magazine

 Les Dennis Video

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