Anthony Newley

At 12 years old, he was the youngest cast member of Henry V (1944).

Anthony Newley was born in Hackney, London, England, to Frances Grace Newley and George Kirby, a shipping clerk. He was attracted to acting, after seeing an ad for a child actor in a Fleet Street window. He attended the Italia Conti Stage School from the age of 14 and, two years later, played the Artful Dodger in David Lean's film, Oliver Twist (1948).

Newley was called up to the Army for his National Service and, by the late 1950s, had a hit song Idol on Parade (1959), while in the movie of the same name.

He married his first wife, Tiller Girl Ann Lynn in 1956 but it was a rocky marriage and they divorced in 1963.

The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles and Albums described Newley as "among the most innovative UK acts of the early rock years before moving into musicals and cabaret". Between 1959 and 1962, Newley achieved 12 UK Top 40 singles, including two number ones.

He was in the pop charts seven times in 1960, twice at Number One with "Why?" and "Do You Mind?" written by Lionel Bart.

In 1961, he collaborated with Leslie Bricusse on the hit stage show, Stop the World: I Want to Get Off (1966). After long runs in London and on Broadway, it was made into a film, starring Millicent Martin, with the hit song "What Kind of Fool Am I?".

In 1963, he married Rank starlet Joan Collins. She described him at the time as "A half-Jewish Cockney git" and herself as a "half-Jewish princess from Bayswater via Sunset Boulevard".

Newley's film career thrived, most notably with acting roles in Doctor Dolittle (1967) and The Cockleshell Heroes (1955), and as a writer and composer. His partnership with Bricusse continued with "The Roar of the Greasepaint: The Smell of the Crowd" and many other Oscar, Grammy and Ivor Novello award-winning collaborations. They had hit songs such as "The Candy Man" and "Goldfinger".

His marriage to Joan Collins broke up in 1971. He had two of his four children with her. Tony was married a third time, to former air hostess Dareth Rich, only to divorce again. He once said "My only regret is that, in a show business career, you can have no private life". Alone and facing a battle against cancer, Newley moved in with his mother Gracie - now in her 90s - at her home in Esher, Surrey. The stage performances continued but were nothing to match his heyday.

Newley was raised by his mother Grace and a stepfather, whose name was Ronald Gardner. The latter wound up in Beverly Hills working as a chauffeur for London Towne Livery Service Ltd., owned and operated by actor Gerald Peters. Newley searched with the help of a detective and found his real father George Kirby and bought him a house in Beverly Hills, in the hopes that he would reunite with Grace--but it was not to be. Sammy Davis Jr. later bought or leased the house, which can be seen in an episode of the original Charlie's Angels (1976). Newley's stepfather's subsequent wife, Lucy, worked as a housekeeper for Newley's partner Leslie Bricusse for many years. Leslie traveled a lot and rarely lived in his Beverly Hills house, so Lucy maintained it while Leslie rented it out in succession to Natalie Wood, Peter Sellers, Michael Caine and Yul Brynner.

He was first treated for cancer in 1985 and had one kidney removed. The cancer returned in 1997 and spread to his lungs and liver.

Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1989.

Life companion of Gina Fratini from 1993 to his death.

Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 447-448. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.