Ringside Report Looks Back at Legendary Comedic Actor Marty Feldman (1934-1982)

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

“Please come quickly, I think I’m dying.”

These were, apparently some of his final words. Even close to death he had such wry understatement when, at the age of only 48, in Mexico and on a film shoot, but having shot his final scene, Marty Feldman, (1934-1982) took his final bow.

You have got admire his comic timing.

And now, many will struggle to name him or the films or television series he was an essential part of because his life was short, and our appreciation moved onto other icons who had one advantage over Feldman – they lived longer. There were few who had his comic timing in life.

To suggest that Feldman was a comic genius is a tad shorthand for man who gave much to the screen but for whom his eyes and his features were his greatest gift. Feldman looked funny and he didn’t mind it one bit.

‘My eyes are the by-product of a thyroid condition, perhaps brought on by an accident when a boy stuck a pencil in my eye at school or the result of a boating mishap, when I almost drowned. My looks are my comic equipment, and they are the right packaging for my job.’ So said Marty Feldman

Born five years before the eruption in Europe and Worldwide conflict that was World War Two, his formative years were bound up in that conflict. How could they not be as he was the son of a Jewish immigrant from Kiev, Ukraine and who found himself being evacuated to the country whilst the conflict began.

The policy of evacuation was instigated at the start of the war so that children would be safe from any Nazi bombardment. Large numbers of children found themselves ripped from their families and handed to mainly well-meaning hosts who, in most cases cared for their charges well. For some children it led to a feeling of separation, loneliness and some even found themselves at the wrong end of abuse.

Feldman just found himself intensely lonely.

His aforementioned strange looks came from the fact that he suffered from Graves’ ophthalmopathy which meant his eyes protruded and were misaligned giving him a distinctive appearance which was a trademark he valued. In his own words, “If I aspired to be Robert Redford, I’d have my eyes straightened and my nose fixed and end up like every other lousy actor, with two lines on Kojak. But this way I’m a novelty.”

Out of school at the age of 15 he was off to find his circus, starting as a jazz trumpeter but he was never the best, in fact it could be argued that he was so bad that the decision to become a comedian was more in the hands of his audience than himself. Given his looks, they found his natural métier.

His career as a comedian and actor was one that blossomed in the 1960’s and 1970’s, times that could be claimed to be simpler with less pressure because of the wide allowances given for comedy – there was less jeopardy for being offensive. But it was also a time when there were less opportunities.

There was no Amazon Prime, Netflix or Sky.

But there was Barry Took, with whom he worked on sitcom, Bootsie and Snudge, there was Monty Python, for whom he provided at least one sketch, Round the Horne with Kenneths Horne and Williams, and there was Marty, his own show, for which he won two British Academy awards.

Feldman made his first appearance on British television as part of a performing trio – Morris, Marty and Mitch – but it was his writing credits which really began to gain him credibility which led to him becoming the chief writer on the highly successful, The Frost Report from 1966 to 1967. His career brought him into contact with other massive British comedy names including John Cleese, Ronnie Corbett, Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Junkin, Ronnie Barker and Graham Chapman.

By 1969, his self-titled TV show was beginning to gain international recognition – his first series won the Golden Rose Award at Montreux. He as soon to discover that once you have worked your magic on the small screen, larger opportunities open up.

1974, EYE-gore and Young Frankenstein.

It is perhaps the greatest comedic compliment you could ever have, that Gene Wilder wrote a part, just for you. And he did. Mel Brooks’ Young FRONK-EN-SCHTEEN brought the comedy genius, which was Marty Feldman’s gift to us all, into each and every person’s cinematic experience. Though the lines that were written for him were delivered beautifully, he was given an opportunity to improvise – an opportunity he took with all his available hands. The result is a classic film but also a classic performance. Despite not being in the film as much as many other actors, it is his performance that stands out. In essence, the eyes had it!

Feldman was in 16 films, but Young Frankenstein was his biggest hit. He did continue to work with Mel Brooks and a couple of further films were canned with him providing an exceptional set of performances which were exceptional. It was such a monster that I don’t think he ever managed to replicate it. From that high, he returned to television, but now American audiences were calling, and he was making appearances on The Muppets and The Dean Martin Show before he ended up diversifying into, of all things, Italian cinema.

Perhaps the move into less mainstream cinema fit with who he was, as he was a man born ahead of his time. He was a firm vegetarian and committed socialist, who was never quiet when he was riled. When out on a publicity tour for a film he took the chance with the media to denounce a campaign against homosexuality led by American singer and anti-gay activist, Anita Bryant. He also appeared in court to help defend the magazine Oz who were prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act.

By the late 1970s, like many actors and comedians of his time, he was finding work but less fame which may well have suited his personality more. The film he was shooting, Yellowbeard, when he had his heart attack was one filled with British comedy actors of his generation. Monty Python member Graham Chapman was with Feldman when he died. His lifestyle of heavy smoking and rich perhaps the reason as to why his heart gave up. A consummate professional, prior to departing the world, his cinematic work on the film, at least, had been completed! But his legacy lives on and the film is dedicated to his memory.

It comes as no surprise that he was buried close to his hero, Buster Keaton, another who made fame out of his appearance and abilities in ways that we now recognize as genius, because that is precisely what it is

You can find him in….

• Young Frankenstein (1974)
• Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982)
• Silent Movie (1976)
• The Bed Sitting Room (1969)
• The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother (1975)
• The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977)
• Yellowbeard (1983)
• In God We Trust (or Gimme That Prime Time Religion) (1980)
• The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins (1971)
• Sex with a Smile (1976)
• Every Home Should Have One (1970)
• Slapstick (Of Another Kind) (1982)
• The Marty Feldman Show (1972)
• The Man Who Came to Dinner (1972)
• Marty Amok (1970)
• Marty (1968)
• The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine (1971)

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