Biographie
Although Lowe is best remembered by variety enthusiasts as one half of the once highly popular double act Len and Bill Lowe, he also enjoyed a solo career both before and after that peak of comedy. The talented brothers actually formed two-thirds of a trio, with the third brother performing under the stage names Chester Ladd and later Don Smoothey. Each brother was a solo comedian at times and partnered in various double acts featuring traditional crosstalk comedy.
Leonard Lowe was born in Fulham, London, in 1915. Their parents had destined all three brothers for careers on stage, though variety was not their initial goal. A standout student at the Italia Conti School, Len made his first West End appearance in Miss Conti's annual production for parents, Where the Rainbow Ends. He then appeared in another West End Christmas favorite, Peter Pan, followed by the original production of Noel Coward's epic docu-drama Cavalcade at Drury Lane. When Fox adapted it into a film in Hollywood, Len’s role was played by the equally young Dickie Henderson Jr.
Blessed with a fine singing voice and guitar skills, the teenage Lowe joined Robert Atkins's inaugural season at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park. He remained with the company for two summers performing Shakespeare, interspersed with an appearance in the popular musical White Horse Inn at the London Coliseum.
Jack Hylton, who pioneered the "show band" style in the 1930s and became a prominent impresario, discovered Lowe during a hall performance. Not yet 20, the attractive young man was invited to join Hylton’s dance orchestra as a guitarist and singer. Lowe thus made his adult West End debut in Hylton’s star-studded variety show Life Begins at Oxford Circus, the 1935 sensation at the London Palladium. Later that year, Lowe could be seen in the band for Hylton’s successful film She Shall Have Music, which also featured Hollywood starlet June Clyde and Claude Dampier, the buck-toothed comedian known as "The Professional Idiot."
As a member of Hylton’s band, Lowe toured the United States, an opportunity made rare by objections from the American Musicians’ Union to Hylton bringing his full band. A live broadcast of the Hylton band in Chicago survives among collectors of vintage radio programmes.
In 1938, Lowe teamed up with his brother Bill to create the double act Len and Bill Lowe. Inspired by ideas from the US, they broke from the traditional crosstalk format. Instead of the usual pairing of a smartly dressed straight man with a baggy-panted, red-nosed comic, both wore stylish, fashionable suits. Philip Hindin, a music-hall historian, recalls them as pioneers of the smart double act, where both comedian and straight man donned Savile Row suits without baggy trousers or grotesque makeup—a style later adopted by Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise.
Following successful variety tours on the Stoll-Moss circuit and a West End run alongside Hollywood stars Bebe Daniels and Ben Lyon at the Holborn Empire, the brothers were drafted into the RAF. They headlined one of Ralph Reader’s RAF Gang Shows during World War II. When Hollywood actress Ann Dvorak came to England to film the propaganda piece There’s a Future in It (1943), she stayed on to entertain American troops. The Lowe brothers, who appeared briefly in the film, supported her, their slick American-style humor resonating well with GI audiences.
Post-war, the brothers appeared on radio variety shows such as Henry Hall’s Guest Night and Variety Bandbox. They also acted in British films, though only in minor second features, including Date with a Dream (1948) and Melody Club (1949). Both films are intriguing today, co-starring Terry-Thomas, Jean (later Jeannie) Carson, and Harry Green in the first, with Terry-Thomas again in the second. A memorable moment in the first film features a young Norman Wisdom making a brief appearance and falling over.
The partnership of Len and Bill ended in 1950 when Bill married co-star Jean Carson and embarked on a career in American television, leaving Len to seek a new comedic partner. Soon he joined forces with his other brother Don, now performing as Chester Ladd (a play on “just a lad”). As Lowe and Ladd, they toured Australia and New Zealand successfully and returned to perform in several seaside summer shows. After six years, they parted ways, with Chester Ladd reverting to Don Smoothey.
Television, which Lowe had first explored in 1951 as straight man to Cheerful Charlie Chester in a popular BBC series, called again. Jack Hylton, now supplying comedy to London’s new commercial station Associated-Rediffusion, cast Lowe in his top TV show starring Dickie Henderson, now old enough to drop the “Junior.” The Dickie Henderson Half Hour, featuring Anthea Askey as Mrs. Henderson, was ITV’s leading comedy series of 1958.
Other notable TV series for Lowe included What a Life (1966), a BBC show starring the radio comedian Al Read, and Kindly Leave the Stage (1968). The latter was a nostalgic tribute to fading old-style variety comedy. Headlined by eccentric acrobat Billy Dainty and reuniting Len with his brother Don, Lowe co-wrote scripts that revived many classic pre-war music hall gags and sketches. Unfortunately, this unique series appears to have been lost in the BBC archives. Lowe also appeared on The Basil Brush Show (1978), a children’s program moved to an adult timeslot, co-starring with conjuror David Nixon, newsreader Richard Baker, and the intriguingly named Fran Fullenwider.
Lowe appeared in a few more films, including a small role in Charlie Chaplin’s Countess From Hong Kong (1966)—a memorable experience for any comedian—and Carry On Loving (1970), alongside regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, and Charles Hawtrey.
His final television appearance with his brother Don came in 1984’s Century of Stars, a grand special hosted by the Duke of Edinburgh to celebrate the show-business charity, the Grand Order of Water Rats. This was especially meaningful to Len, who had been both a Preceptor and King Rat. The show featured everyone from Max Bygraves to Wee Georgie Wood, contemporary stars like Roy Castle, Les Dawson, and Bruce Forsyth, as well as veterans such as Bob and Alf Pearson, Tommy Trinder, and Fred Russell—the longtime ventriloquist and original Water Rat.
Lowe’s last London stage role was in Windy City at the Victoria Palace.
He was survived by his wife and two sons.
