Julian Clary

Personal

Passions

Vocation

Family

British comedian, film actor, and TV host, best known for his camp television comporting in outrageous costumes and his endless stream of sexual double entendres and puns. He provided the British public with an image of a gay man who was also upfront about sex and sexuality. Brought up in Teddington, London, Julian has two older sisters. His dad was a traffic policeman and his mom a probation officer. Julian went to a strict Catholic school in Ealing, London. His campy affectations may have been influenced early by his sister, who began her career as a Tiller girl when Julian was 13. He studied drama at Goldsmith's College in south London, then had a variety of jobs including that of a guard on the London Underground and a singing telegram emissary. At the age of 19 he had a girlfriend but after she left him he started a relationship with a barman at the Old Vic. He started on the London comedy circuit as "Gillian Pie-Face," wearing a caftan, beads, and pink wig. His début television appearance was on Channel 4 in Cabaret at the Jongleurs in 1988 as "The Joan Collins Fan Club" with his pet, Fanny the Wonderdog. Fanny retired in 1988. In 1989, he began hosting "Sticky Moments with Julian Clary," a TV quiz show series in which he wore costumes that were over the top. In 1993 he was the host M.C. of the British Comedy Awards which was being broadcast live on TV. A sexual joke involving Norman Lamont, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, received uproarious laughter from the celebrity audience. Although there were only 12 complaints from a viewing audience of three million, the next day's press was indignant and called for him to be banned from television. As a result, Julian Clary went on tour in Australia. He returned to Britain in 1995 and took up acting and hosting again. In the film "Carry on Columbus," 1992, he played the prison governor Don Juan Diego. He was the subject of a biographical program in the series "First on Four," shown on Channel 4 television in 1998. As of 2000, he was co-hosting "Prickly Heat," a television game show on Sky Television that made its debut in 1998. Link to Wikipedia biography