Editing Jimmy Edwards (section)

==Acting career==
{{More footnotes needed|section|date=October 2019}}

===Radio and television===
Edwards was a feature of London theatre in post-war years, debuting at London's [[Windmill Theatre]] in 1946 and on BBC radio the same year. His early variety act, where he first used the name Professor Jimmy Edwards, was described by [[Roy Hudd]] as being "a mixture of university lecture, [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] slang, the playing of various loud wind instruments and old-fashioned attack".<ref>Roy Hudd & Philip Hindin, ''Roy Hudd's Cavalcade of Variety Acts: A Who Was Who of Light Entertainment 1945–60'', Robson Books, 1997, pp. 50–51.</ref> Edwards was in the ''London Laughs''<ref>{{cite web |title=guidetomusicaltheatre.com |url=http://guidetomusicaltheatre.com/shows_l/londonlaughs.htm |website=guidetomusicaltheatre.com |access-date=February 15, 2022}}</ref> revue at the Adelphi Theatre, London from 12 April 1952 to 6 February 1954 with [[Tony Hancock]] and [[Vera Lynn]]. He had previously performed in the [[Cambridge Footlights]] revue. He gained wider exposure as a radio performer in ''[[Take It From Here]]'', co-starring [[Dick Bentley]], which first paired his writer [[Frank Muir]] with Bentley's script writer, [[Denis Norden]]. Also on radio he featured in ''Jim the Great'' and ''My Wildest Dream''.

He appeared in ''[[Whack-O]]'' on television, also written by Muir and Norden, and the radio panel game ''[[Does the Team Think?]]'', a series which Edwards created. In 1960 a film of ''Whack-O'' called ''[[Bottoms Up (1960 film)|Bottoms Up]]'' was written by [[Michael Pertwee]] with additional dialogue by Muir and Norden. On TV he appeared in ''[[The Seven Faces of Jim]]'', ''Six More Faces of Jim'' and ''More Faces of Jim''; ''[[Make Room for Daddy]]'', ''[[Sykes (TV series)|Sykes]]'', ''Bold As Brass'', ''I Object'', ''John Jorrocks Esq'', ''The Auction Game'', ''[[Jokers Wild (TV series)|Jokers Wild]]'', ''[[Sir Yellow]]'', ''[[Doctor in the House (TV series)|Doctor in the House]]'', ''[[Charley's Aunt]]'', ''[[Brendon Chase]]'' and ''Oh! Sir James!'' (which he also wrote).

He was the subject of ''[[This Is Your Life (British TV series)|This Is Your Life]]'' in 1958 when he was surprised by [[Eamonn Andrews]] at the BBC's Piccadilly 1 Studio.

Edwards starred in ''The Fossett Saga'' in 1969 as James Fossett, an ambitious Victorian writer of [[penny dreadful]]s, with [[Sam Kydd]] playing Herbert Quince, his unpaid manservant, and [[June Whitfield]] playing music-hall singer Millie Goswick. This was shown on Fridays at 20:30 on [[London Weekend Television|LWT]]; David Freeman was the creator.

===Stage and film===
In December 1958, Jimmy Edwards played the King in [[Rodgers and Hammerstein]]'s ''[[Cinderella (Rodgers and Hammerstein musical)|Cinderella]]'' at the [[London Coliseum]] with [[Kenneth Williams]], [[Tommy Steele]], [[Yana (singer)|Yana]] and [[Betty Marsden]]; Bobby Howell was the Musical Director.

On 2 April 1966, he played at the last night of [[Melbourne]]'s [[Tivoli circuit|Tivoli Theatre]]. His final words closed a tradition of [[Australia]]n [[music hall]]. "I don't relish the distinction of being the man who closed the Tiv. Music hall's dead in Britain. Now this one's dead, there's nowhere to go. I'll either become a character comedian or a pauper."<ref>Van Straten, F (2003) ''Tivoli'' p. 233; Lothian Books, Melbourne, Australia {{ISBN|0-7344-0553-7}}</ref>

Edwards frequently worked with [[Eric Sykes]], acting in short films that Sykes wrote: ''[[The Plank (1967 film)|The Plank]]'' (1967), which also starred [[Tommy Cooper]]; alongside [[Arthur Lowe]] in the remake of ''[[The Plank (1979 film)|The Plank]]'' in 1979; and in ''[[Rhubarb (1969 film)|Rhubarb]]'' (1969), which again featured Sykes. The films were not silent but had very little dialogue. He also appeared in ''[[The Bed Sitting Room (film)|The Bed Sitting Room]]'' (1969) as Nigel, a man who lives in a left luggage compartment after being mistaken for a suitcase.

Edwards and Sykes toured British theatres with their farce ''[[Big Bad Mouse]]'' which, while scripted, let them ad lib, involve the audience and break the "[[fourth wall]]". The show initially had a six-week run at the [[Palace Theatre, Manchester|Palace Theatre]], [[Manchester]] during which Edwards and Sykes had followed the script, with these performances greeted with universally poor reviews. Sensing that cancellation was imminent Edwards told Sykes that he intended to "have a bit of fun" with the show and for what was expected to be the last week of the run the two stars began to deviate heavily from the script. However the new, more improvised version proved a success with audiences and led to a long run for the show at the [[Shaftesbury Theatre]].<ref>Eric Sykes, ''Eric Sykes' Comedy Heroes'', Virgin Books, pp. 60–61</ref>

Sykes was replaced by [[Roy Castle]] in later runs in its three-year residency at the [[Shaftesbury Theatre]] in London's [[West End theatre|West End]] and in tours of the [[Middle East]] and [[Australia]]. Edwards and Sykes also performed the show for [[Rhodesia]]n troops at the request of the country's prime minister, [[Ian Smith]], a controversial event at the time.<ref>Slide 2018, [https://books.google.com/books?id=j8xgDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT213 p. 213]</ref> Edwards also starred in the stage revival of ''[[Maid of the Mountains]]''.