Paul Nicholas

Paul Nicholas (born Paul Oscar Beuselinck; 3 December 1944) is an English actor and singer best known for starring as Vince Pinner in the BBC television sitcom Just Good Friends (1983–1986). The show won a BAFTA and Nicholas was nominated for best comedy performance. Nicholas was again nominated for Best Actor for his performance as Neil Walsh in the ITV Drama Series ‘Bust’ Nicholas was awarded a Silver Heart by the Variety Club of Great Britain for his services to Entertainment and Charity.

Nicholas started out with a pop career, but soon changed to musical theatre, playing the lead role in Jesus Christ Superstar at the West End's Palace Theatre in 1972. After Just Good Friends ended, he returned to musical theatre and various other entertainment roles, including producing and directing. He is also known for his more recent television role in EastEnders as Gavin Sullivan and appearing in The Real Marigold Hotel.

Early life

Paul Nicholas was born Paul Oscar Beuselinck on 3 December 1944 in Peterborough. His father was an entertainment lawyer, Oscar Beuselinck, whose clients included Sean Connery, the Beatles, Private Eye and MGM. His paternal grandfather also called Oscar Beuselinck, was Belgian and had been a chef in the merchant navy during World War II, before becoming head chef on the Union-Castle Line ships between the United Kingdom and South Africa. His maternal grandfather was a London docker.

The family spent holidays at his maternal grandparents' home on the Isle of Sheppey, until Nicholas was 10. After his parents divorced when he was 12, his father's family home was at Letchmore Heath, Hertfordshire, opposite the Bhaktivedanta Manor. His paternal grandparents, Winnie and Oscar, lived in a small cottage on the grounds.

Career

Nicholas began his pop career as early as 1960. Adopting the stage name Paul Dean, he formed Paul Dean and the Dreamers who were booked to support the Savages, the backing band for the British rocker Screaming Lord Sutch.

It was here that Sutch first noticed the young Nicholas, who was soon to become vocalist and pianist with the Savages. Still using the name Paul Dean, he released two solo singles in 1965–66. After taking a new stage name, Oscar, he began a long association with the Australian-born entrepreneur, Robert Stigwood. In 1966, Nicholas signed with Stigwood's Reaction Records label and his first single under his new name, "Club of Lights", scraped into the lower reaches of the Radio London Fab Forty chart.

The second Oscar single was a version of a Pete Townshend song "Join My Gang", which the Who never recorded. His third single, a novelty song called "Over the Wall We Go" (1967) is notable for being written and produced by a young David Bowie (Nicholas at this time was managing the band the Sweet and recommended them to record producer Phil Wainman whom he worked with at Mellin Music Publishing). After settling on the stage name Paul Nicholas, he found success in the UK in musicals, beginning with the leading role of Claude in Hair (which Stigwood produced) before winning the title role in the original London production of Jesus Christ Superstar. The part of Danny to Elaine Paige's Sandy made them the first British couple to play the leads in Grease.

Nicholas joined The Young Vic under Frank Dunlop and played Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing and appeared in Crete and Sgt. Pepper by John Antrobus. He appeared as the Bully of the Boulevard in Richard O’Brien’s T-Zee at London's Royal Court Theatre. He performed in Prospect Theatre Company's Carl Davies musical Pilgrim. While touring with O'Brien in Hair in 1970 he first heard and recorded two songs with Richard O’Brien from the yet to be produced Rocky Horror Show.

Nicholas's film career began in 1970 in Cannabis. He followed this with See No Evil (1971) and What Became of Jack and Jill? (1972). He then appeared in Stardust (1974), and Three for All (1975). In 1975, he played "Cousin Kevin", Tommy's vicious cousin, in Tommy, and portrayed Richard Wagner in Lisztomania (1975).

In 1976, Nicholas embarked on a short-lived but high-profile pop career, with three Top 20 hits in the UK singles chart "Reggae Like It Used To Be", "Dancing with the Captain", and "Grandma's Party", the last two of which reached the Top 10. He released the single "Heaven On The 7th Floor" in 1977. This only just reached the UK Top 40, but reached number No. 1 in New Zealand. In the US, the song peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 5 in Cashbox listings, giving Nicholas a gold record. He followed this with "On The Strip" which entered the Billboard Hot 100 No. 67 but failed to enter the UK chart. In the mid-1970s he hosted his own children's television pop show, Paul.

In 1978, Nicholas appeared in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as Dougie Shears. Further films followed including The World Is Full of Married Men (1979), Yesterday's Hero (1979), the loutish punk singer in The Jazz Singer (1980), the romantic lead in Invitation to the Wedding (1983), and Nutcracker (1983).

In 1979, he starred in Two Up, Two Down, a short-lived sitcom co-starring Su Pollard. Having participated in a workshop with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Nicholas returned to West End theatre in 1981 to create the role of Rum Tum Tugger in Lloyd Webber's musical Cats. He then originated the title role in Blondel by Tim Rice and Stephen Oliver. In 1983, he got his first high-profile television role as Vince Pinner in John Sullivan's BBC Television sitcom Just Good Friends. The show was a success, running for three series and ending at Christmas 1986, with Nicholas also singing the theme song. The show won a BAFTA and Nicholas was nominated for best comedy performance. He followed this by starring in two series of the comedy-drama series Bust for London Weekend Television.

Nicholas continued to play numerous roles on screen in both movie and television projects. In 1986, Nicholas starred in musicals including Jekyll and Hyde, Fiddler on the Roof’' and 42nd Street’' which was directed by the shows author Mark Bramble. He starred as The Pirate King in Joseph Papp's version of The Pirates of Penzance at the London Palladium and the Manchester Opera House, touring again in the same role in the late 1990s. He starred in Barnum in the first national tour and followed this with a highly successful season at The Dominion Theatre in the West End. At the end of 1991, while touring with Barnum, Nicholas was the subject of This Is Your Life.

For his services to show business and charity, Nicholas was awarded a Silver Heart from the Variety Club of Great Britain and a Gold Badge Award from BASCA for his services to the music industry. Nicholas then starred in the national tour of Singin' in the Rain, which was directed by Tommy Steele.

In June 1996, Nicholas played the role of King Arthur in the Covent Garden Festival's production of Camelot. He repeated his role of King Arthur in a BBC Radio 2 production of Camelot. Other radio work included Bert in BBC Radio 4's Gracie. He hosted two series of BBC Radio 2's Mad About Musical', as well as his own hour-long TV special, Paul and Friends, for Thames Television. Nicholas fronted the Radio 4 children's series Cat's Whiskers during the 1980s.

In 1997, Nicholas starred as the anti-hero of Karoline Leach's The Mysterious Mr. Love at the Comedy Theatre in London's West End. He continued to appear as the lead in numerous straight roles thereafter: Simon Gray's Stagestruck, a national tour of Michael Cooney's The Dark Side, Catch Me if You Can, and two plays by Eric Chappell: Mixed Feelings, in which he played a transsexual, and Snakes and Ladders. He starred as John Smith in the original production of Caught in the Net. In 1998, he co-produced, with Bill Kenwright, a new musical based on Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities, starring as Sidney Carton. The musical played Windsor with a Christmas season in Birmingham.

In 2000, Nicholas appeared in the BBC television comedy drama Sunburn, playing David Janus, owner of the self-titled holiday company around which the series was created. He then played Ronnie Buchan in the new police drama series Burnside. Further television work included parts in The Bill and Holby City.

Nicholas then played the title role in the national tour of Doctor Dolittle and followed this with the role of Tevye in UK Productions' national tour of Fiddler on the Roof. In the summer of 2006, he was a celebrity showjumper in the BBC's Sport Relief event Only Fools on Horses, as well as appearing in Doctors, Heartbeat and Holby City. That autumn, Nicholas was attached to star in the British film Cash and Curry, and that year he co-produced and starred in Jekyll & Hyde in a UK national tour.