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peterb
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« on: Friday March 11, 2005, 01:41:09 PM » |
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Irish comedian Dave Allen has died at the age of 68, his agent has said.
He died in his sleep at his west London home last night. He leaves a wife, Karin, and three children.
Allen's agent, Vivienne Clore, said the cause of death is unknown. The comic had not been suffering from any major illness.
He was a TV favourite with his shows Tonight With Dave Allen and Dave Allen At Large and famously delivered his comedy routines sitting on a stool with a cigarette and drink in hand.
Although smoking was part of his stand-up routine, Allen quit his 60-a-day habit in the 1980s, explaining: "I was fed up with paying people to kill me."
Allen was considered one of the first alternative comedians, telling risqué jokes about sex and religion and by swearing.
Born David Tynan O'Mahoney in 1936, he grew up in Dublin and moved to Britain aged 21.
He became a Butlins Redcoat before making his TV debut on New Faces in 1959. Several years on the stand-up circuit followed, including tours with the Beatles.
After appearing in his own show in Australia, he landed his first British TV series, Tonight With Dave Allen, in 1967 followed by The Dave Allen Show in 1968.
Dave Allen At Large began on the BBC in 1971 and ran for eight years. The mix of monologues and sketches became one of the most popular comedy shows on TV.
His last TV show, simply titled Dave Allen, ended in 1994.
In recent years he took a step back from showbusiness and, as a keen amateur artist, enjoyed exhibiting his own paintings.
But offers of work continued to come in and he was considering a project scheduled for later this year when he died.
Story filed: 13:51:54 Friday 11 March 2005
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