Ernie Wise profile

Born in 1925, Ernie was a natural performer with a gift for singing and dancing. His talent was nurtured by his family, and at the tender age of seven he joined his dad in a travelling double act called Bert Carson and His Little Wonder. Together they played at countless music halls and working men's clubs, singing and cracking jokes for some of the toughest audiences across the country. It was only a matter of time before the "Little Wonder" became famous in his own right...

Ernie and Arthur

Ernie's flair for performance soon caught the attention of Jack Hylton – the legendary impresario who managed some of the biggest stage shows of the day. In 1939, when Ernie was barely a teenager, Hylton recommended him to the great music hall comedian Arthur Askey – the man who would one day inspire the "Where's me washboard?" character on The Fast Show.

The fact that a star like Askey had picked Ernie as his on-stage collaborator made the boy an overnight sensation, with newspaper headlines like "Fame in a night for a 13-year-old!" heralding Ernie's breakthrough. But it was Ernie's meeting with a certain other performer that year that would truly change his life.

Morecambe and Wise

In 1939, not long after being feted as a child star, Ernie Wise was invited by his mentor Jack Hylton to sit in on some auditions. One of the hopefuls was a young teenager named Eric who displayed such comic talent that another protégé of Hylton's turned to Ernie and said "So what will you do with yourself now?"

Ernie was certainly intimidated by Eric Morecambe's talent at first, but luckily they became friends rather than rivals. Their double act developed after Hylton placed them on the same travelling show, but they were forced to put things on hold as Europe was plunged into the war. Ernie served in the merchant navy, and when the conflict was over he and Eric resumed the partnership that would eventually create a national sensation.

Underrating Ernie

Eric Morecambe's flamboyant, larger-than-life persona meant that Ernie was rather unfairly overshadowed in the eyes of critics and viewers during their time on air and in the many years since. Even Ernie himself was modest about his role, saying that he was a "song and dance man" rather than an "out-and-out comic" like Eric.

In actual fact, Ernie was psychologically crucial to Eric. As their friend (and hapless insult-target) Des O'Connor recalls: "Eric was the wit but Ernie was the strength, the anchor. If Eric got lost, it was Ernie pulling him back and righting the boat." Eric was also open about how much he depended on Ernie's presence – once joking that he felt a cold draught down his side if Ernie left him alone on stage for longer than a few seconds.

After Eric

The magic and sunshine of Morecambe and Wise finally came to an end in 1984, when Eric Morecambe succumbed to a heart attack just minutes after completing a theatrical performance. Ernie likened it to "losing a limb" and knew that it would be pointless to attempt a solo comedy career.

He went into semi-retirement not long after that, setting up a new home in Florida but continuing to work whenever the mood took him. He became a regular fixture on Countdown, had a guest appearance on the children's series Rainbow (!) and made his final major TV appearance in 1993 – six years before his death – with The Importance of Being Ernie: a poignant documentary about his life as one half of the greatest double act in British comedy history.