undefined poster

Personal Info

Birth date

1928-02-22 (97 Years)

Day of death

2017-08-18

Gender

Male

Known for

Acting

Place of birth

Edmonton, Middlesex, England, UK

Also known as

Sir Bruce Forsyth

Bruce Forsyth

Biography

Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson CBE was an English presenter and entertainer whose career spanned more than 70 years. Forsyth came to national attention from the mid-1950s through the ITV series Sunday Night at the London Palladium.

Filmography

The Generation Game poster

The Generation Game

9

Overview:

The Generation Game was a British game show produced by the BBC in which four teams of two competed to win prizes. The programme was first broadcast in 1971 under the title Bruce Forsyth and the Generation Game and ran until 1982, and again from 1990 until 2002. The show was based on the Dutch TV show Een van de acht, "One of the Eight", the format devised in 1969 by Theo Uittenbogaard for VARA Television. Mrs. Mies Bouwman - a popular Dutch talk show host and presenter of the show - came up with the idea of the conveyor belt. She had seen it on a German programme and wanted to incorporate it into the show. Another antecedent for the gameshow was 'Sunday Night at the London Palladium' on ATV, which had a game called Beat the Clock, taken from an American gameshow. It featured married couples playing silly games within a certain time to win prize money. This was hosted by Bruce Forsyth from 1958, and he took the idea with him when he went over to the BBC. During the 1970s, gameshows became more popular and started to replace expensive variety shows. Creating new studio shows was cheaper than hiring a theatre and paying for long rehearsals and a large orchestra, and could secure a similar number of viewers. With less money for their own productions, a gameshow seemed the obvious idea for ITV. As a result many variety performers were recruited for gameshows. The BBC, suffering poor ratings, decided to make its own gameshow. Bill Cotton, the BBC's Head of Light Entertainment, believed that Bruce Forsyth was best for the job. For years, The Generation Game was one of the strong shows in the BBC's Saturday night line-up, and became the number one gameshow on British television during the 1970s, regularly gaining over 21 million viewers. However, things were about to change. LWT, desperate to end the BBC's long-running ratings success on a Saturday night, offered Forsyth a chance to change channel to host The Big Night.

Acting

TBAHave I Got a Bit More News for You (1 Episode) as Self - Presenter

TBAGood Game, Good Game! as Unknown

2024Strictly Come Dancing: 20 Fabulous Years as Self (archive footage)

2021Parkinson at 50 as Self (archive footage)

2016Strictly Len Goodman as Self (archive footage)

2016Bruce's Hall of Fame with Alexander Armstrong as Self - Presenter

2014The Fight for Saturday Night as Self

2014Nat King Cole: Afraid of the Dark as Self

2014The Michael McIntyre Chat Show (1 Episode) as Self - Guest

2011Perspectives (1 Episode) as Unknown

2010A Concert for Heroes as Self

2010A Comedy Roast (1 Episode) as Unknown

2009Kathy Kirby: My Story By The Golden Girl of Pop as Himself

2009Alan Carr: Chatty Man (1 Episode) as Self

2009Kate Garraway's Life Stories (1 Episode) as Unknown

2008Happy Birthday Brucie! as Self - Performer

2007Bruce's Generation Game - Now And Then (5 Episodes) as Unknown

2006Legends (1 Episode) as Self

2006The One Show (1 Episode) as Self - Guest

2006The Story of Light Entertainment (1 Episode) as Self

2006Best Ever Muppet Moments as Self

2004Who Do You Think You Are? (1 Episode) as Self

2004Strictly Come Dancing (260 Episodes) as Self - Presenter

2004Didn't They Do Well (10 Episodes) as Unknown

2003Have I Got News for You: The Best of the Guest Presenters as Unknown

2001Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (3, 1 Episode) as Self, Self - Special Guest

2000House! as Himself

1999Loose Women (1 Episode) as Self

1998Parkinson (1 Episode) as Self

1997An Audience with Ronnie Corbett as Unknown

1997An Audience with Bruce Forsyth as Unknown

1995The Frank Skinner Show (1 Episode) as Self

1994An Audience with Jimmy Tarbuck as Self - Audience Member

1994Room 101 (1 Episode) as Self

1993An Evening with Lee Evans as Himself

1993GMTV (1 Episode) as Self

1992Bruce's Guest Night (14 Episodes) as Unknown

1992Fiddley Foodle Bird (13 Episodes) as Narrator (voice)

1990An Audience with Jackie Mason as Unknown

1990Have I Got News for You (1 Episode) as Self - Host

1990Takeover Bid (28 Episodes) as Unknown

1988Bruce and Ronnie as Self

1988You Bet! (99 Episodes) as Unknown

1987Going Live! (2 Episodes) as Self

1986Slinger's Day (12 Episodes) as Unknown

1986Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak (10 Episodes) as Unknown

1986Wedden, dat..? (1 Episode) as Self

1984The Price Is Right (100 Episodes) as Unknown

1984An Audience with Joan Rivers as Unknown

1983Anna Pavlova as impresario Butt

1982Wogan (1, 3 Episode) as Self, Self - Host

1980Magnum, P.I. (1 Episode) as Lottery Host

1980Sammy and Bruce as Self

1980Play Your Cards Right (259 Episodes) as Unknown

1979The Cannon & Ball Show (1 Episode) as Self

1978Bruce Forsyth's Big Night (14 Episodes) as Unknown

1978An Audience with... (4 Episodes) as Self

1976The Mating Season as Bruce Gillespie

1976The Muppet Show (1 Episode) as Self - Special Guest Star

1971The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins as Clayton (segment "Avarice")

1971Bedknobs and Broomsticks as Swinburne

1971The Generation Game (416 Episodes) as Unknown

1969Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? as Uncle Limelight

1968Star! as Arthur Lawrence

1966Mystery and Imagination (1 Episode) as Unknown

1959The Bruce Forsyth Show (31 Episodes) as Unknown

Writing

2004Strictly Come Dancing (3 Episodes) ... Writer