George Formby
Also Known As: George Hoy Booth
Biography: George Formby (born George Hoy Booth) was the archetype "cheeky chappie" northern English comedian. Trained originally as a jockey, he often appeared on horseback in his films. Best known for his buck-toothed grin and his ukulele.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Wigan, Lancashire, England, UK
Birthday: May 26, 1904
Deathday: March 06, 1961
Adult: No
Gender: Male
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Known For:
Hitler: The Comedy Years
Overview: A documentary about the portrayal of Adolf Hitler in popular culture.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2007-05-10
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Bell-Bottom George
Overview: George is an unwilling civilian during the war. When an enlisted friend switches clothes with him in order to go to a party, George finds himself mistakenly pressed into the navy, where he gets involved with pretty Ann Firth and caught up in a subplot involving German spies.
Genres: War Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-02-07
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No Limit
Overview: George Shuttleworth is convinced that he has the talent to win the Isle of Man TT races, despite what his neighbours back home in Wigan may think. During the trials, the brakes go on George's bike, 'The Shuttleworth Snap', which he made himself. As a result, he breaks the TT lap record, becoming an instant motor-cycling star. As the big race approaches, George soon realises that other jealous riders will stop at nothing to make sure he does not take part in the race. An early George Formby film and probably his best.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1935-10-28
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I See Ice
Overview: George Bright is a props man in an ice ballet company, and a keen amateur photographer who accidentally snaps crooks at work. Comic complications ensue....
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1938-02-10
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It's in the Air
Overview: George Brown is rejected as an Air Raid Warden and in doing so sees his potential to join the Royal Air Force. His dreams could soon come true as he realises that in fact his friend has left behind some very important papers, he dons a his Royal Air Force uniform and delivers the papers when he is mistaken for a dispatch driver from HQ. He soon becomes the butt of jokes from his sergeant which ends him staying indefinitely at the air base. George soon falls in love with the Sergeant Major's daughter and when he discovers his real identity he threatens to report him. On the day of an annual inspection George attempts to escape the base and ends up in a plane, while the inspecting officer watches on, George's plane display is mesmerizing and the inspecting officer insists he should be commended, in order to save their skins George manages to land the plane and is accepted as a flyer by the RAF.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1938-11-01
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George in Civvy Street
Overview: George Formby plays George Harper, a tavern owner, who works to turn a waitress from her current employer, a rival tavern owner, when Formby falls in love with her.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-07-07
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Come on George!
Overview: George Formby, who plays George, a stable boy. He also has the unique ability to soothe an anxious racing horse. Expectedly, George races the horse and wins
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1939-12-01
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Turned Out Nice Again
Overview: George Pearson, an employee at an underwear factory, is caught between his modern wife and his meddling mother. After buying a special yarn and getting his wife to promote it, he has an argument with his boss, Mr Dawson who insults Pearson's wife and refuses to apologise. Pearson then resigns. After finding out that the yarn is actually worth a fair amount, Mr Dawson tries to buy it from Pearson but he has some competition.
Genres: Music Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1941-08-01
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Let George Do It!
Overview: Shortly after the start of World War II, a ukelele player (George) takes the wrong boat and finds himself in (still uninvaded) Norway. He is mistaken for a fellow British intelligence agent by a woman (Mary), and becomes involved in trying to defeat Nazi agents.
Genres: Comedy Music War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1940-07-12
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Boots! Boots!
Overview: Musical comedy starring George Formby alongside his wife Beryl in his first ever feature film. George plays John Willie, the shoeshine boy at the upmarket Crestonian Hotel. He's a cheeky little man with no time for authority, a head full of dreams, a pocketful of songs and a heart full of love for the hotel's scullery maid (Beryl Formby). After causing more than his fair share of chaos at the hotel, he finally gets the chance to redeem himself - and show off his hidden musical talents - when he finds himself topping the bill at the hotel's Gala Cabaret Night. Songs include: 'Why Don't Women Like Me?', 'Sitting on the Ice in the Ice Rink' and 'I Could Make a Good Living at That'.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1934-07-30
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Trouble Brewing
Overview: Ealing comedy starring music hall star George Formby. An eager newspaper reporter (Formby) goes undercover to expose a gang of counterfeiters. Posing as a wrestler and waiter in his investigative efforts, George proves a greater menace to public order than the criminals he is chasing.
Genres: Comedy Music Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1939-03-01
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South American George
Overview: To help out his exact double, George Formby (in a dual role) takes the place of a noted South American tenor. This way he can help the opera star fulfill contract obligations and also win the heart of the man's lovely press agent, Linden Travers.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1941-12-27
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Spare a Copper
Overview: George is an inept reserve policeman working in wartime Liverpool, who is chosen by a gang of Nazi saboteurs as the stooge for their planned destruction of the British battleship HMS Hercules. Framed by the villains and forced to go on the run, George sets out to clear his name with the aid of new girlfriend, Jane.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1940-12-02
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I Didn't Do It
Overview: Gormless George Trotter (George Formby) moves down from Manchester to the bright lights of London in search of fame and fortune on the stage - only to find himself the prime suspect in a bizarre murder mystery! Whilst staying at Ma Tubbs' theatrical boarding house, a man is murdered in the room right next door to George. When George tries to solve the mystery, he ends up presenting the police with a whole load of clues - all of which point to him as the culprit! Now George must uncover the real murderer himself, with the help of his showbiz friends, his little Ukulele and a fiendishly cunning song! This delightful comedy musical includes three full-length musical numbers - The Daring Young Man, She's Got Two of Everything and I'd Like a Dream Like That.
Genres: Comedy Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-08-06
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Off the Dole
Overview: Without a job, a young man is given the opportunity to run his ill uncle's private-detective agency. He finds himself mixed up with everything from an unfaithful husband who is a secret nudist to a schoolteacher who believes his pupil's father is beating him.
Genres: Comedy Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1935-06-01
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Keep Your Seats, Please
Overview: Despite being on his uppers, George is still prepared to pawn his beloved banjo in order to help his girlfriend save her niece from the orphanage. Help seems to be at hand when George is left a fortune by his old auntie, but unfortunately his inheritance is hidden inside a chair which has already been auctioned off! Can George and his chums track down his rightful due before his grasping solicitor (Alastair Sim, in an early film appearance) snatches the lot? It's hard to say, but he still finds time to perform both the title song and the classic 'When I'm Cleaning Windows'.
Genres: Drama Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1936-08-01
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Keep Fit
Overview: A weak, cowardly barber gets fit to win over a beautiful woman. However, she prefers his muscle-bound rival until George challenges him to a boxing match.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1937-07-31
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Feather Your Nest
Overview: A worker at a gramphone record factory surprisingly creates a hit song.
Genres: Music Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1937-03-12
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Much Too Shy
Overview: A simple handyman, who also is an amateur artist, gets into trouble when the head and shoulders portraits of some prominent local females are sold without his knowledge to an advertising agency and are published with nude bodies added to them.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-10-12
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Get Cracking
Overview: Get Cracking is a 1943 British comedy war film, directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Dinah Sheridan, Ronald Shiner and George Formby. It was produced by Marcel Varnel, Ben Henry and Columbia (British) Productions. This comedy explores the wayward rivalry between mechanic and Home Guard Lance Corporal George Singleton (George Formby) and an adversary also in the Home Guard (Ronald Shiner). When the rival Home Guard units of Major Wallop and Minor Wallop are sent on battle manoeuvres, George Singleton (Formby) launches his own unique style of commando raid against neighbouring Major Wallop to steal a Vickers machine gun. The raid fails and Singleton loses his Lance Corporal's stripe, so he and a little evacuee girl named Irene (Vera Frances) decide to fall back on 'Plan B' - to build their very own tank.
Genres: Comedy War Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-05-17
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He Snoops to Conquer
Overview: George Gribble is tea-boy at Tangleton town council, he gets ravelled up in the councillors money-grubbing machinations concerning compiling and then cooking the results of a government sponsored housing survey.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-12-12
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Entertaining the Troops
Overview: Documentary telling the story of the ENSA performers who kept up the troops' morale during World War II, with contributions from Dame Vera Lynn, Eric Sykes and Tony Benn.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2011-09-20
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Ain't Misbehavin'
Overview: Compilation of extracts from 'blue' movies from 1900 to the 1940s intercut with clips of popular music and dancing, and excerpts from newsreels and shorts, mostly 'topical' features involving women. Includes glimpses of Fats Waller, George Formby, Nat 'King' Cole and other performers.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1974-02-27
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Funny Up North
Overview: Documentary featuring a cavalcade of Northern comedy stars including the great Frank Randle, George Formby, Arthur Askey, Norman Evans and many more. The North of England has always enjoyed its own very particular brand of comedy, best seen today in Coronation Street. 80 years ago however Mancunian Studios produced feature films for the northern masses. Funny Up North tells the story of the Mancunian Studios, its eccentric owner John E Blakeley and its cavalcade of stars including such household names as Arthur Askey, Jimmy Jewell, George Formby and the legendary Frank Randle. Hosted by Professor Chris Lee, the authority on northern cinema, Funny Up North takes you on a journey from its humble beginnings to its sad demise in the 1960s.
Genres: Comedy Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2011-07-23
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Songs That Won the War
Overview: Wartime sweetheart Vera Lynn presents this documentary which sets archive footage and newsreel film from World War Two to the popular sounds of the day. Artists featured include Flanagan and Allen, Gracie Fields, George Formby, Bing Crosby, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the Andrews Sisters and the Mills Brothers.
Genres: Documentary Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1994-05-01
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Britain's Most Dangerous Songs: Listen to the Banned
Overview: From My Little Stick of Blackpool Rock to God Save the Queen, this is the story of ten records from the 1930s to the present day that have been banned by the BBC. The reasons why these songs were censored reveals the changing controversies around youth culture over the last 75 years, with Bing Crosby and the Munchkins among the unlikely names to have met the wrath of the BBC. With contributions from Carrie Grant, Paul Morley, Stuart Maconie, Glen Matlock, Mike Read and Jon Robb.
Genres: Documentary Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2014-07-11
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To See Such Fun
Overview: Compilation of classic British comedy moments
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1977-11-01
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