Paul O'Grady
- Profession: Comedian and TV Host
- Place/Date of Birth: Birkenhead, Wirral Peninsula, 14 June 2020
"I have been giving this some serious thought. If I decide to make it the last tour as Lily, I will. Her life hangs in the balance." It’s believed that his near-fatal heart attack is what made him evaluate things.
Savage driving - 21/05/03
Liverpudlian TV star Paul O’Grady aka Lily Savage has finally passed his driving test - after failing his first attempt on Celebrity Driving School.
He has already splashed out on a Volkswagen Beetle convertible - worth ?20,000 in the hope it would give him the ’push’ he needed. It worked, that and an extra 30 lessons! Paul is currently filming a new BBC sitcom, Eyes Down, where he plays a Liverpool bingo-hall manager.
Paul O Grady has Aunties Bloomers - 19/11/02
Paul O Grady (aka Lily Savage) has been asked to take over Aunties Bloomers from Terry Wogan, who has stepped down after ten years of presenting the scenes that actors would rather have stayed on the cutting room floor.
The show will have a new format and a new name ’Out-take TV’ and will be presented by Paul with his usual mix of barbed humour. Paul (47) has said that he would cut down on work after his heart attack earlier this year, but he is already back presenting Blankety Blank. Hold on. Blankety Blank, Aunties Bloomers - can we guess where this is going? What is next Paul - hosting The Eurovision Song Contest and singing the Floral Dance? Are you turning into our Terry?
Lily Savage suffers heart attack - May 2002
Liverpudlian TV star known to millions as the outrageous Lily Savage Paul O’Grady has suffered a heart attack. He is now said to be recovering at home. O’Grady, 46, suffered the heart attack at home on 18th April, in Tower Bridge and immediately called his agent, Brendan Murphy, saying "I think I’m having a heart attack."
The star is understood to have underg ne an angioplasty, a procedure in which a small balloon is passed into a narrowed or blocked artery to widen it. Doctors are said to be keeping a clsoe eye on the star. O’Grady recently admitted he was suffering from depression due to a heavy workload.
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In 1977 Paul worked in Manila at Gussy’s Bar, a well known brothel where he picked up the idea for his own drag act, Lily Savage. He took his creation back to London playing gay pubs and clubs all over the UK with great success. In addition he toured Europe in a number of actsand took on an eight year residency at the Vauxhall Tavern in London.
Nominated for a Perrier Award, in the mid nineties Paul (as Lily) found himself on television, notably taking a guest spot on The Big Breakfast and later presenting Blankety Blank and Lily Live! He also appeared on the West End stage as, among other Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s Child Catcher and Annie’s Miss Hannigan.
In 2000 Paul began to shed the Lily Savage character, appearing on television out of drag, first in Paul O’Grady’s Orient and Paul O’Grady’s America then in Celebrity Driving School and his own sitcom Eyes Down. The Paul O’Grady Show saw the now established presenter running against good friends Richard and Judy and was instrumental in winning him a number of comedy and TV awards. Paul meanwhile claims that Lily Savage has ’seen the light and packed off to a convent in France’.
Paul suffered a well publicised heart attack which forced him to give up his forty a day habit in 2002. However, following the death of his long term partner Brendan Murphy he reportedly took up smoking again despite doctor’s orders.
He lives on a 200 acre farm in Ashford, Kent with his three dogs Buster, Louie and Olga. He will become a grandfather over Christmas 2006.
updated December 2006
October 2007