Lunchtime Live<\/a> programme, actress Elaine C Smith said Baxter was “an inspiration” and his death felt like “the end of something”.<\/p>\nShe said: “In one of the early pantos I did, I had one of his costumes. <\/p>\n
“I have to say he had a lot longer and better legs than me so it had to be adjusted for my height. <\/p>\n
“But his costumes, his standards throughout showbusiness, and in particular in theatre, were legendary because they just were stunning. “<\/p>\n
Tributes are being paid after the death of comedy great Stanley Baxter<\/p>\n
After starting his career in Scottish theatres in the 1940s, Baxter found fame in variety theatre.<\/p>\n
This led to his casting in comedy sketch show On The Bright Side, where he first performed what became one of his most popular sketches \u2013 Parliamo Glasgow.<\/p>\n
In this spoof of a foreign language programme, he delivered phrases in a thick Glasgow accent and then “translated” them into the formal pronunciation style of British television at the time.<\/p>\n
The Stanley Baxter Show began on the BBC in 1963 and became a huge hit, before he moved to London Weekend Television (LWT) in 1973 with The Stanley Baxter Picture Show.<\/p>\n
He played most of the parts in the show’s parodies of film and television, winning several Baftas.<\/p>\n
This was followed in 1981 by The Stanley Baxter Series, before returning to the BBC later in the decade.<\/p>\n
He also appeared in the children’s show Mr Majeika before retiring from television in 1990, but he continued to appear as a panto dame in Scotland for several more years.<\/p>\n
He later appeared in a series of three half-hour radio sitcoms for BBC Radio 4, and also recorded a number of plays for the station.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765114808_522_grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Mirrorpix](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/099b5820-d74b-11f0-8a07-c3f29e3145bc.jpg.webp.webp\")
Mirrorpix via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Baxter was famous on stage for his flamboyant characters<\/p>\n
Baxter also appeared in a number of films in the 1950s and 60s, and received a lifetime achievement award at the British Comedy Awards.<\/p>\n
Bafta Scotland gave Baxter its Outstanding Contribution to Film and Television Award in December 2020.<\/p>\n
Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney was among those who paid tribute.<\/p>\n
He described him as “a giant of Scottish entertainment” who had “brought incredible joy to generations”.<\/p>\n
BBC Scotland’s director, Hayley Valentine, said: “We are all very saddened by the passing of Stanley Baxter who was one of Scotland’s most beloved stars.<\/p>\n
“His talent, wit and originality set a benchmark for comedy and performance that has spanned decades.<\/p>\n
“His brilliance delighted audiences for generations, and he leaves behind a remarkable legacy, including his legendary BBC TV shows.”<\/p>\n
Staff at the King’s Theatre in Glasgow said they were saddened by the news but would be celebrating Baxter’s life.<\/p>\n
“The legendary actor and comedian made a unique and lasting impact in the world of panto with his memorable performances on the King’s stage,” they said.<\/p>\n
Baxter always considered himself a character actor rather than a comedian and was a reluctant celebrity, giving few interviews and declining to appear on chat shows.<\/p>\n
At the age of 94, he confirmed he had always been gay but said he had initially hidden the truth to avoid arrest in the years before decriminalisation.<\/p>\n
He said his wife Moira had been fully aware of the situation. The couple, who married in 1951, had lived apart since the 1970s but remained close and never divorced.<\/p>\n
Moira died in 1997 and Baxter’s long-term partner, Marcus, died in 2016.<\/p>\n
At Baxter’s request, his funeral will be a small private ceremony in the company of family and close friends, and there will be no memorial service or memorial plaques.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BBC Baxter had a lengthy career on TV, radio and the stage Scottish actor and comedian Stanley Baxter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":["post-180548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"BBC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/dcb46c50-8559-11ef-b421-4f3df35a8130.jpg.webp.webp\")
BBC<\/p>\n