Jack Stanford

Jack Stanford (June 26, 1900 – 1968) was an English actor, singer, dancer[1] and mime.[2][3] He is known for his "eccentric" dance style, which featured unusual versatility, frenetic motion, optical illusions and acrobatic motion.[4][5][6][1] Stanford's nickname was The Dancing Fool.[2]

Early life, family and education

Stanford was born Charles Finnegan Williams in Colchester, Essex, England.[3] His mother was Eliza (née Finnegan) Williams, and his father, Harold Hearne Williams, was a chemist. Charles and his sisters Ida and Laurie were raised mainly in Outwood.

Stanford often performed in clothing which accentuated his dancing style.[1][7] His dance routines included sliding, hopping, and elements of tap dancing.[1][7]

Career

Stanford's career of live performances and motion pictures spanned more than four decades and was at its height in the 1930s and 1940s.[2] He toured Western Europe in the 1920s, headlining alongside Josephine Baker at the Folies Bergère in Paris.[3] Venues where he danced included music halls in the 1920s as well Brighton Hippodrome, the London Pavilion[3] and the London Palladium (which once included in the audience King George VI and Queen Elizabeth).[5] In 1939 he appeared in the film Music Hall Parade. He acted in The Arcadians at Streatham Hill Theatre in 1956.[2] He retired in 1967.[2]

Personal life

Stanford began residing in Battersea, South London, England, in the 1930s.[3] He and his wife Marjorie (née Horstead; one of the Volonoff Twins) had a daughter, actress Jill Stanford.[2]

Stanford died in 1968.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Jack Stanford (issue title – Going Places) (1937)". britishpathe.com. British Pathé. 1937. Retrieved April 13, 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Stanford, Jill (July 28, 2022). Stephanie Black (ed.). Jill remembers Jack Stanford with Stephanie Black. Interviewed by Stephanie Black. The Friends of Streatham Hill Theatre. Retrieved April 13, 2025 – via YouTube.
  3. ^ a b c d e Rathbone, Jeanne (June 14, 2021). "Jack Stanford Battersea's Eccentric Dancer". Retrieved April 13, 2025.
  4. ^ a b The Routledge Companion to Twentieth Century British Theatre and Performance. Vol. One: 1900–1950. Taylor & Francis. 2024. pp. 292–93. ISBN 9781040114612.
  5. ^ a b Defelitta, Raymond (October 11, 2022). "The Art of Eccentric Dance: Jack Standford". raymonddefelitta.org. Retrieved April 13, 2025.
  6. ^ "Jack Stanford (1935)". britishpathe.com. British Pathé. 1935. Retrieved April 13, 2025.
  7. ^ a b Lyons, Jonathan (July 18, 2019). "Eccentric Dancer: Jack Stanford". comedyforanimators.com. Retrieved April 13, 2025.


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