Morecambe and Wise

Morecambe and Wise
Morecambe (left) and Wise in their "skip dance" pose, performed to the song "Bring Me Sunshine"
Born	John Eric Bartholomew: (1926-05-14)14 May 1926, Morecambe, Lancashire, England Ernest Wiseman: (1925-11-27)27 November 1925, Bramley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died	28 May 1984(1984-05-28) (aged 58), Cheltenham General Hospital, Gloucestershire, England 21 March 1999(1999-03-21) (aged 73), Wexham, Buckinghamshire, England
Medium	Film, television, stand-up, music, books
Years active	1941–1984
Genres	Observational comedy, musical comedy, satire
Subject(s)	Marriage, everyday life, current events, pop culture

Eric Morecambe (John Eric Bartholomew; 14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984) and Ernie Wise (Ernest Wiseman; 27 November 1925 – 21 March 1999), known as Morecambe and Wise (and sometimes as Eric and Ernie), were an English comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's sudden death in 1984. They have been described as "the most illustrious, and the best-loved, double-act that Britain has ever produced".^[1]

On a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, The Morecambe and Wise Show was placed 14th. In September 2006, they were voted by the general public as number 2 in a poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars. Their early career was the subject of the 2011 television biopic Eric and Ernie, and their 1970s career was the subject of the television biopic Eric, Ernie and Me in 2017.

In 1976, Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise were both awarded the OBE. In 1999, they were posthumously awarded the BAFTA Fellowship. In 2013, they were honoured with a blue plaque at Teddington Studios, where their last four series of The Morecambe and Wise Show were recorded.^[2]