Bernie Winters, born Bernie Weinstein, was an English comedian and the comic foil of the double actMike and Bernie Winters with his older brother, Mike. Winters later performed solo, often with the aid of his St Bernard dog, Schnorbitz. Following his death, Winters bequeathed Schnorbitz to showman Richard De Vere.
Biography
Bernie Winters was born Bernard Weinstein, at the City of London Maternity Hospital, 102 City Road, Holborn, on 6 September 1930. His father was a bookmaker. Bernie served in the merchant navy and performed as a musician at dances and weddings before forming the double act Mike & Bernie Winters with his brother Mike, whom he called "Choochie-Face" on stage. In October 1957 the duo appeared on Six-Five Special and were described in the Daily Mirror as top comics for Britain's teenage TV audience. They had been recommended to the show's presenter Josephine Douglas by Tommy Steele with whom they had been on a stage tour. They both left the show the same day that she did, on 10 May 1958. The two brothers split up in 1978, and Bernie hosted his own comedy show, Bernie for ITV. In the late 1970s and early 1980s Bernie also presented The Big Top Variety Show, a television series of variety shows from a circus ring. In 1984 he presented the second series of the game show Whose Baby? He also became a regular on shows such as Punchlines and Give Us A Clue and gave an impression of Bud Flanagan on television and later on stage, with Leslie Crowther as Flanagan's partner Chesney Allen. Winters was a member of the show business fraternity, the Grand Order of Water Rats. Winters appeared as himself in London Weekend Television sitcom Bottle Boys in 1985. On 14 August 1990, after several months of discomfort and stomach pains, he had a nine hour operation on his stomach and cancer was found. Much of it was removed. However, though he was never told, Winters' condition was terminal, and he died on 4 May 1991, at the London Clinic, 20 Devonshire Place, Westminster, at the age of 60. Bernie was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium in London on 8 May, and his ashes interred in the Garden of Remembrance. A memorial plaque was erected in the West Memorial Court there.
