Jim Dale

Jim Dale
Dale with his Barnum co-star Glenn Close performing in Busker Alley in 2006
Born
James Smith

(1935-08-15) 15 August 1935 (age 89)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • composer
  • director
  • singer
  • songwriter
  • voice actor
Years active1951–present
Spouses
Patricia Gardiner
(m. 1957; div. 1977)
(m. 1981)
Children4
Websitejim-dale.com
Signature

Jim Dale MBE (born James Smith; 15 August 1935) is an English actor, composer, director, narrator, singer and songwriter. In the United Kingdom he is known as a pop singer of the 1950s who became a leading actor at the National Theatre. In British film, along with Angela Douglas and Jacki Piper he is now one of just a few surviving actors to star in multiple Carry On films.

Dale was also a leading actor on Broadway, where he had roles in Scapino, Barnum, Candide and Me and My Girl. He also narrated the U.S. audiobooks for all seven novels in the Harry Potter series, for which he won two Grammy Awards. Dale appeared in the ABC series Pushing Daisies (2007–2009); he also starred in the Disney film Pete's Dragon (1977). He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for portraying a young Spike Milligan in Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1973).

As a lyricist, Dale was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for the song "Georgy Girl", the theme for the 1966 film of the same title.