Keith Harris (21 September 1947 – 28 April 2015)
The very sad news that Orville the Duck and Keith Harris died today is a heart breaker. Keith Harris created the nappy wearing Orville the Duck and the bad tempered Cuddles the Monkey for a mostly children audience but it became popular amongst older viewers because of its sheer charmingness and often the blatant amateuristic voice throwing. You could always see his lips moving.
He had a very cheesy top ten single and he encouraged people who have too much time on their hands to complain and mock a clearly silly childrens act. This led to Keith Harris having his TV show being cut and almost led to him being made bankrupt. He later made a big comeback via a soap powder advert and guest appearances on various TV programs made for an older audience. That was probably due to the producers growing up and wanting their hero back on TV.
Keith Harriss has been fighting cancer for a year, but the cancer came back in January in a more vengeful form in January. He died leaving 3 children.