Death
Five months after the Christmas special, Morecambe took part in a show hosted by close friend and comedian Stan Stennett at the Roses Theatre in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire on a Sunday evening. His wife, Joan, who was in the audience, recalled that Morecambe was "on top form". He recounted, and joked to the audience about, the tales of his childhood, his career, the influence of his mother, Sadie, his time as a Bevin Boy, about Diana Dors, who had recently died, and Tommy Cooper, who had died of a heart attack live on stage six weeks earlier while appearing on television. Morecambe said he would hate to die like that. He discussed his first heart attack, and his open heart surgery five years earlier.
After the show had ended and Morecambe had left the stage, the musicians returned and picked up their instruments. He rushed back onto the stage to join them and energetically played various instruments. He then left the stage only to return moments later. All in all, he made six curtain calls. Finally, he said "That's your lot!", waved to the audience, and left the stage. He walked into the wings and joked "Thank goodness that's over." A few moments later, Morecambe collapsed with a third heart attack. He was rushed to Cheltenham General Hospital, where he died five and a half hours later.
Read more about this topic: Eric Morecambe
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,
Sing Heav’nly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,
In the Beginning how the Heav’ns and Earth
Rose out of Chaos:”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“Poor fellow never joyed since the price of oats rose, it was
the death of him.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The sole work and deed of universal freedom is therefore death, a death too which has no inner significance or filling, for what is negated is the empty point of the absolutely free self. It is thus the coldest and meanest of all deaths, with no more significance than cutting off a head of cabbage or swallowing a mouthful of water.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)