Mike Winters dies at 82

'He was funny until the end'

Mike Winters – who with brother Bernie was once one of the biggest stars of British comedy – has died aged 82.

He died at his home in Gloucestershire with his family by his side.

His wife of 57 years Cassie, said: ‘He was a wonderful man. He was funny right up until the end. He would be in bed and very quiet – and then he would say something that would make everyone laugh.'

Speaking to the Mirror, she added: ‘He had an incredible life. In fact, there were times when he couldn’t believe just how incredible his life really was.’

The London-born brothers rose to fame in the mid-Fifties, coming up through the variety circuit and on to TV through shows such as Sunday Night at the London Palladium and the 1962 Royal Variety Show. In their double-act dynamic, Mike was the cooler, more handsome straightman compared to his goofy brother.

In 1963 they starred alongside Frankie Howerd and Tommy Cooper in the Michael Winner film The Cool Mikado. And they had their own ITV show – the Mike & Bernie Show – that ran on ITV from 1966 to 1973.

Although they were among the most popular entertainers of the time, they were not always the best loved. When Michael Parkinson asked Morecambe and Wise what they’d be if they hadn’t been comedians, Eric famously replied: ‘We’d have been Mike and Bernie Winters.’

And while on the variety circuit, they played the notoriously tough Glasgow Empire, when Mike came out first, and did his shtick to utter silence. Then Bernie appeared, grinning, from behind the curtain. The only sound that could be heard was a despairing voice from the auditorium: ‘Fuck me, there’s two of them.’

The brothers broke up acrimoniously in 1978 – reportedly because Bernie had a long-running affair with a dancer 20 years his junior. Mike moved to Florida where he worked on boxing events and Bernie continued his UK comedy career with a new partner – a St. Bernard dog named Schnorbitz.

The brothers reconciled in the late Eighties, but never worked together again. Bernie died from cancer aged 58, in 1991.