Obituary: Actor, DJ and promoter Carl Gresham

Here we pay tribute to Bradford's 'Friend of the stars'.

Music promoter Garth Cawood writes: I first met Carl Gresham in 1960 when we were both employed as DJs at the Silver Blades Ice Rink to play records on alternative evenings.

It was then decided that we do a show together, which was successful. We continued to work along side each other until a few years later when I had moved on in a different direction. Carl had started a lucrative business supplying famous people like Hughie Green, Morecambe and Wise, Peter Wyngarde, Tony Blackburn, David Hamilton and the stars of Emmerdale and Coronation Street to name a few, to open shopping centre like Fine Fare, Woolworths etc.

Carl arranged for stars to open stores and other venues (Image: Submitted)

These events were a big hit with the public as people got to see the stars up close. I was booked to compere and warm up the audience before the star appeared.

Carl was also a champion for Pennine Radio, where he had his own show every Saturday morning. He would book me on a regular basis to announce forthcoming attractions and events.

In Carl’s early days in show business, he would have actually loved to have become an actor. He did appear in the movie Billy Liar and was the stand-in for the lead role, played by Tom Courtenay.

In later years Carl would appear in pantomime in every season.

We stayed friends and I am saddened to hear of his passing. Carl will be greatly missed.

* In 2009 former T&A feature writer Sally Clifford interviewed Carl when he released his memoir.

Wrote Sally: Back in the days when he set up his Personal Appearances agency, The Gresh, as he became known, came across countless stars. One of his many anecdotes is about a man asking if he stocked a record called Dommage, Dommage. Carl, who was managing a record shop at the Co-operative Society store in Bradford, says it was unusual for him not to have heard of a record - it was, after all, his love of music which introduced him to the showbusiness circuit - so he asked for more details.

“Can you tell me who it’s by?” asked Carl. “It’s me,” replied the singer - who became known as Engelbert Humperdinck.

It was, in fact, his debut single. He was appearing at the Broadway Bar in Laisterdyke.

Engelbert was the first of many stars Carl would meet. “I always loved pop music. All I wanted to do when I left school was to be involved in music,” he said.

While running the record store, he worked part-time as a DJ at Bradford venues such as The Majestic. Following his quest for stardom, he landed a few roles in Coronation Street, including a non-speaking cycling harrier propping up the bar in the Rover’s Return, and as a stand-in for Tom Courtenay in Billy Liar, filmed in Bradford.

Eventually he was forced to choose between acting and running the record store. Acting won and, while he never made his name on the screen and stage, it gave him an enterprising idea for promoting those who did.

It was Coronation Street legend Pat Phoenix who encouraged Carl to launch his celebrity appearances agency. He was astounded that there was no-one to chaperone her on engagements. He told Pat of his intentions to set up an agency. “She said, ‘If you do that, I’m your first client’,” he recalls.

With one Corrie favourite on board, others soon followed. Soon he was receiving letters requesting personal appearances from other cast members in the days before PR companies took over the promotion of celebrities.

Carl Gresham with Coronation Street star Bernard Youens (Image: Submitted)

His first big contract was with Woolworths. At that time the company was refurbishing its stores and Carl supplied celebrities to perform the openings. The most memorable was when he looked after Jason King star Peter Wyngarde at the Barnsley store; Carl recounts being told by police battling to restrain crowds that it was safer to go home than fight their way through the throng of female admirers waiting for the actor to open the Woolworths branch.

Carl’s other big contract was organising celebrity appearances for the Cayton Bay holiday centre near Scarborough. This gave him chance to meet his favourite actress, Alexandra Bastedo. The star of The Champions was among many stars on his books. He also worked with Hollywood legend Tony Curtis.

Carl with his autobiography in 2009 (Image: Submitted)

Some celebrity acquaintances became friends. Carl was an usher at the wedding of Emmerdale Farm’s Frazer Hines to his first wife, actress Gemma Craven.

He talks fondly of Larry Grayson, who allowed Carl’s former partner, Helen, to drive his brand new Rolls Royce Corniche when they called at Larry’s home on the way to a concert. As the star proudly showed them his new car, Carl remarked: ‘There’s just one problem - you can’t drive!’ “So he asked Helen if she wanted to drive it! He said, ‘Let’s go for a little run up the road’.”

Carl with Roy Orbison (Image: Submitted)

Carl’s memories feature in his autobiography, The Gresh:A Lifetime in Showbiz, written with friend Reuben Davison. The book includes letters from stars and photos capturing the days before he closed his agency to focus on his broadcasting career. He had a show on BCB, showcasing the record collection he amassed over a 30-year career, with celebrity interviews including Bill Wyman.

Legendary Radio 1 DJ Tony Blackburn, one of The Gresh’s clients, once commented that Carl’s name appeared more times on publicity material than his own! Celebrities forgave the bravado, for he was the man who would get their name known when they were making their way up. “My client list read like a Who’s Who of the 70s: Tony Curtis, Peter Wyngarde, Dennis Waterman, Gordon Jackson, Hughie Green, Ken Dodd, Morecambe and Wise.”

Many stars that Carl signed up to open stores and holiday camps often called at his Bradford home. “They named our road Celebrity Grove because of the number of stars we had visiting, “ he said.