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Tributes to 'star performer' Danny La Rue
23 Jun 2009Stars including Barbara Windsor, Ronnie Corbett and Roy Hudd gathered today to say farewell to Danny La Rue.
The female impersonator described as "a star performer and a star human being" died peacefully in his sleep just before midnight on May 31 following a short illness.
His glittering career spanned some 60 years and he died aged 81 after battling cancer.
A requiem mass took place at the Catholic Church of the Transfiguration in Kensal Rise in London.
Windsor, who dabbed her eyes during the service, read out Jack's poem for Danny, composed by La Rue's former partner and manager for 32 years, Jack Hanson.
Hanson died in 1984 and Windsor said that La Rue had been going through his items when he found a tape on which Hanson recited the poem, which he had composed for La Rue's 50th birthday.
She read the lines "I give you all my thanks and all my deepest love."
The EastEnders actress, who followed Corbett, joked she was "another little one".
Other stars who attended included Barry Cryer and Joe Pasquale.
La Rue was born Daniel Patrick Carroll in Cork, Ireland, the youngest in a family of five.
He opened his own nightclub in 1964, attracting well over 13,000 members.
On the West End stage he triumphed in seven major shows including Come Spy With Me at the Whitehall Theatre, the Danny La Rue show at the Prince of Wales theatre and Aladdin at the London Palladium.
He took part in more than 50 pantomimes and was also a big hit in Australia.
His coffin was adorned with yellow sunflowers and other purple flowers.
Hudd said that when he met La Rue, the female impersonator was about to embark on a West End revue.
But describing how his own career had flopped Hudd joked: "A proper little Gordon Brown I was .... from then on nobody wanted to know."
But he told how La Rue helped him to get his career back on track adding: "It was Dan who rescued me and gave me back my confidence.
"Everyone was his fan, from Liberace to Princess Margaret, to Noel Coward."
Talking about how La Rue invited him to meet his celebrity fans Hudd joked: "He didn't want me to miss out ... so he said. I just think he wanted to show off.
"That's what great stars do. He loved being a star, almost as much as people loved him being one."
He talked of La Rue's ability to generate "non-PC belly laughs" and said: "He was never late for an entrance," to laughter.
"He was classy, great at the job, a star performer and a star human being. I loved him very much."
Many celebrities sent floral tributes to the funeral service including Paul O'Grady, Dame Judi Dench and Bruce Forsyth.
Corbett described La Rue as a "darling, darling man".
He said: "We have all of us lost someone special and we were all privileged to have been at some time with him and near him."
He described his shows as "full of glitter, glamour and wit".
Those attending the funeral joined in as On Mother Kelly's Doorstep and Over The Rainbow were played.
Hymns included The Lord Is My Shepherd.
LaRue's family said that donations may be given in his memory to the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolence Fund.
