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Vale: Paul O’Grady

British entertainer best known for drag queen alter-ego Lily Savage and For the Love of Dogs, has died.

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British entertainer Paul O’Grady, best known for drag queen alter-ego Lily Savage and For the Love of Dogs, has died aged 67.

He died “unexpectedly but peacefully” on Tuesday evening according to partner Andre Portasio.

“He will be greatly missed by his loved ones, friends, family, animals and all those who enjoyed his humour, wit and compassion,” he said.

“I know that he would want me to thank you for all the love you have shown him over the years.”

O’Grady rose to fame in the 1990s as Lily Savage, going on to present UK game show Blankety Blank and other light entertainment programmes.

Later in his career, he went on to host Blind Date, a number of chat shows, travel shows and more recently Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs, a series he helped launched in 2012 following the staff at Battersea Dogs Home and the pets they care for.

His acting credits included The Madam Blanc Mysteries, Holby City, Doctor Who and The Bill.

Savage also starred in a UK stage production of Prisoner as a tourist who ends up behind bars while on an Australian holiday.

Source: BBC

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9 Responses

  1. Oh very sad….I remember him in some TV shows…but mostly For the Love of Dogs….he was so caring and dedicated…..not just an onscreen face…I will miss him in that….Lovely man ….Much Respect 🙏

  4. I’ve seen the older Blankety Blanks with Lily Savage and the character is great. Reminds me of the ‘dinner theatre’ stars like Bob Downe. Especially the seniors love it.

    1. Seniors really….you do realise “dinner theatre” (Haunt..includes some burlesque and Dracula’s Cabaret comes to mind) is still popular amongst young people, as for Bob Downe (Trevor) he’s still kicking up his heels and working.

  5. In the Noughties, Paul was something of an omnipresent on UK television screens as host of his popular daytime chat show.

    Although he had perhaps assumed a lesser profile in recent times, his death is still a great shock at the relatively young age of 67.

    RIP to Paul.

    He was great as Lily and even better as himself,

  6. The Paul O’Grady show was a hit for me with all his special guests and Buster his dog (RIP), his rant to Gok Wan about the state of sandwiches, gingerbread men/women (like he said no genitalia required) “it’s just gingerbread “. Meeting KC’s wife QC and his dog Sausage (from Romania) and taking QC for a walk in the woods with George (no not what you might be thinking) at Battersea Dogs and Cat Home. Paul and Alan Carr getting hammered and releasing the “green fairy” on the show. The best though was Lily Savage Show with her dry wit and sense of style. So sad another great entertainer has passed. RIP Mr Grady you will be missed and thanks for the mayhem and laughs. 💔

  7. This is sad news. Lily’s version of Blankety Blank was hilarious back in the day.
    I still even now sometimes lose a coupe of hours watching the outakes on You Tube.

  8. Really sad to hear about Paul.
    67 is way too young.
    He seemed like a lovely kind man.
    Always enjoyed him for The Love of Dogs but of course he has done a lot more than that…

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