Max David Bacon (1 March 1904, London, England – 3 December 1969, London, England) was a British actor, comedian and musician (drummer and occasional vocalist in Ambrose's band).^[1][2] Although he was British-born, his comedic style centred on his pseudo-European, Yiddish accent and in his straight-faced mispronunciation of words.

Biography

Bacon's father came from a leather-working family to London from Katowice, then in Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.^[3] In London, his father worked as a basket-weaver.

Before becoming a character actor, Bacon was a drummer in Britain during the 1920s and 1930s.^[3] He was taught by the vocalist and drummer Harry Bentley. After a couple of years at the Florida Club with Ronnie Munro's band he began a long association with Ambrose's Orchestra, with whom he recorded as drummer and occasionally as Yiddish vocalist.^[4][5] In the late 1930s he had become well known enough to tour the halls in his own right and as part of a touring unit known as the Ambrose Octet with Evelyn Dall, among others.^[6]

He lived in his later years at The White House, a hotel near Great Portland Street, London, now known as the Melia White House, in Albany Street. He never married.

Partial filmography