Scottish comedian best known as one half of the double act Little and Large, with Syd Little (the stage name of Cyril Mead). The pair began in 1962 under their real names of Mead and McGinnis and won the television talent show Opportunity Knocks in 1971. Their hugely popular TV career began in 1972 with Syd portraying the intelligent straight man to Eddie’s daft loud-mouth. They had their own series The Little and Large Show (1978-1991) and the ITV series Who Do You Do? (1972-1976) doing impressions and also performing as pantomime stars.
Large worked on the after-dinner circuit and, in the latter years of his life, performed some cameo acting roles in TV dramas such as The Brief and Blackpool. His autobiography, Larger than Life, was published in 2005. In 2013, Large released his first single without Little, a parody of “Je t’aime… moi non plus” by Serge Gainsbourg entitled “Gee Musky… Moi Non Plus”.
Large’s first marriage ended in divorce and he married again. He had three children.
After being admitted to hospital in March 2002 due to kidney problems, he underwent a heart transplant at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge in 2003 at the age of 62, and recovered fully. Large died on 2 April 2020 at age 78 at Southmead Hospital in Bristol after contracting COVID-19 while in hospital receiving treatment for heart failure. Large had suffered from kidney and heart problems for a number of years.
Link to Wikipedia biography