Menu
November 4, 2021
Banstead, Surrey, England
Henry Lionel Blair Ogus was born in Canada in 1928 and moved to the UK as a young boy. He grew up in Stamford Hill, north London and was evacuated to Oxford when war broke out. He began performing in air raid shelters in World War Two. His father died in 1941 when Blair was 13. He began working as an actor the following year, appearing in musical productions. He became known thanks to his self-taught dancing skills learned by watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies. He copied their routines at home with his elder sister Joyce, who he often appeared with early in his career. When he wasn’t working as a actor or television program host, he worked as a professional dancer and choreographer on films like The Main Attraction, Promise Her Anything, and the somewhat odd film, The Magic Christian. He often appeared as a dancer and in The Beatles’ 1964 film, A Hard Days Night he played the role of a choreographer. His stage and screen career spanned eight decades. Lionel Blair was 92 when he died.
Features & TV Movies:
VR indicates Direct-to-Video Release
The Limping Man (1953)
King’s Rhapsody (1955)
The World of Suzie Wong (1960)
Play It Cool (1962)
The Main Attraction (1962)
The Cool Mikado (1962)
A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
The Beauty Jungle (1964)
Maroc 7 (1967)
The Plank (TV-1979)
Absolute Beginners (1986)
Daddy Fox (TV-2000)
The One Ronnie (TV-2010)
Run for Your Wife (2012)
Being Lionel (2013, short)
Evil’s Evil Cousin (2016, short)
TV Series – Cast:
New Faces (1973)
The Kenny Everett Television Show (1981)
Give Us a Clue (1982)
5’s Company (1997)
Melissa (1997, mini-series)
TV Series – Guest appearances:
Spectacular (1957, 1959)
ITV Play of the Week (1958)
Armchair Theatre (1959)
The Benny Hill Show (1961)
The Bruce Forsyth Show (1966)
The Persuaders! (1971)
Bless This House (1973)
The Jim Davidson Show (1982)
Janet and Company (1982)
Emu’s Wide World (1988)
Motormouth (1990)
Lazarus & Dingwall (1991)
The Generation Game (1997)
Babes in the Wood (1998)
Comedy Lab (1999)
Revolver (2001, 2004)
Crossroads (2003)
Last of the Summer Wine (2003)
Extras (2007)
Emmerdale(2008)
The New Bromantics (2011)
Doctors (2014)
Northernstars.ca is published by the Canadian Independent Visual
and Digital Media Association – A nonprofit corporation.
Toronto, Ontario, M4X 1X7
First published as Northernstars.net February 1, 1998
ISSN 2563 4895
