About this artwork
Connolly served an apprenticeship as a welder in the Clyde shipyards before embarking on a career in show business. He initially focussed on being a folk singer but gradually made the transition to stand-up comedy. His break-through came when he told his famous bike joke on BBC’s Parkinson talk show in 1975. He has since performed for sell-out audiences the world over, produced three ‘World Tour’ series for the BBC, alongside, more recently ‘Billy Connolly’s Route 66’ (2010) and has acted in films including ‘Mrs Brown’ (1995), opposite Dame Judi Dench as Queen Victoria. In 2003 he received a CBE and a BAFTA Lifetime Achievement award.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Donald Maclellan (born 1967) Scottish
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title:Billy Connolly, b. 1942. Entertainer
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date created:6 June 2000
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materials:Gelatin silver bromide toned print
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measurements:43.30 x 35.50 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 2002
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accession number:PGP 284.12
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gallery:
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depicted:
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subject:
Donald Maclellan
Donald Maclellan
Donald MacLellan was born in the West Highlands in 1967. He is a leading portrait photographer whose first solo exhibition 'Black Power' showed at the National Portrait Gallery in London in 1998. Empire magazine commissioned MacLellan to create a portfolio of Scotland's best actors in 2000. It was...