Paul Nicholas (born Paul Oscar Beuselinck; 3 December 1944) is an English actor and singer. He is best known for starring as Vince Pinner in the BBC television sitcom Just Good Friends (1983–1986). The show won a BAFTA and Nicholas was nominated for best comedy performance. Nicholas was awarded a Silver Heart by the Variety Club of Great Britain for his services to Entertainment and Charity.
Nicholas started out with a pop career, but soon changed to musical theatre, playing the lead role in Jesus Christ Superstar at the West End's Palace Theatre in 1972. After Just Good Friends ended, he returned to musical theatre and various other entertainment roles, including producing and directing. He is also known for his more recent television role in EastEnders as Gavin Sullivan and appearing in The Real Marigold Hotel.
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Early life
Paul Nicholas was born Paul Oscar Beuselinck on 3 December 1944 in Peterborough. His father was an entertainment lawyer, Oscar Beuselinck, whose clients included Sean Connery, the Beatles, Private Eye and MGM. His paternal grandfather, also called Oscar Beuselinck, was Belgian and had been a chef in the merchant navy during World War II, before becoming head chef on the Union-Castle Line ships between the United Kingdom and South Africa. His maternal grandfather was a London docker.
The family spent holidays at his maternal grandparents' home on the Isle of Sheppey, until Nicholas was 10. After his parents divorced when he was 12, his father's family home was at Letchmore Heath, Hertfordshire, opposite the Bhaktivedanta Manor. His paternal grandparents, Winnie and Oscar, lived in a small cottage on the grounds.
Career
Nicholas began his pop career as early as 1960. Adopting the stage name Paul Dean, he formed Paul Dean and the Dreamers who were booked to support the Savages, the backing band for the British rocker Screaming Lord Sutch.
It was here that Sutch first noticed the young Nicholas, who was soon to become vocalist and pianist with the Savages. Still using the name Paul Dean, he released two solo singles in 1965–66. After taking a new stage name, Oscar, he began a long association with the Australian-born entrepreneur, Robert Stigwood. In 1966, Nicholas signed with Stigwood's Reaction Records label and his first single under his new name, "Club of Lights", scraped into the lower reaches of the Radio London Fab Forty chart.
The second Oscar single was a version of a Pete Townshend song "Join My Gang", which the Who never recorded. His third single, a novelty song called "Over the Wall We Go" (1967) is notable for being written and produced by a young David Bowie (Nicholas at this time was managing the band the Sweet and recommended them to record producer Phil Wainman whom he worked with at Mellin Music Publishing). After settling on the stage name Paul Nicholas, he found success in the UK in musicals, beginning with the leading role of Claude in Hair (which Stigwood produced) before winning the title role in the original London production of Jesus Christ Superstar. The part of Danny to Elaine Paige's Sandy made them the first British couple to play the leads in Grease.
Nicholas joined The Young Vic under Frank Dunlop and played Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing and appeared in Crete and Sgt. Pepper by John Antrobus. He appeared as the Bully of the Boulevard in Richard O’Brien’s T-Zee at London's Royal Court Theatre. He performed in Prospect Theatre Company's Carl Davies musical Pilgrim. While touring with O'Brien in Hair in 1970 he first heard and recorded two songs with Richard O’Brien from the yet to be produced Rocky Horror Show.
Nicholas's film career began in 1970 in Cannabis. He followed this with See No Evil (1971) and What Became of Jack and Jill? (1972). He then appeared in Stardust (1974), and Three for All (1975). In 1975, he played "Cousin Kevin", Tommy's vicious cousin, in Tommy, and portrayed Richard Wagner in Lisztomania (1975).
Business
In 1990, while starring with David Ian in The Pirates of Penzance at the London Palladium, Nicholas offered Ian a partnership in co-producing and starring in a touring production of the New York Shakespeare Festival version of the popular Gilbert and Sullivan opera. Paul Nicholas & David Ian Associates Ltd was formed to produce the 20th anniversary production of Jesus Christ Superstar on a UK-wide tour, which sold out. They then produced a nightly fully staged version of The Pirates of Penzance in which Nicholas starred and again they sold out.
The company has since produced numerous shows, including:
Jesus Christ Superstar – concert version
Pirates of Penzance – UK tour
Grease – West End and Broadway – Tony Award nomination for Best Revival 2008
The Rocky Horror Show – director
Ain't Misbehavin' – West End
Singin' in the Rain – UK tour
Evita – UK tour
Chess – UK tour
Happy Days – UK tour
Saturday Night Fever – London Palladium and NYC Minskoff Theatre, co-adapter and producer
A Tale of Two Cities – UK tour; co-produced with Bill Kenwright
Jekyll & Hyde – UK tour, co-produced with UK Productions
Keeler – 2007, producer and director
A Tale of Two Cities – Upstairs at The Gatehouse 2008, producer and director
Paul Nicholas School of Acting and Performing Arts
In 2006, Nicholas set up a franchise operation, the Paul Nicholas School of Acting & Performing Arts, aimed at teaching acting to school-age children. The company went into liquidation in 2012.
In January 2008, Nicholas launched Paul Nicholas Community Arts, a project designed to engage disenfranchised children in the arts. The pilot scheme was funded for fourteen weeks by Wyre Borough Council. A twelve-week scheme began on 28 May 2008 in Blackpool.
Personal life
In 1963, when Nicholas was 18, he had a child with his then girlfriend Patricia Brecknell.
In early 1967, Lyn Last, his then-former girlfriend, gave birth to his second child. This was only a few months after his 1966 marriage to Susan Gee.
Nicholas and Gee had two children together; they later divorced, in 1970.
Nicholas moved to Highgate, London in the 1970s. Nicholas resides there with his second wife Linzi Jennings, they married in 1984. The couple have two children together.
Discography
Albums
Appearances:
Hair (Original London Cast Recording) (1968, Polydor Records)
Fresh Hair (Original London Cast Recording) (1970, Polydor)
Cats (Original London Cast Recording) (1981, Polydor)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (soundtrack) (1978, RSO Records)
Solo:
Paul Nicholas (1977, RSO LP) 12 songs; 10 in the US and Canada. In the Netherlands, it was retitled On the Strip (1978, RSO LP) and added two single A-sides while dropping two others.
Just Good Friends (1986, K-Tel LP and CD) 13 songs, 12 of which are cover versions
That's Entertainment (1993, Karussell CD) 14-song compilation; RSO/Polydor material from 1976 to 1980
Colours of My Life (1994, First Night Records CD) 16-song compilation; 12 from West End theatre cast albums and 4 new recordings
Paul Nicholas Gold (2022 Demon Records) 3 CD set CD1 Pop Hits – CD2 Show Songs – CD3 Romantic Songs
Literature
Paul Nicholas (with Douglas Thompson) "Musicals, Marigolds & Me" autobiography, 235 pages. Published in October 2021 by Fantom Publishing. An Audio Book version published in 2023 narrated by Nicholas.
Paul Nicholas (with Douglas Thompson): Behind the Smile autobiography, hardcover, 218 pages published in October 1999 by André Deutsch Ltd; ISBN 0-233-99748-2