Bruce Forsyth had an eye for beauty queens, marrying Wilnelia Merced and having an affair with Ann Sidney
After first marrying a dancer, the TV star went on to have relationships with beauty queens and actresses before settling down for good with a former Miss World winner
AS the 1950s dawned, Bruce had quickly become one of the star performers at the Windmill Theatre, impressing everyone with his energy, enthusiasm and joie de vivre.
While no obvious heart-throb, he had charisma in spades and this made him quite a catch to the young beauties parading naked on stage every night.
There was one girl who caught everyone’s eye — a delectable young blonde called Penny Calvert.
At first, she was an object of desire for Bruce’s actor pal Jimmy Perry — who later co-wrote classic TV sitcoms including Dad’s Army. Bruce even set them up on a date.
But Penny had her eye on Bruce right from the start and after going on their own first date they quickly fell in love.
She recalled: “Bruce would drive me home to Brixton and we’d spend hours in his car every night. I actually lost my virginity to Bruce on Streatham Common.”
Soon both quit their jobs at the Windmill and threw themselves into becoming a double act.
They married in 1953.
Bruce was 25, his bride 23, and he set himself a target.
If he hadn’t hit the big time in five years he would quit showbiz.
Their honeymoon took them to India where Penny fell ill, forcing Bruce to perform solo for the first time in 12 years.
It taught him he could make it on his own.
Their first daughter, Debbie, was born on June 24, 1955.
Their second, Julie, followed on June 4, 1958.
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By then Bruce had branched out to be a compere at summer season variety shows.
In 1958 he was booked for a new ITV variety show called New Look, which led to a slot on Sunday Night At The London Palladium, then the biggest show on TV.
From considering packing it all in just a few years earlier, Bruce would soon be earning an extraordinary £1,000 a night — at a time when most workers earned around £10 a week.
On November 19, 1962, Penny gave birth to their third daughter, Laura — but her arrival could not save their faltering marriage.
Bruce’s split and eventual divorce from Penny dragged on for almost ten years.
He walked out on her but returned several times and later admitted he’d had several affairs.
In fact their separations became so frequent that there were farcical scenes at their house in Totteridge, North London.
Bruce would insist that specialists came to shift his Steinway piano every time he and Penny had a row and he was packing his bags.
Penny said: “One of the movers said, ‘Mrs Forsyth, if your husband leaves again, he can fetch his own piano. This is the last time.’”
During this time Bruce had several affairs that went unreported.
Strictly speaking, he wasn’t always being unfaithful to Penny.
There were long periods when they were formally separated, so he could claim justifiably that he was a single man.
But Penny said she always knew when Bruce was having an affair because he would not want sex with her. She added: “He didn’t like to be untrue to them.”
One of the most serious flings was with a pretty young hairdresser, Ann Sidney, who he met at a ball during a run of summer shows in Bournemouth in 1964.
At 19, she was 16 years younger than Bruce and had recently won Bournemouth’s Miss Front Page beauty contest.
They went out together whenever they could during that summer and Ann fell in love, though she knew it was wrong.
He was too old for her.
And if she was to succeed in the beauty pageant world, she had to be single.
She would be disqualified if the judges knew she had a famous — and married — boyfriend, even if he said he was separated.
Ann tried to make a clean break but after she won Miss UK they were reunited — and photographed together. Bruce was panic-stricken.
He faced being dumped by his dream girl and he had also been branded an adulterer in the press, just as his career was taking off through Sunday Night At The London Palladium.
It could be killed stone dead by a big scandal surrounding an affair.
Despite the scandal, Ann went on to compete in the 1964 Miss World finals in London — and won the title.
Twice during the Miss World ball after the contest, she made her excuses to slip away to telephone Bruce at the North London bachelor pad he had bought after splitting from Penny.
At 1am, Ann arrived, still in her Miss World ball gown.
With all the security guards and chaperones, they were both amazed she had got away with it.
Soon after, Ann moved into a flat in Putney, South West London.
To keep the romance secret, he would wear disguises when he went to visit her, including a dirty old mac like TV detective Columbo.
Ann found it hilarious.