Cecil "Chic" Littlewood (17 November 1930 – 11 January 2015) was a New Zealand television entertainer and actor.

Biography

Born on 17 November 1930 in southeast London, England, Littlewood originally worked as a baker. He had a gift for

mimicry In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. Often, mimicry ...

, but his shyness meant he did not use it for entertainment purposes for several years, until he started appearing in—and winning—talent shows. He was offered an audition by the BBC in 1964, but had already accepted assisted passage to New Zealand. Littlewood arrived in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

in 1964 with wife and two sons, working initially as a baker, but also hoping to continue in show business. He appeared on

NZBC The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) was a publicly owned company of the New Zealand Government founded in 1962. The Broadcasting Act 1976 then reformed NZBC as the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ). The corporation was ...

talent show ''Have A Shot'' and through this gained several other television parts. In 1967, Littlewood got a guest spot on the Kevan Moore-produced show ''The Late Show'', which was well enough received that he became a regular on the show's following season. In 1975 Littlewood was approached by Moore to put together an after-school programme for the newly launched

South Pacific Television South Pacific Television (SPTV) was a television channel in New Zealand, which operated between 1976 and 1980. History The channel, then known as TV2, first went to air on 30 June 1975. It was the second national government television channel t ...

(SPTV). Littlewood created a new show, ''Now C Here'', which morphed into ''Chicaboom'' and then ''Chic Chat'', a regular daily afternoon children's show, in which Littlewood used his mimicry skills to create an ensemble of characters. The show moved to TV One after the amalgamation of TVNZ and South Pacific Television in 1980, where it ran twice-weekly until 1983. Littlewood won the

Feltex Award New Zealand film and television awards have gone by many different names and have been organised by different industry groups. As of 2017, New Zealand has relaunched a standalone New Zealand Television Awards after a five-year hiatus. The film awar ...

as New Zealand Entertainer of the Year in 1977, and he received the 1979 Benny Award from the

Variety Artists Club of New Zealand The Variety Artists Club of New Zealand Inc (VAC) is a non-for-profit organisation and show business club. It was founded in 1966 and became an incorporated society in 1972. The VAC was formed to promote goodwill within the New Zealand enterta ...

. Littlewood dabbled in serious acting with a 1975 role in SPTV's series ''The Immigrants'', and following the end of ''Chic Chat'' this side of his career increased. He appeared as a regular on ''

Shortland Street ''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital, first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992. It is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously ...

'' in the role of

Laurie Brasch The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Street'' in 1993, by order of first appearance. Rachel McKenna Rachel McKenna was the spoilt teenage daughter of CEO - Michael (Paul Gittins) an ...

from 1993 to 1996, and had occasional roles in such series as '' Mercy Peak''. In 2007 he played Isaac Bulosan in the horror film ''

30 Days of Night ''30 Days of Night'' is a three-issue horror comic book miniseries written by Steve Niles, illustrated by Ben Templesmith, and published by American company IDW Publishing in 2002. All three parties co-own the property. The series takes place i ...

'', and had a small role as a security guard in

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

's remake of ''

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

''. Littlewood died at Auckland on 11 January 2015 after a long illness, aged 84.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Littlewood, Chic 1930 births 2015 deaths English emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand television presenters New Zealand male television actors New Zealand male film actors New Zealand male soap opera actors 20th-century New Zealand male actors 21st-century New Zealand male actors