Trivia

He had 41 singles in the Dutch Top 40, 22 of those reached the Top 10 of which 3 singles became number one. He had 45 singles in the Tipparade, of which 41 eventually reached the Top 40. He had 29 albums in the album charts of which 7 reached the Top 10. 4 songs were Alarmschijf.

Won the Gouden Eeuw Award (the "Golden Century Award") in September 2009 for his television career. He received this award from foundation Nederland Positief.

In 2004, André van Duin finished at number 52 in the election of ''De Grootste Nederlander'' (The Greatest Dutchman).

At the age of 15, he sent letters to several TV networks, requesting an audition. At 16, he was allowed to make some appearances for the radio programme 'Minjon'.

His stage revue, 'Dag dag heerlijke lach' (Hello Hello Delicious Laugh) (1973-1974) with Corrie van Gorp became a great success in the theatres. The show was televised from 1974-1975 and in 1975 Van Duin won the Gouden Televizier-ring, a major Dutch TV award, for "Dag dag heerlijke lach/Hello hello Delicious Laugh".

In 1964 he was discovered when he won the TV talent contest show Nieuwe Oogst (New Harvest). His act was to playback to a medley of Cliff Richard, comedian Toon Hermans and the variety duo Snip and Snap, on a tape he had edited himself at home on an amateur recorder. On 8 August 1964, this parody formed the support act for the Rolling Stones' legendary concert at the Kurhaus, after which he received many offers.

As a young boy, Van Duin saw performances at staff parties by Johnny Kraaykamp and Rita Corita, among others. Following this, he learned to imitate Dutch celebrities. At school, he developed an image as the class clown, partially due to his red hair. After primary school, Van Duin went to technical school to train as a machine bench fitter. His main interest, however, remained parodying artists, although his teachers were often not happy with the moments Van Duin chose for his impersonations.

In 1982 his most ambitious film, De Boezemvriend/The Bosom Buddy (Dimitri Frenkel Frank, 1982), was partly an adaptation of the Danny Kaye film The Inspector General (Henry Koster, 1949). Van Duin portrayed charlatan dentist Fred van der Zee who is mistaken for Napoleon's delegate. De Boezemvriend was considered a failure and Van Duin hasn't returned to the big screen since.

André van Duin is a famous comedian and actor in Dutch-speaking countries. He is also a singer, writer, and creator of many popular television programs, and he starred in three Dutch film comedies.

In 1976, Van Duin had a massive hit with the song 'Willempie'. Parents of mentally challenged children considered his performance offensive. Van Duin escaped legal action by apologising on television.

After the good response to his first television show, theatre producer Joop van den Ende cast Van Duin for a revue production, ''n Lach in de ruimte' (A Laugh in Space) (1970). Initially, Van Duin would play the straight man to Frans van Dusschoten, but during the tryouts, Van den Ende decided that Van Duin was better suited to play the role of the everyman.

In 1972, André van Duin began the radio show 'Dik Voormekaar Show'. First with broadcasting company Radio Noordzee Internationaal, later with the NCRV and TROS. He involved his then technician, Ferry de Groot, in the show, becoming the character Meneer de Groot (Mister de Groot). The show continued to air on the radio (and for a period also on TV).

In 2020, his husband, Martin Elferink died at the age of 55 from the effects of bone cancer. Van Duin himself was found to have colon cancer in the summer of 2020. He underwent surgery for this in January 2021.

André van Duin debuted as an actor in the TV series Het meisje met de blauwe hoed/The Girl With The Blue Hat (Dick van 't Sant, 1972), playing an army recruit opposite Jenny Arean. It was a TV version of the film musical Het meisje met den blauwe hoed/The Girl With The Blue Hat (Rudolf Meinert, 1934), with Truus van Aalten and Lou Bandy in the Van Duin part.

Cartoonist Toon van Driel created André's own comic book series in 1987.

André van Duin made his film debut with "Pretfilm/Fun Film" (Robert Kaesen, 1976) in which he played various characters with his cronies from his stage and TV comedies, Frans van Dusschoten and Corrie van Gorp. In 1981 he starred with the same team in another comedy, "Ik Ben Joep Meloen/I am Joep Melon" (Guus Verstraete, 1981), which was another reasonable success.

Van Duin also recorded several popular songs such as 'Angelique' (1972), 'Het bananenlied' (1972), a wacky parody of Harry Belafonte's 'The Banana Boat Song', and 'Bim bam', a hilarious Dutch version of Jean Villard's 'Les trois cloches' from 1939, made famous by the singer Edith Piaf. André van Duin's version became a big hit in both The Netherlands and Belgium.

During the 1980s Van Duin stayed unchangingly popular as a comedian in the Netherlands. In the mid-1980s he became especially known for several of his alter egos, which he sometimes performed alongside Corrie van Gorp.

In 2013, he returned to TV as Petrus in the hit series 't Schaep met de 5 pooten/The Sheep with Five Legs (Frank Krom, a.o., 2007-2015). On stage, he impressed critics with his role in 'The Sunshine Boys' (2015).

In 1981, he presented the Flip Fluitketel Show as his alter ego Flip Fluitketel, which at its peak attracted an estimated 5.8 million viewers in the Netherlands.