Biography

Music hall comedian, juggler, conjurer and frequent member of the Crazy Gang. Noted for his 'Cockney-French' patter, round spectacles and curly moustache. Toured Australia and South Africa in the 1920's as part of 'Harry Lauder''s troupe. Remained active as a performer right up until his death in September 1969.

In 1931 he married Marie Cecilia Loftus (died in 1994), a variety performer known professionally as Patti Loftus, one of the "Loftus Sisters".

Gray and his brother Danny were apprenticed to a juggling troupe when Gray was nine years old. As a juggler he toured Europe, the US, and Asia. At first he performed as a straight, and highly skilled, juggler, but he gradually introduced into his act the deadpan humour for which he became known.

Gray was apprenticed to a juggler at the age of nine and became a technically proficient straight juggler. He gradually introduced a wry humour into his act, and was invited to appear with the comic double act Nervo and Knox in 1919. The three performers formed the original basis of the group of seven comedians who became famous under the collective name the Crazy Gang in the 1930s.

Among his later appearances was that in the London production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in 1962.