Stanley Baxter – a talent for not being himself

Stanley Baxter, the comic actor whose female impersonations in his lavish TV spectaculars attracted vast audiences, has died at 99. ‘His breadth of talent was unmatched – satirist, stand-up comedian, singer, dancer, impressionist, wit, poet, panto dame, dramatic actor, writer and choreographer.’ His shows at their height were watch by 14 million viewers and involved often up to 45 costume changes as he mimicked Shirley Bassey, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland and others. Made with meticulous care and high production values, they were among the most expensive productions in the field of light entertainment.

 For all his success he was a troubled soul. He said in an interview “I’m still not quite sure who I really am, which makes it easier to play other people, but a lot harder to be convincing as Stanley Baxter.” He also struggled with his lifelong homosexuality, telling his biographer “I never wanted to be gay.”

   He was born 24 May 1926 2.15 am Glasgow, Scotland, with a timid insurance actuary father and a flamboyant mother who fostered his interest in the entertainment business from an early age and encouraged him to do Mae West impressions. After WW11 he did his National Service in the Far East, serving with fellow comedian Kenneth Williams who remained a close friend. He married an actress when he was 26 and remained married for nearly fifty years. She had mental health problems and died eventually of suicide. He spent the past 25 years as a virtual recluse in his first floor apartment in a Highgate Village art deco mansion. ‘He dreaded going out – believing himself to be decrepit, he feared being recognised and, worse, pitied.’

He was born a few days after after Robert Lifton, the psychiatrist who shed light on the darkest corners of human behaviour (see post 18 November 2025) three weeks after David Attenborough and a month after Queen Elizabeth 11, so he shared their stalwartly enduring Fixed chart. In his case he was Gemini rather than Taurus which fitted his communicative and quixotic temperament. But he did have the Fixed T Square of Jupiter in Aquarius in his 1^st opposition an uncommitted-about-relationships Neptune in his 7^th square an overly conscientious Saturn in his 9^th.

  Possibly most significant was his 5^th house Pluto in his chart area of entertainment conjunct Sirius, the brightest star in the sky which confers honours. It may be one reason for the number of eminent personalities from that year. (And Margaret Thatcher and Peter Sellers from 1925).

  Baxter’s deeply buried, intense 8^th house Moon in Libra opposed Venus (and Nessus) squaring Pluto pointed not only to a possessive mother – but might also be a clue to his talent for female impersonation with Nessus Venus = deceit about women at its crudest.  He also had a creative though unhappy Water Grand Trine of Mars in Pisces trine North Node (Pluto) in Cancer trine Saturn with Uranus in Pisces trine Saturn as an outlier.

 His Sun is virtually unaspected bar an out-of-element sextile to Uranus which would not bolster a strong sense of personal identity.

 A wonderful entertainer and a staple of my childhood visits to Christmas pantomimes in Glasgow with his double act along with Jimmy Logan.

The post Stanley Baxter – a talent for not being himself first appeared on Astroinform with Marjorie Orr – Star4cast.