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" Sir Norman Wisdom has been labelled as a &amp;quot;comic genius&amp;quot; by friends and colleagues, who paid tribute to him following his death yesterday. The actor, who started his film career in 1948 and became famous for a string of slapstick characters in the 1950s, passed away at Abbotswood Nursing Home on the Isle of Man. A number of collaborators publicly praised Wisdom today, as Sir Tim Rice called him &amp;quot;a brilliant slapstick performer in the Charlie Chaplin mould&amp;quot;. The lyricist, who worked with Wisdom on a song called &amp;#039;Big in Albania&amp;#039;, said of the collaboration: &amp;quot;He was well into his 80s and he was playing the clown and a very funny clown almost all the time. &amp;quot;He would run up escalators the wrong way, he would fall down stairs, crack jokes and at almost every meal burst into &amp;#039;Don&amp;#039;t Laugh At Me &amp;#039;Cos I&amp;#039;m A Fool&amp;#039;, his big hit from the &amp;#039;50s.&amp;quot; Rice added: &amp;quot;He was supremely professional and he was extremely good at what he did.&amp;quot; Jan Kennedy, from Billy Marsh Associates - the agency which discovered Wisdom over 50 years ago - said that the actor was &amp;quot;simply a beloved comic genius&amp;quot;. &amp;quot;His whole personality projected a childlike warmth and innocent appeal that touched the hearts of everyone,&amp;quot; Kennedy added. &amp;quot;Norman literally made audiences worldwide cry with laughter, and his endearing talents live on through the universal happiness of his films and recordings.&amp;quot; Wisdom&amp;#039;s agent of over 30 years Johnny Mans told Sky News: &amp;quot;He was a friend as well as someone who I have worked with over the years. &amp;quot;He was never, ever big-headed. He was a man of the people. He was always a naughty little boy, but that was Norman.&amp;quot; Albanian ambassador Zef Mazi also praised the comedian, who was a cult figure in the Eastern European country. &amp;quot;After Charlie Chaplin, he was the biggest comedy star in Albania,&amp;quot; Mazi said. &amp;quot;I still remember his character Pitkin and his boss Mr Grimsdale. &amp;quot;He was very popular with everyone from very young people to very old people and he made us laugh at a time, in the communist period, when there were not many reasons to laugh.&amp;quot; Head of BBC Comedy Mark Freeland said that Wisdom was &amp;quot;one of the most enduring and endearing faces of British comedy&amp;quot;. Freeland explained: &amp;quot;Sir Norman&amp;#039;s diminutive characters were always underpinned by a sensitivity and charm that so wonderfully communicated to audiences the plight of the underdog.&amp;quot; No details have yet been released regarding Wisdom&amp;#039;s funeral arrangements. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/news/a280518/tributes-paid-to-genius-norman-wisdom/>