Show business king Lord Delfont dies

during a career which began in 1941, he promoted everything from

musicals to films, from bowling alleys to discos and leisure centres.

He created the old theatre restaurant, the Talk of the Town, from the

former Hippodrome theatre and managed it from 1958 until 1982. He was

also responsible for the annual Royal Variety show for 20 years.

The films -- Seven Cities of Atlantis was one -- were mostly terrible,

although not as terrible as those produced by his brother Lew. This was

mainly because some films made by EMI, of which he was for a short time

chief executive, like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, were made in

collaboration with good American film makers and studios.

But celluloid was not his natural home although the balance sheet was,

and the theatrical shows in the West End, many at the Prince of Wales

theatre or in resorts like Blackpool, with the possible exception of the

House of Windsor's annual stamina test which always over ran its

allotted time span, were another matter. They were lavish, star studded,

glamorous, and slick.

Bernard Delfont, who died of a heart attack yesterday aged 84, a life

peer like his elder brother, Lew Grade, was joint ruler of one of the

great media families. The third show business brother, the late Mr

Leslie Grade, an agent, was the father of Mr Michael Grade, chief

executive of Channel Four. In their prime, the brothers -- they had a

sister, Rita, who died two years ago -- were a triumvirate to conjure

with.

Their parents, Isaac and Olga Winogradsky, arrived in Britain as

refugees from the pogroms when Bernard, born in 1909 in Tokmak, Russia,

was three. His mother was to became a formidable matriarch, always there

to cheer her sons on at first nights and gala events.

The Winogradskys settled in that traditional haven for immigrants,

Brick Lane, Stepney, where the three boys slept on the floor, the family

were so poor. Bernard left school at 12, followed brother Lew into ''the

business'', became a professional dancer, speciality the Charleston, and

then, like Lew, became an agent and promoter of shows.

Rejected by the Army for service during the Second World War, Bernard

concentrated on acquiring the leases of London theatres, which were

going cheap, entered theatrical management in 1941, and scored his first

big hit nine years later when he brought the famous Parisian revue, the

Folies Bergere, to London, sinking his life savings, #40,000, into the

production.

Over the years, he presented some 50 musicals, mainly in the West End,

including Pickwick and Stop the World I Want to Get Off, and launched or

furthered the careers of the likes of Julie Andrews, Michael Bentine,

Vera Lynn, Harry Secombe, Dickie Valentine, Benny Hill, Max Bygraves,

Peter Sellers, and Little and Large.

In 1983, he founded the First Leisure Corporation, led the management

buy-out from Trust House Forte, and floated it on the Stock Market a

year later. The firm's interests included the Blackpool Tower, which

celebrates its centenary this year, bowling alleys, and discos as well

as West End theatres.

Lord Delfont had the family's legendary staying power in spades. He

still turned up at the office every day, at one time starting work at

6.30am, and was, according to a spokesman, ''our elder statesman''.

The chief executive, Mr John Conlan, said it was difficult to measure

Lord Delfont's contribution to the theatre, film, and television

industries over the years. ''There will never be anyone like him,'' he

said. ''The public only knew the personality but those who worked with

him over the years knew him as a very kind man.''

Lord Delfont, who retired two years ago, was married to the former

singer, Carole Lynne, and they had a son and two daughters. Knighted in

1974, he was made a life peer in 1976, the same year as his brother,

Lew, with whom he shared a taste for very large cigars.

' The public only knew the personality but those who worked with him

over the years knew him as a very kind man '

John Conlan