Norman Wisdom (1915-2010) was an actor, comedian and singer born in London's Marylebone. He made his name in the UK between 1953 and 1966 in a series of comedy films featuring his hapless on-screen character Norman Pitkin. Wisdom became a celebrity abroad in places as diverse as South America, Iran and many Eastern Bloc countries, especially Albania. He also made a career as an actor in New York, and on American television where he won critical acclaim for his role of a dying cancer patient in the 1981 television play Going Gently. Charlie Chaplin called Wisdom his 'favourite clown'.

In 1995 he received an OBE, and was made a Freeman of the City of London, and of Tirana. He was knighted in 2000 and spent much of his later life on the Isle of Man. Some of his later appearances included roles in the television series Last of the Summer Wine and Coronation Street.

The photograph was produced by the well-known London-based portrait photographer Godfrey Argent (1937-2006) who had studios in London's Queen's Gate and Holland Street. He took up photography after having become a successful photographer whilst serving in the Household Cavalry, where he won the British Army Photographic Competition and became an Associate Member of the Royal Photographic Society. He was a royal photographer, the official photographer for the Royal Society, and in the latter part of his career frequently photographed theatrical subjects.