Hollywood darling Perry, Britain's last champion

LONDON (AFP) –

British Fred Perry at the French Open in 1936. Wimbledon finalist Andy Murray has a steady girlfriend, doesn’t drink alcohol, practices early and relaxes by taking his two pet dogs Maggie and Rusty for long strolls in the Surrey countryside, but Fred Perry, the last British man to win Wimbledon in 1936, would have done things differently and probably a lot more noisily.

Wimbledon finalist Andy Murray has a steady girlfriend, doesn’t drink alcohol, practices early and relaxes by taking his two pet dogs Maggie and Rusty for long strolls in the Surrey countryside.

Fred Perry, the last British man to win Wimbledon in 1936, would have done things differently and probably a lot more noisily.

Perry, who died aged 85 in Melbourne in 1995, was married four times, counted 1930s Hollywood sirens Marlene Dietrich and Jean Harlow amongst his lovers, renounced his British citizenship and served in the US air force in World War II.

He also fell out spectacularly with the British tennis establishment who bristled at his professional status and his humble origins.

Born the son of a cotton factory worker in Stockport, in England’s industrial north in 1909, his father was a committed socialist.

Fred J. Perry of England with his trophy on 12 September 1936 after he won the men’s singles at Forest Hills against Donald Budge of the US. Perry, who died aged 85 in Melbourne in 1995, was married four times, counted 1930s Hollywood sirens Marlene Dietrich and Jean Harlow amongst his lovers, renounced his British citizenship and served in the US air force in World War II.

After the family moved to London, Perry learned to play table tennis and tennis, but always endured a roller-coaster relationship with the All England Club.

According to a 2009 biography, The Last Champion, when Perry beat Jack Crawford to win his first Wimbledon title in 1934, he overheard a club official telling the Australian runner-up that he was the “better man”.

Perry, always an outsider in the stuffy surroundings of amateur lawn tennis, thrived in the more egalitarian atmosphere of the United States where the gregarious, athletic Englishman was an instant celebrity.

The Last Champion’s author Jon Henderson explained Perry’s popularity.

“He was an extremely good looking, red-blooded lad. The girls liked him and he liked the girls, it went from there,” wrote Henderson.

German tennis player Baron Gottfried Von Cramm (left) and England’s Fred Perry enter Center Court at Roland Garros stadium on 3 June 1936 for the French Open. Perry became the last Briton to win Wimbledon when he beat von Cramm there the same year

“One US columnist said ‘women fell for him like ninepins and when he went to Hollywood, male film stars went and sulked in Nevada’.”

By the time of Perry’s death, he had finally become accepted into the British tennis culture.

“Fred Perry was a superlative ambassador for our sport throughout the world. He was a great character, big-hearted and a true champion in every sense,” said former All England chairman John Curry.

“He won the affection and admiration of all those involved in tennis – the players, the fans, the media, and officials. Fred was one of those rare individuals. He was at ease with all – from the youngest fans to royalty.”

Perry’s third — and Britain’s last — Wimbledon triumph in 1936 was achieved with breathtaking speed, his 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 victory over Germany’s Baron Gottfried von Cramm taking only 40 minutes.

Von Cramm’s life, too, had its controversy — he was imprisoned for homosexuality for six months in 1938 and died in a car crash in Cairo in 1976.