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He was born in Tokmak , Ukraine , to Olga and Isaac Winogradsky. In 1912 the Jewish family fled the Russian Pogroms to a new life in the East End of London . Isaac managed a cinema, while his three sons attended the Rochelle Street School in Shoreditch. At 15 Louis became an agent for a clothing firm, and shortly afterwards started his own business. But after he won a Charleston competition at the Royal Albert Hall in 1926, he became a professional dancer under the name Lew Grade. In 1933 founded a talent agency. His two brothers, Leslie Grade and Bernard Delfont , were also show business impresarios, and his nephew, Michael Grade (currently the Chairman of the BBC Board Of Governors ), carried on the tradition. A sister to Lew, Leslie and Bernie, Rita (1924–1992) was born in the UK, by which time the family was living in Streatham, south London. She married a Twickenham doctor, Joe Freeman (1912–1979), in 1949 - they have two sons, Ian (1950–?), a PR consultant and freelance journalist, and Andrew (1962–?), a corporate accountant. Lew Grade is best known by viewing audiences as the man responsible for a number of cult British TV series, including ''''. Grade was instrumental in bringing '' The Muppet Show '' to the screen and was immortalized by Jim Henson , who based the character of movie mogul Lew Lord (played by Orson Welles ) in '' The Muppet Movie '', after Grade. His other successes as a producer included the award-winning '' Jesus Of Nazareth '' (1977), starring Robert Powell - ironically, as Grade was Jewish. Grade had unique success in selling to the American market. The " Jesus Of Nazarath " mini-series secured a record breaking $12m. He also promoted extravagant 'quality' productions on ATV to prove its equal to BBC TV , for instance giving over a whole evening schedule to a live broadcast of " Tosca " from La Scala starring Maria Callas . In 1978 Grade backed an expensive 'all-star' film version of Clive Cussler 's best seller '' Raise The Titanic ''. Released a year after '' Star Wars '' audience taste had moved on and the film was a major flop - Grade remarked "It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic". Along with a number of other flops the film marked the end of Grade's involvement with major motion picture production. He was made a Life Peer in 1976, having been Knighted in 1969. Quotes
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