‘He said darling, I have to go’: Eddie Large’s devastated widow Patsy McGinnis reveals comedy legend’s final words before he lost his battle with coronavirus aged 78
- The comedian passed away on early on Thursday morning, four days after testing positive for the deadly virus
- Grieving widow Patsy admitted she had no idea their final conversation would be their last
- Patsy was kept apart from her husband for the last two weeks of his life due to the highly infectious nature of the disease
- ‘I wish I could have been with him, we’re trying to get a funeral together and still wont be able to see him,’ she told Good Morning Britain
The wife of comedy legend Eddie Large has revealed her husband’s final words before he tragically lost his battle with coronaviris COVID-19.
The comedian passed away on early on Thursday morning aged 78, four days after testing positive for the deadly virus, which he’s believed to have contracted in the hospital where he was being treated for problems with his heart.
And grieving widow Patsy McGinnis, 76, admits she had no idea their final conversation would be their last.
Devastated: The wife of comedy legend Eddie Large has revealed her husband’s final words before he tragically lost his battle with coronaviris COVID-19
Speaking to Monday’s edition of Good Morning Britain, she admitted she was kept apart from her husband for the last two weeks of his life due to the highly infectious nature of the disease, meaning their final words were spoken over the phone.
She said: ‘I wanted to speak to him longer, he said darling “I have to go” , I said “I’ll speak to you in the morning”… and then we got the call at 4 in the morning to say he’d passed away.
‘I never thought it would end like this. I wish I could have been with him, we’re trying to get a funeral together and still wont be able to see him. There’s so much love out there, we’ve had so much support.’ Tragic:
Tragic: The comedian passed away on early on Thursday morning aged 78, four days after testing positive for the deadly virus, which he’s believed to have contracted in the hospital where he was being treated for problems with his heart
Eddie had originally been admitted to hospital after suffering a heart attack at home, but after contracting coronavirus while in medical care his loved ones were advised to stay away.
Patsy added: ‘It’s been terrible. I knew our time was limited, I knew he was very ill. We had two weeks before when he was ill, before they kicked us out. We stayed every single day with him and then lockdown came and we couldn’t go in, it was heart-breaking.
‘I spoke to him on phone every day, sometimes twice a day. Then he got this virus, heart-breaking, we couldn’t be with him.’
The Glasgow-born comedian, whose real name was Edward Hugh McGinnis, was known for his partnership with Syd Little which spanned five decades after winning Opportunity Knocks in 1971.
Little and Large met in a Wythenshawe pub when Eddie heckled Syd during a stand-up routine and the duo would become among the biggest stars of the 1970s and 1980s – at their peak up to 25 million viewers would watch their weekly TV show.
But in the 1990s Eddie suffered health problems, leading to the premature end of their act, and they were last seen on screen together in February 2019 for a celebrity special of the BBC’s Pointless game show.