Victor Oliver von Samek (8 July 1898 – 15 August 1964) was an Austrian-born British musician, entertainer, comedian and actor, most popular between the 1920s and 1950s.

[4] After the war he briefly worked as a banker and for a textile manufacturer,[3] and performed as a drummer in a jazz band in Rouen and Le Havre.

He discovered his gift for comedy by chance when he apologised to his audience after falling from a piano stool and found that his apologies "drew more laughs than did his accident".

Returning to England to perform with Crangle, he played the London Palladium two years later, and started to establish his reputation in Britain.

With his deferential, modest humour, he became very popular, both in Britain and America, as a solo act, and gained a reputation as "a sophisticated if rather risqué cabaret artiste".

[4] He was principal comedian in C. B. Cochran's revue Follow the Sun at the Adelphi Theatre, where he met Winston Churchill's daughter Sarah.

After Oliver returned to New York to play in the revue It's the Tops, Churchill joined him there and they were married amid much publicity on Christmas Day 1936.

[6] He was a regular on Henry Hall's Guest Night and Workers' Playtime and, as a music-based comedian, has been considered a precursor of Victor Borge.

As a Jew, his name was reportedly listed on a Nazi blacklist (known as "The Black Book") of people to be arrested and killed immediately in the event of a successful German invasion of Britain.