Alfred Hawthorn Hill (January 21, 1924 – April 20, 1992), better known as Benny Hill, was a prolific English comic, actor & singer, best known for his television programme, The Benny Hill Show. Since its debut in 1969 his television show has been sold to over 140 countries worldwide, with viewership in the billions.

Beginnings

Alfred "Alfie" Hill was born in Southampton, where he and his brother attended Taunton School. During the Second World War Hill was one of the scholars evacuated with the school to Bournemouth School, East Way, Bournemouth. After leaving Taunton School, Hill worked variously as a milkman in Eastleigh, bridge operator, driver and drummer, before he finally got a foot in the door of the entertainment industry by becoming an assistant stage manager. Inspired by the 'star comedians' of British music hall shows, Hill set out to make his mark in show business. For the stage he changed his first name to 'Benny', in homage to his favourite comedian, Jack Benny. Hill began appearing at working-men's clubs and Masonic dinners before graduating to nightclub and theatre jobs. Hill had auditioned for Soho's famed Windmill Theatre (home of Revudeville, a popular show of singers, comedians and nude girls), but he was not hired.

Private life

Benny worked compulsively and had only a few friends, although colleagues who knew him closely insist that he was never lonely, but content with his own company. He never married, although he did propose to two women — one the daughter of a British writer — and was rejected by both. He never owned his own home, nor even a car, instead preferring to rent a small flat in Teddington, a convenient walking distance to the Teddington Studios, where he taped his shows. Travelling was the one luxury he consistently permitted himself. Hill became a first-degree Francophile, enjoying frequent visits to Marseilles. Until the 1980s, he could enjoy the anonymity of France's outdoor cafes, public transport, and socializing with local women. Besides mastering French, Benny also could 'get by' speaking German, Dutch and Italian in his travels. Hill's overseas holidays were often gathering missions for comedic material, some newly inspired by foreign surroundings, or borrowed from regional acts. Hill was a distant relative of the Australian actress and singer Holly Valance (Hill's cousin being Valance's grandfather).

Early career

Between the end of the war and the dawn of television, he worked as a radio performer. His first appearance on television was in 1949 in the television programme Hi There. He continued to work intermittently until his career took off with The Benny Hill Show in 1955 on BBC Television. Recurring players on his show during the BBC years included Patricia Hayes, Jeremy Hawk, Peter Vernon, Ronnie Brody, and his co-writer from the mid-1950s to early 1960s, Dave Freeman. He remained mostly with the BBC through 1968, except for a few isolated sojourns with Associated TeleVision in 1957–1960 and again in 1967. He also had a short-lived radio programme, Benny Hill Time, which ran on BBC Radio's Light Programme service from 1964 to 1966. In addition, he attempted a sitcom anthology, Benny Hill, which ran for three series from 1962 to 1963, in which he played a different character in each episode.

Films and recordings

Benny Hill's film credits include parts in nine films including Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), in which he played the relatively straight role of the Toymaker, The Italian Job (1969), and finally, a clip-show film spin-off of his early Thames shows (1969–73) called The Best of Benny Hill (1974).

Hill's audio recordings include "Gather in the Mushrooms" (1961), "Transistor Radio" (1961), "Harvest of Love" (1963), "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)" (1971), among many others. He also appeared in the video of the song "Anything She Does" by the band Genesis.

The Benny Hill Show

In 1969, his show moved from the BBC to Thames Television, where it remained until its cancellation in 1989, with an erratic schedule of one-hour specials.

The Benny Hill Show featured him in innumerable mostly short sketches (often portraying a leering, lecherous, never quite succeeding yet charming protagonist), along with Thames Television show regulars Henry McGee, Bob Todd, Jackie Wright, Nicholas Parsons (in the early years), Jenny Lee-Wright, Rita Webb and others. He was very versatile and appeared in many different costumes as male and female characters. Slapstick and double entendre were his hallmark. The show was criticised by some for being sexist, but Hill replied by pointing out that the female characters were all intelligent and kept their dignity, while the men chasing them were all buffoons.

He used sped-up film — also known as 'Undercranking' — and sight gags to create what he called 'live animation' and he masterfully employed techniques like mime and parody. The show typically closed with a sped-up chase scene involving himself and a crew of scantily-clad women, a takeoff on the stereotypical Keystone Kops chase scenes.

He was also a skilled composer and singer of patter songs. Here is an example of his doggerel:

Roses are reddish

Violets are bluish

If it weren't for Christmas

We'd all be Jewish.

The theme song, "Yakety Sax", which has gained a particular cult following on its own, was written by Boots Randolph. Apart from the theme tune, another signature of the show was the enthusiastic announcer intro: "Yes! It's The Benny Hill Show!" (The announcer was often cast member McGee.)

Hill was a pioneer in realising the ability of the television camera to create illusions and also how it could be used for comedic value. For example, in a murder mystery parody entitled "Murder on the Oregon Express" from 1976, Hill used both clever editing and camera angles — as well as his own knack for impersonations — to depict a Quinn Martin–like TV "mystery" featuring Hill in the roles of 1970s American TV detectives Ironside, McCloud, Kojak, and Cannon (as well as Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot). This also serves as a possible indication of Hill being canny enough to realise that American audiences would identify better with his shows if he had some humour that was derived in some part from their popular culture. During his television career, Hill performed impersonations or parodies of American celebrities and fictional characters, ranging from The Six Million Dollar Man to Starsky and Hutch to Kenny Rogers, to The A-Team, to Cagney & Lacey. His own country's celebrities did not escape his comedic eye either: Hill also delivered impersonations of such British stars as Michael Caine (in his Alfie role), newscasters Reginald Bosanquet, Alan Whicker and Cliff Michelmore, pop-music show hosts Jimmy Savile and Tony Blackburn, musicians Roger Whittaker and Engelbert Humperdinck, his former 1960s record producer Tony Hatch, and Irish comedian Dave Allen. On a few occasions, he even impersonated his former straight man, Nicholas Parsons.

The show was first broadcast in the United States in January 1979 and screened there with a series of re-edited half-hour programmes culled from the ITV specials. The US versions of his show have far less risqué material than those which were aired in the UK. The show was awarded the 'Special Prize of the City of Montreux' at the 'Rose d'Or' festival in 1984.

Hill later recorded some shows for US television, and in 1977 produced a special in Australia whose contents found their way into scattered episodes of the US half-hour syndicated edits.

Hill's repertory group

It should also be taken as a testament to Hill's character as a person (as well as his talent as a performer and writer) that many of his cast and crew stayed on with him for years, in some cases from the moment they first appeared on his show. Henry McGee and Bob Todd are the primary examples of the male cast members who remained with Hill for the long term, while long-running female colleagues included Jenny Lee-Wright (who would later go on to become a top Foley artist in England), Bella Emberg, and Hill's Angels Louise English and Sue Upton. In a related note, Upton — in book excerpts posted on her official site — stated that contrary to the leering schoolboy air he often presented on TV, Hill was a model of kindness and courtesy to all his performers, particularly the female performers. She related how Hill would never force a female performer to do or wear something she wasn't comfortable with (and how outside of work, he was like a family member to her husband and two children). On her own site, Louise English related how, after her time on the show ended when it was cancelled, Hill would come to see her in every performance she did on stage. In one of the books written about Hill, Jenny Lee-Wright related the time she was on holiday in New York and happened to mention to a customs agent at the airport that she worked with Hill, and was then driven to a local television studio to answer questions about him on an interview show.

Ironically, though many of his cast and crew became just as recognisable as Hill himself, few if any of them capitalised on their fame to move on to larger-scale projects. Some possible minor exceptions could be made for Jackie Wright (who was rumoured to have an offer for an American comedy presented to him shortly before his death) and long-time Hill's Angel Louise English (who once received a fan letter from Burt Reynolds, praising her skills and beauty). However, the primary example of an exception to the rule would be Jane Leeves, who, years after having been a Hill's Angel, became famous for her portrayal of Daphne on the American comedy Frasier. Going further back, to BBC days, another future U.S. TV star, Susan Clark (of Webster fame) , appeared on one of Hill's 1965 specials.

Guest stars and musical guests

Over the years, Benny Hill had relatively well-known actors and actresses who appeared as guests on the show, some of whom were already famous on other TV and radio programmes, including Don Estelle (It Ain't Half Hot Mum), Paul Eddington (The Good Life; Yes Minister / Yes, Prime Minister), Paula Wilcox (The Lovers, Man About the House), Patrick Newell (The Avengers), Hugh Paddick (Round the Horne), Kathy Staff (Crossroads, Coronation Street), actress/singer Trisha Noble, entertainer Dilys Watling, stage and TV actress Stella Moray, gardener Percy Thrower, Carry On regular Liz Fraser, former Move lead singer Carl Wayne, and others. In the 1980s, as the climate of political correctness continued to grow, two of these former guests — Eddington and Wilcox — refused to allow the respective editions in which they appeared to ever be shown on British television again.

His show, in its first decade on Thames, also had an interesting (and often eclectic) array of musical guests. One of the more famous examples was Kiki Dee, who appeared on one of his black-and-white shows in 1971, a few years before her first big hit "I've Got the Music In Me." Other famous musical guests included Anne Shelton, who appeared on both his BBC and Thames shows; former Seekers lead singer Judith Durham; and The Mike Sammes Singers. Back in the BBC days, Alma Cogan, Cleo Laine and Petula Clark made appearances on the show, as did Dusty Springfield when she was part of the folk trio The Springfields. Hill was also big on Spanish music acts, and gave the first major exposure to groups such as Luis Alberto del Parana and Los Paraguayos on his show.

With few exceptions, most of the musical numbers did not make it to the US syndicated series.

Criticism and cancellation

In 1989 Thames Television dropped Hill, claiming a major decline in ratings. However, this has often been disputed. Some argued that the show was the victim of political correctness, others that the style of comedy was simply very dated. 1980s British comedy stars such as Ben Elton were also dismissive of Hill's penchant for using pretty girls in his shows, supposedly in a sexist way. Though Hill's characters were made to look ridiculous and lecherous, and the butt of the joke, a lot of viewers didn't think of his shows as being sexist at all. Thames' final broadcast of a brand new Benny Hill show attracted more than 12 million viewers across the ITV Network. One reason often cited was that his character's constant leering at attractive women was less charming as he grew older. Another factor cited was a massive drop in quality and standards of the show itself over the course of the 1980s.

One criticism that could unfortunately be fairly levelled at Hill was his tendency to re-use jokes, gags and scenes from show to show. One example of this recycling would be an often-seen parody of washing-up liquid advertisements (usually called "Fairly Liquid", in reference to the Fairy Liquid brand of detergent). Hill, along with an actress, would play mother and child (with Hill as the child, kneeling next to the actress in order to appear smaller). Hill, playing the child, would remark as to the softness of the mother's hands, thanks to the brand of detergent; Hill's character would then become increasingly mischievous, to the point of angering the "mother", who eventually slapped him. He would then proclaim words to the effect of "her hand's not soft...it's bleedin' hard!" This particular parody first appeared during Hill's tenure at the BBC and appeared subsequently at various times during his time at ITV.

Another often seen joke on Hill's shows would feature Hill playing a rude waiter at a restaurant, serving a customer wine. The customer (usually Jackie Wright) would sip the wine and then grimace and indicate that it was unsuitable. Hill's waiter would agree, walk away...and then shuck the label off the bottle and replace it with a different one, returning to the customer and refilling his glass, after showing him the "new" bottle. To complete the joke, the customer would then sip the "new" wine and proclaim his delight. It is debatable as to whether the reuse of the same jokes during his television career was the result of creative bankruptcy, or some belief that the jokes were old favourites, being presented over and over again in the manner of a band performing an audience's favorite songs.

A more politically insensitive criticism that could be leveled at Hill was the unfortunate use of racial stereotypes in the early years of his show. For example, Hill often portrayed a Chinese man, who squinted through thick glasses and used phrases such as "stupid iriot" and "good evening everybloody" (as a foil to this character, Bob Todd would often play a stereotypical Indian, clad in Nehru jacket). Hill also would do roles in heavy make-up designed to make him look black (usually African or Jamaican in origin, with an exaggerated accent to match); in contrast, the shows featured black performers only rarely and infrequently (and when they were featured, many times it was in stereotypical "jungle" costumes; however, it should also be noted that in sketches featuring these characters, the black characters were usually featured as being intelligent and articulate, while the white characters were presented as dull-witted).

Another example of Hill using stereotypes for humour could be found in his ability to impersonate accents. Hill used this ability to portray characters of various national origins, usually broadly painted in stereotypical fashion. German characters rolled their R's to a ridiculous extent; American characters were either apparently from the Bronx or from the Southern U.S., with the attached time-worn stereotypical behaviours; and Irish characters spoke with such a strong brogue as to be unintelligible on first listen. A notable example of this featured Henry McGee as a talk show host interviewing two Irish brothers (Hill and actual Irishman Jackie Wright):

Hill: (speaks what sounds like) They found his bacon, hot in the pork.

McGee (confused): His bacon...?

Hill: His bacon hot. His hot he wears for bacon!

McGee (comprehending): Oh, his biking hat!

Whatever the reason for being cancelled, the board of Thames Television was unaware of the decision and attempted to entice Hill back. Hill's friend and producer/director, Dennis Kirkland, was furious and persuaded Hill to go to Central Independent Television to make a new series of programmes.

Celebrity fans

The English comedian Charlie Chaplin who died in 1977 and the American singer Michael Jackson were avid fans of Hill's work: Jackson found time to visit Benny in hospital when Hill was recovering from a heart attack in February 1992. Hill had previously discovered that his childhood idol Chaplin was a fan when he was invited to Chaplin's home in Switzerland by Chaplin's family and discovered that Chaplin had a vast collection of Benny's work on video. Apparently, Hill and Dennis Kirkland (a friend, and director of Hill's show for many years) were the first people outside of family to be allowed into Chaplin's private study.

Radio and TV show host Adam Carolla has also claimed that he was an avid fan of Benny Hill and that he considered Hill "as American as the Beatles." Indeed, during an episode of The Man Show, Carolla performed (in what was billed as a tribute to "our favourite Englishman, Sir Benny Hill") in a slightly more risqué takeoff of the "undercranked" sketches that Hill popularised. Carolla played a rude and lecherous waiter—a role Hill essayed numerous times in his shows — and the sketch featured many of the staples of Hill's shows (including a Jackie Wright-esque bald man, as well as the usual scantily clad ladies).

In a documentary (Benny Hill: The World's Favorite Clown) filmed before Hill's passing, a variety of celebrities (Burt Reynolds, Michael Caine, John Mortimer, Mickey Rooney, and Walter Cronkite, among others) expressed their appreciation of and admiration for Hill and his humour (and in Reynolds' case, the appreciation extended to the Hill's Angels as well).

Death

Hill's health began to decline in the early 1990s. Weighing 17 stone (238�lbs or 108�kg) at 5 feet 10½ inches (1�m 80�cm) tall, he suffered heart problems related to his obesity. On February 11th, 1992, doctors told him that he needed to lose 28 pounds, and recommended a heart bypass. He declined, and was diagnosed a week later with renal failure.

Benny Hill died on or about April 20th', Easter weekend 1992, alone in his flat at 7 Fairwater House, Twickenham Road, Teddington, at the age of 68. On April 24th, concerned neighbors had called the police, who then found the deceased Hill sitting in his armchair in front of the television. On the day that Benny Hill died, a new contract arrived in the post to him from Central Independent Television.

The cause of death was listed as coronary thrombosis. (His death closely coincided with that of another British comedy icon, Frankie Howerd, who died on April 19th aged 75.)

He was buried at Hollybrook Cemetary near his birthplace in Southampton. In October 1992, following rumours that he was buried with large amounts of gold jewellery, an attempt was made by thieves to exhume his body. However, when authorities looked into his open coffin the following morning, there was no treasure within it, and consequently, only the culprits know for sure whether anything valuable was inside. Hill was re-buried with a new coffin lid and a solid slab placed across the top of the grave.

Last will

In Hill's will, he had left his estimated £10 million (GBP) estate to his late parents. Next in line were his brother Leonard and sister Diana, neither of whom he had enjoyed the closest of relationships with, and both of whom were also deceased. This left his seven nieces and nephews, amongst whom the money — approximately £7.5 million — was divided. A note was found among his belongings assigning huge sums of money to his close friends Sue Upton, Louise English, Henry McGee, Bob Todd and Dennis Kirkland, but because it was neither signed nor witnessed, the note had no legal standing.

Legacy of reruns/DVDs

The Benny Hill Show is currently airing in one-hour portions (not corresponding to the original hour-long format), twice nightly on BBC America (Dish Network channel 135/DirecTV channel 264/Comcast channel 162).

The syndicated version consists of 111 half-hour episodes, re-edited from the original hour-long specials made by Thames Television and screened on Britain's ITV network three or four times a year. Half-hour edits also appeared on ITV, although the contents may be different from the syndicated US versions.

There is far less DVD material currently available in the UK, although in 2005 the Thames specials began to appear uncut on Region 2 DVD sets, each representing one year and entitled The Benny Hill Annual, as of October 2006 going up to 1979.

In 2004, the same year Benny Hill started airing on BBC America (originally in two half-hour shows), the Thames specials began to appear uncut on Region 1 DVD sets for the USA, by A&E Home Video, entitled Benny Hill: Complete And Unadulterated. The first three sets are called "The Naughty Early Years." And unlike the UK sets, each set package represents multiple years of the shows in order of the original airings:

• Set One shows the episodes from 1969–71 (with the three black-and-white episodes never-before seen in the US).

• Set Two shows the episodes from 1972–74.

• Set Three shows episodes from 1975–77.

• Set Four was released under the name "The Hill's Angels Years" with episodes from 1978–81.

• Set Five (Also subtitled, "The Hill's Angels Years") was released September 2006 showcasing episodes from 1982–85.

Since the show ended in 1989, there should be only one more set. It is unknown if any collections of his various specials will be released.

See also

• UK topics
• Yakety Sax, usually referred as the Benny Hill theme song

References

• Benny Hill page at the Museum of Broadcast Communications
• Benny Hill at the Internet Movie Database
• Biography at BBC America
• Funny, Peculiar - The True Story of Benny Hill by Mark Lewisohn
• The Benny Hill Show page at the Museum of Broadcast Communications
• GRO - Alfred H. Hill born MAR qtr 1924 2c 52 SOUTHHAMPTON, mmn = Cave
• GRO - Alfred Hawthorne Hill died: APR 1992 14 1352 Richmond-upon-Thames, aged 68, Date of Birth = 21 Jan 1924

External links

• Lyrics and transcriptions
• Benny's Place featuring Louise English & Hill's Angels A tribute to the late, great Benny Hill and his beautiful ladies known as Hill's Angels
• Laughterlog.com Article with complete list of appearances on television, radio and recordde:Benny Hill

es:Benny Hill fr:Benny Hill hr:Benny Hill he:בני היל nl:Benny Hill pl:Benny Hill ru:Хилл, Бенни fi:Benny Hill sv:Benny Hill zh:班尼·希爾

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia