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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 1955 his television show has been sold to over 140 countries worldwide, with viewership in the billions.

Life

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. For the stage he changed his first name to 'Benny', in homage to his favourite comedian, Jack Benny.

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 show. He was a distant relative of the Australian actress and singer Holly Valance (Hill's cousin being Valance's grandfather).

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 died 'on or about April 20th,' alone in his flat, at the age of 68. The cause of death was listed as coronary thrombosis. Neighbours found his body on April 20th. (His death closely coincided with that of another British comedy icon, Frankie Howerd, who died on April 19th aged 75.)

Hill's will 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.

He was buried 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 subsequently, only the culprits know for sure whether anything valuable was inside.

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.

His 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).

His 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

The Benny Hill Show featured him in innumerable short sketches (along with Henry McGee, Carol Cleveland, Nicholas Parsons (in the show's early years at Thames), Bob Todd, Rita Webb, Jackie Wright (Little Jackie) and others) portraying a leering, lecherous, never-quite-succeeding, yet charming protagonist. He was very versatile and appeared in many different costumes. 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. 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 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.)

Another well known song used in The Benny Hill Show is "Mah Nà Mah Nà" by Italian composer Piero Umiliani.

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

The show has been broadcast in over 100 countries. The Benny Hill Show (1969–89) is in syndication and available on videotape in the US. 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. In 1989 Thames 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. Modern 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 levelled 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 night 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!

However, despite any shortcomings Hill and his creative team may have had, it must be remembered that early on, 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. 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), newscaster Reginald Bosanquet, pop-music show hosts Jimmy Savile and Tony Blackburn, musicians Roger Whitaker and Englebert 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.

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), 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.

Hill later recorded some shows for US television. 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).

There is far less 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. 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 US, 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 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, and Set Three shows 1975–77. Set Four was released early in 2006 under the new name "The Hill's Angels Years" with shows from 1978–81. Later in September 2006, Set Five will be released showcasing episodes from 1982–85.

Charlie Chaplin and 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 discovered that 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. Dennis Kirkland died on 16th February 2006, aged 63, after a short illness.

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).

References

Benny Hill page at the Museum of Broadcast Communications
Benny Hill at IMDb
Biography at BBC America
The Benny Hill Show page at the Museum of Broadcast Communications

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 record

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 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. For the stage he changed his first name to 'Benny', in homage to his favourite comedian, [[Jack Benny]].
-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 show. He was a distant relative of the Australian actress and singer [[Holly Valance]] (Hill's cousin being Valance's grandfather).
+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 [[Apartment|flat]] in [[Teddington]], a convenient walking distance to the Teddington Studios, where he taped his show. He was a distant relative of the Australian actress and singer [[Holly Valance]] (Hill's cousin being Valance's grandfather).
-Hill's health began to decline in the early [[1990s]]. Weighing 17 stone (238 lb or 108kg) at 5 ft 10½ in (1 m 80 cm) tall, he suffered heart problems related to his obesity. On [[11 February]] [[1992]], doctors told him that he needed to lose 28 lb, and recommended a [[heart bypass]]. He declined, and was diagnosed a week later with [[renal failure]]. Benny died 'on or about [[20 April]]', alone in his flat, at the age of 68. The cause of death was listed as [[coronary thrombosis]]. Neighbours found his body on [[20 April]]. (His death closely coincided with that of another British comedy icon, [[Frankie Howerd]], who died on [[19 April]] aged 75.)
+Hill's health began to decline in the early [[1990s]]. Weighing 17 [[Stone (weight)|stone]] (238&nbsp;lbs or 108&nbsp;kg) at 5 feet 10½ inches (1&nbsp;m 80&nbsp;cm) tall, he suffered heart problems related to his [[obesity]]. On [[11 February|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 died 'on or about [[20 April|April 20th]],' alone in his flat, at the age of 68. The cause of death was listed as [[coronary thrombosis]]. Neighbours found his body on  April 20th. (His death closely coincided with that of another British comedy icon, [[Frankie Howerd]], who died on [[19 April|April 19th]] aged 75.)
 Hill's [[will (law)|will]] had left his estimated £10 million ([[Pound Sterling|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.