Explains a lot. ;)
Leo Sayer?
I mostly watched it for the babes in garter belts and stockings.
The physical comedy was great, as was the skit comedy. His singing was another matter entirely! :)
He chose "Benny" as his stage name because of his appreciation for Jack Benny.
later read
Oooohhhhhh, she's bonny. BONNY!
We've had boring threads about Dixie Chicks and Madonna for the past three days. Now we have something that is relevant, Benny Hill.
My idea of television heaven would be Red Skelton, The Three Stooges, Lucille Ball, Bud Abbott & Lou Costello, and Benny Hill. Wow, he was a really funny man! ( I forgot to mention George Gobel)
There are no talents like this anymore. Vaudeville and British music halls built great talent through their demanding formats, like Hamburg built the Beatles into what they were. Today's 'talents' don't get that kind of training.
Of course, the girls are nice, too. :-)
Good old Benny Hill. I find Benny the ultimate answer to anybody that complains about South Park, Benny got away with stuff Trey and Matt couldn't even try (now if SP were live action and not focused kids they might, but not with SP), first time I saw a naked woman on TV that wasn't National Geographic style was a Benny Hill episode that apparently our local CBS afiliate didn't pay enough attention to in editing. Of course being 13 at the time Hills Angels was why I watched Benny in the first place, definitely a bonus episode.
The Great Wheelchair Race ping.
That music will be running through my head all afternoon!
Benny rules it!!!!!
Never even heard of him until I joined the Navy and they played his shows on ship through AFTV. I loved his humor though it was hard to understand him sometimes with his heavy accent, and the occasional use of British only words and phrases I didn't always understand. But then there was the universal language "scantly clad Babes" which he always had on his show, and when you were out at sea for a several months his show was often better than a letter from home.
My 10 year old daughter LOVES Benny Hill reruns. Most are edited to be family safe, or the joke is too far over their head to 'get'. She thinks he's funny with his puns and walks around saying one about a birdy pooping on his head.
Biography for Benny Hill
Birth name
Alfred Hawthorn Hill
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Nickname
King Leer
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5' 10½" (1.79 m)
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Mini biography
He was born Alfred Hawthorn Hill in 1925. It was his grandfather who introduced him to Burlesque Shows and the theatre from where the young Benny Hill was to draw much of his comic inspiration. After his national service with the army during WW2, Benny came to London, adopted the stage name Benny Hill (in homage to his all time favourite comedian Jack Benny) and began appearing in variety shows. He briefly formed a double act with Reg Varney and did radio shows. But it was his talent for impressions and comic timing that were to give him his first big break on TV with the show "Hi There" in 1949. "The Benny Hill Show" (1955) began in 1955. It's pioneering combination of cheeky humour, songs and impressions were to make it a hit for the next 40 years.
Benny also broadened his career with cameo appearances in films such as The Italian Job (1969), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes (1965). He also had a hit record in 1971 with "Ernie The Fastest Milkman In The West". In 1979 "The Benny Hill Show" (1955) was shown in America for the first time and Benny went on to become one of the biggest stars on US TV. The show itself has been seen in 109 countries and won a BAFTA as well as Golden Rose Of Montreaux Award. Benny Hill's TV career came to an end in 1989, when his show was dropped, but his popularity continued and he completed a US TV special, Benny Hill's World Tour: New York! (1991) (TV) shortly before his death in 1992.
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IMDb mini-biography by Al Crow
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Trade mark
Expert in featuring in fast moving, mute comic short subjects, with funny music, and massive persecutions at the end.
Reverse salute called the "Benny Hill salute".
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Trivia Comedian.
Was one of only a handful of TV comedians (the others being Milton Berle and Jackie Gleason) who had control over the circumstances of production of their respective TV shows.
Died in his favorite chair while watching television.
At the time of his death, a large box was found in his apartment. The many awards and honors he had earned throughout his career had been placed in the box as if they were unimportant to him.
Despite his wealth and success, he never owned a car, did his own shopping, lived in a two room apartment, but never used the second floor. According to one of his obituaries, he once refused to repair the leaky roof in his mother's home because it was "too expensive".
After complaints that his television comedy sketches were too sexual, he began casting children to appear on his shows. But instead of hiring professional child actors, he hired the children of the television crew, stating that their laughing to his sight gags were genuine.
When Hill passed away in April 1992, his estate was worth an estimated £10 million. The only will Hill created left his estate to his parents who both died years ago. Next in line were his brother and sister, neither of whom he had a close relationship with, but like his parents are also dead. As a result, Hill's estate was divided among his seven nieces and nephews.
His father and uncle were circus clowns, performing in the circus until they both left for military service during WWI.
Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 216-217. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
Related to Holly Valance. His cousin is her grandfather.
Born on the same day as Telly Savalas, whose 'Kojak' character he impersonated on his 1969-1989 Thames TV show.
Was born on the same day that V.I. Lenin died.
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Personal quotes
(When asked to comment on rumors that he had sexual affairs with women who appeared on his shows): "I never yell, I never tell, but I'm grateful as hell."
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I always loved the one in which Hill played an old codger in the nursing home.
Playing strip poker with a very hot nurse.
Those quivering hands when he got a winning hand and the nurse was down to
bra and panties...and the hands go lifeless and drop the cards...priceless