39 Facts About Benny Hill

Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill was an English comedian, actor and scriptwriter.

Benny Hill is best remembered for his television programme, The Benny Hill Show, a comedy-variety show whose amalgam of slapstick, burlesque, double entendre, and innuendo in a format that included both live and filmed segments, featured Hill himself at the focus of almost every segment.

The BFI called Hill "the first British comedian to attain fame through television" and that he was "a major star for over forty years".

The Benny Hill Show, which debuted in 1955, was among the most-watched programmes in the UK; his audience was more than 21 million in 1971.

Benny Hill received a BAFTA Television Award for Best Writer and a Rose d'Or, and he was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance and for two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Variety.

In 2006, Benny Hill was voted by the British public number 17 in ITV's poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars.

Alfred Hawthorne Benny Hill was born 21 January 1924 in Southampton, Hampshire.

Benny Hill was called up in 1942 and trained as a mechanic in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, British Army.

Benny Hill served as a mechanic, truck driver and searchlight operator in Normandy after September 1944, and transferred to the Combined Services Entertainment division before the end of the war.

Benny Hill took the nickname of "Benny" in homage to his favourite comedian, Jack Benny.

Benny Hill later starred in a sitcom anthology, Benny Hill, which ran from 1962 to 1963, in which he played a different character in each episode.

Benny Hill had a radio programme lasting three series called Benny Hill Time on BBC Radio's Light Programme from 1964 to 1966.

Benny Hill played a number of characters in the series, such as Harry Hill and Fred Scuttle.

Finally, a clip-show film spin-off of his early Thames Television shows, called The Best of Benny Hill, was a theatrically-released compilation of The Benny Hill Show episodes.

Benny Hill received an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in 1972.

Benny Hill had struggled on stage and had uneven success in radio, but in television he found a medium that played to his strengths.

The Benny Hill Show, which debuted the following year, aired on the BBC and ITV between 15 January 1955 and 1 May 1989.

Short, bald Jackie Wright was a frequent supporting player who in many sketches had to put up with Benny Hill slapping him on the top of his head.

Benny Hill remained mostly with the BBC until 1968, except for a few sojourns with ITV and ATV stations between 1957 and 1960 and again in 1967.

The most common running gag in Benny Hill's shows was the closing sequence, the "run-off", which was literally a running gag featuring various members of the cast chasing Benny Hill, along with other stock comedy characters, such as policemen, vicars and old women.

The alternative comedian Ben Elton made a headline-grabbing allegation, both on the TV show Saturday Live and in the January 1987 edition of Q magazine, that The Benny Hill Show incited crimes and misdemeanours.

In late May 1989, Benny Hill announced that after 21 years with Thames Television, he was quitting and taking a year off.

However, Benny Hill managed to record only one special called Greetings from New York, with the show becoming billed as "his final TV appearance" when released on DVD.

In February 1992, Thames Television, which received a steady stream of requests from viewers for The Benny Hill Show repeats, finally gave in and put together a number of re-edited shows.

Benny Hill died on the same day a new contract arrived in the post from Central Independent Television, for which he was to have made a series of specials.

Benny Hill had turned down competing offers from Carlton and Thames.

Johnny Carson and sidekick Ed McMahon were both fans of Benny Hill and tried several times to get him to travel to Los Angeles to be a guest on Carson's The Tonight Show.

Benny Hill never owned his own home in London and preferred to rent a flat rather than buy one.

Benny Hill rented a double-room apartment on London's Queen's Gate for 26 years until around 1986, when he moved to Fairwater House in Teddington.

Benny Hill never owned a car, despite having a valid driving licence.

Benny Hill had proposed to three women, but none accepted.

Benny Hill was a Francophile and enjoyed visits to France, particularly Marseille, where, until the 1980s, he could go to outdoor cafes anonymously, travelling on public transport and socialising with local women.

Benny Hill spoke French fluently and knew basic German, Spanish, Dutch and Italian.

Benny Hill's health declined in the mid-to-late 1980s and after his contract ended with Thames Television.

Benny Hill died at his flat in Teddington on 18 April 1992 at the age of 68, but his body was not found until 20 April.

Benny Hill was buried at Hollybrook Cemetery, near his birthplace in Southampton, on 28 April 1992.

Benny Hill's will, written thirty years earlier, left most of his estate to his parents, who had predeceased him; ultimately, Hill's estate was divided among his seven nieces and nephews.

The programme featured an audience that comprised a cross-section of young adults who had little or no knowledge of Benny Hill, to discover whether his comedy was valid to a generation that enjoyed the likes of Little Britain, The Catherine Tate Show and Borat.

In November 2021, That's TV announced that The Benny Hill Show would feature in its Christmas schedule, alongside other ITV programmes, such as Beadle's About and Kenny Everett's New Year Specials.