| Benny Hill | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Birth name | Alfred Hawthorne Hill |
| Born | 21 January 1924 Southampton, Hampshire, England |
| Died | 18 April 1992 (aged 68) Teddington, London, England |
| Resting place | Hollybrook Cemetery, Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK |
| Medium |
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| Years active | 1947–1991 |
| Genres | |
Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 18 April 1992)[1] was an English comedian, actor, and scriptwriter. He is remembered for his television programme, The Benny Hill Show, an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque and double entendre in a format that included live comedy and filmed segments, with Hill at the focus of almost every segment.
Hill was a prominent figure in British television for several decades. His show was among the most-watched programmes in the UK, and his audience was more than 21 million in 1971.[2] The Benny Hill Show was also exported to many countries around the world.[3] He received a BAFTA Television Award for Best Writer and a Rose d'Or, and was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance and for two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Variety. In 2006, Hill was voted by the British public number 17 in ITV's poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars.[4]
Outside television, Hill starred in films including the Ealing comedy Who Done It? (1956), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and The Italian Job (1969). His comedy song, "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)", was 1971's number one Christmas song on the UK Singles Chart, and earned Hill an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in 1972.
- ^ "Hill, Alfred Hawthorne [Benny] (1924–1992), comedian". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/51126. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "Features | Britain's Most Watched TV | 1970s". British Film Institute (BFI). Archived from the original on 22 November 2005. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ^ "The legend of Benny Hill". The Independent. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
- ^ "ITV to salute '50 greatest stars'". BBC News. 3 July 2006. Retrieved 9 August 2014.