The Sad Life of Benny Hill

famous musicians oscar-winning actors legendary sports figures and even war heroes all have one thing in common it all must come to an end I'm your host ed Doyle and these are stories of Fame and failure [Music] [Music] Michael Jackson called him the funniest comedian in the world Frank Sinatra was quoted once as saying I only want to do two things sing with the London Philharmonic and be at one of his auditions Bert Ronald said there's only one of him and his biggest fan ever none other than shally Chaplin Benny Hill was a man that had the admiration of Superstars and the love of millions of people worldwide on January 21st 1924 in Southampton Hampshire England Alfred - Hill jr. was born to Alfred and Helen Hill this is the story of one man's rise to incredible Fame and his fate of extreme public adulation and criticism Alfie as his family called him had his first exposure to show business at a mere 12 years old when his grandfather would take him backstage of the local Eversole racy variety shows he was mesmerised by the near naked female chorus girls that he would see in the back dressing rooms but what stayed with him was the magic that the comedian's seemed to have over their audience he once said that he was amazed at the laughs that they would get from the audiences and the fact that they were always surrounded by pretty women and that they got Top Billing and he figured they had to be the ones making the most money that's for me he said Alfie may have gotten the bug for entertaining from his father and grandfather his grandfather was a circus clown as a boy and Alfie's father ran away to join the circus also his father settled down later in life though and ran a medical appliance shop which featured a vaulting condoms the store even had a big wooden phallus on the counter which was used for demonstration purposes for the condoms the hill family owned their house but they were far from rich and actually had many financial problems his parents were very frugal and they were fearful of banks and financial institutions they were a real example of the old savior cash inside the mattress type of people Alfie's father was very strict and insisted that his children address him as captain his mother on the other hand was a very soft-spoken woman that adored her son and often looked the other way for a lot of his crazy antics later in life during an interview he said that when his father had died he cried buckets but when his mother died he didn't shed a tear he felt that the reason might be that he felt he had not loved his father as much as he should have and that is what saddened him so at a very early age Alfie Hill began his quest for stardom he would appear in school and local talent competitions but the problem was he just wasn't funny the closest he ever came to winning a competition was when he came in second to a boy that ate razor blades and sewed buttons to his face Alfie's father demanded that he get a real job and so he went to work at the local World War two promise dog cleaning up dog food never not trying to be the funny man though Alfie Hill would constantly try to make the girls to work beside him laughs and later when he became a milkman he would entertain the housewives at the doors that he delivered to at night he would play the guitar and perform the odd kind of comic interlude for his friends but it wasn't enough Alfie Hill wanted to be on stage so he packed up his cardboard suitcase took his life savings of 25 pounds was off to London the world around him was imperiled as a world war was about to happen and theater started to close but Alfie Hill was determined to be a star and not let this interrupt them as he began his long road to stardom he decided that his name sounded as he put it like a cheap bear oh boy and it was at that point that Alfie Hill changed his name to Benny has both a tribute to Jack Benny and he thought the Jewish sounding name might give him a little leverage in the business Benny Hill would perform whatever he could in music halls at Streatham Commons and even in air-raid shelters Benny would get his first real playing gig at the East Ham palace as an assistant stage manager for the show called follow the fun he would earn 3 pounds 10 shillings a week for being literally an errand boy Benny would lay to join the Turing revue send him victorious having small bits where he could try his hand at being funny but with the war raging in Europe Benny would get called for active duty but because the troop moves so often from town to town Benny Hills call-up papers wouldn't catch up to him unknowing that he was being drafted Benny went on with the tour and at cot of snoo theater authorities finally caught up with him Benny was not at all a draft dodger he simply had no idea that he was being called but authorities nonetheless threw him into a police cell where as he put it later in life he was treated like a criminal an armed God came to escort Benny Hill off to Catterick in Yorkshire and it was that experience that many believed was the reason for his lifelong fear of Authority [Music] private Hill joined the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers as a driver slash mechanic the problem was that he was completely incompetent as a mechanic and it was even worse as a driver it was his gift though for foreign languages that allowed him to make get through the service and ironically with the weight problems that would plague him in later years at this point he was deemed to fit to leave the fighting to audition for concert parties when the fighting ended though many audition for the military stars in battle dress and he would tour a musical bases across England in shows such as happy weekend and it's all fun when Benny finally left the army he got his first real break as a straight man to comedian reg Varney the review that was called very innocently back then gay time but over two years the pair worked together and one night Benny had his chance for a solo act he performed his heart out but the audience gave him the infamous slow clap of death in criticism for what they felt was a bad performance Benny Hill was devastated and quit the review he didn't give up his dream of being a funny man though in contrary it made him all the more determined as bad as that night was for Benny it did give him one magical result it was the night that he would first meet with Richard stone a talent agent with whom Benny Hill would loyally stick with his entire life Benny decided to change his path by trying his hand at writing comedy sketches he wrote several and one day he brought them to a BBC executive telling him that he felt that the new medium of television was going to be in need of material confident in his work he told the exact to go ahead and pick any sketch from the pile they were all that Gooding it was that confident about them but Benny was told that instead he should be the one to act one out rather than the exact reading them and after reading aloud one of the sketches he was asked who he thought should do these bits benny replied well anyone really I wrote them that way so that anybody can do them the BBC executive looked at Benny and said well I think you should do these and so the Benny Hill show was born right in that office in 1956 the Benny Hill show was produced as one-hour specials that was only supposed to air a few times a year but it quickly became the BBC's number one top-rated show at one point it appealed to over 50 million viewers in the UK alone both the BBC and Benny Hill had captured the attention of viewers all over the UK but in 1969 the BBC was shocked to learn that Benny Hill would leave them to sign a contract with ITV's Thames television during the late 70s Thames television purchased a block of airtime on two stations in the largest markets in the u.s. wor TV in New York and khj TV in Los Angeles would be America's first stations to expose the Benny Hill show to American audiences heavily edited to fit the us's FCC rules these itv Benny Hill specials were presented as half-hour versions with far less risque material than what was in their original form in the UK audiences immediately were thrilled with this new type of vaudeville burlesque childish type of comedy and the show became a hit with the audience wanting more when told of his fame growing in the u.s. Benny really didn't believe the stories but when all of the letters and of course the checks started coming in from the US benny quickly realized that he had obtained the fame he had only ever dreamed of Benny visited New York City not long after and he was absolutely amazed on how he was mobbed by the fans he couldn't walk down the street without people clamor over him asking for his autograph it was said by friends that Benny was actually a little embarrassed by his fame and by the amount of money he was making and actually felt a little guilty for it Benny's friend and co-star Henry McGee said in an interview that Benny was a regular bloke as he called him even with all of his fame and money he would simply rent a small apartment so he could be close enough to walk the three miles to the studios McGee said he was amazed when Benny had him over to the apartment to find that it only contained a couch two chairs and a television one of Benny's co-stars latest said that Benny Hill didn't need much at all to be content a roof over his head a cooker and a telly was all that he needed with the telly being at the top of the importance list Benny was indeed a regular bloke no airs above him walking whatever he went and his Henry McGee said always in a good mood McGee said that in the 20 years that he had known Benny Hill that he never once saw him in a bad mood or ever see him raise his voice at anyone with Benny's fame and wealth growing the press started getting very curious about him they went in there why this loner who is always surrounded by beautiful women and worth millions of pounds would simply rent a small flat and Teddington by himself was Benny Hill gay he's never been married what could Benny Hill possibly be hiding from the public the bad press and rumours that went on never bothered Benny Hill he made light of the things that he would read in the paper at the studio one day he was asked if he had seen that money's headlines and many simply asked Oh God what am i today a comic genius or a dirty old man Benny went on with his racy but innocent comedy bits writing most of his own material himself he would gain worldwide fame and appear in movies such as the Italian Job chitty-chitty bang-bang those magnificent men in their flying machines and more as Benny Hill was becoming more and more popular in the US and even from China to the Soviet Union controversy was brewing at home in the UK critics started saying that his comedy was crossing the line in bordering on sexism John Davies former head of entertainment at Ames television said that the show was becoming kind of repetitive and the scandal II clad women became out-of-date and out of fashion Mary Whitehouse who was an English social activist started to write letters to tame that berated the Benny Hill show saying if we allow that kind of smut on television than where will it end with the gossip growing in opinions of those that were either jealous of Benny or extremely prudish and with all of the changing times going on around him Benny was now being called a relic by some of his fellow comedians the press would say Benny's looking old Benny's looking fat it doesn't look right for a 65 year old man to be chased by 20-something year old women in bikinis back home in the UK in 1989 many was notified that the head of Entertainment Teddington studios wanted to see him many was told that because the audiences were getting smaller that his contract was not going to be renewed Benny Hill simply nodded and said ok and left the studio Benny said later that he was hurt more than anything else he said that he understood that business is business but a little pat on the back would have been nice as he was there with them for 22 years Benny was devastated the Benny Hill show was his baby it was his whole life and it had just been taken away from him it was said that the twinkle in his eye was gone the fun of life had left him with the show being canceled and nothing to do Beni began to mope and his poor diet worsened as he would continually eat to feel better with a diet of unhealthy snacks and food in less than three years Beni developed hot trouble and soon he would have his first heart attack while in the hospital Beni was told that he needed to have a bypass but Beni refused after being told that the operation was only 70% successful and he left the hospital on Saturday morning April 20th 1992 Benny's friend and producer Denis Kirkland phoned Benny Hill but got no answer being concerned that he had not heard from him all day he called again later in the evening still no answer the next day Benny's neighbors called Kirkland saying that they could hit Benny's TV on all night long but they hadn't seen him in two days and that he would not answer the door Kirkland immediately went to Benny's apartment and tried knocking on the door but got no answer he asked neighbours to help him put a ladder up so that he could get on to Benny's balcony and when he looked in he said there he was sitting on his couch shoes off shirt open and the TV blaring away Benny Hill was dead Benny Hill was buried here in Holly Brooks cemetery Southampton England in a very ordinary grave even after Benny's death the gossip and rumors continued and one such rumour was that he had been buried with some of his valuables with him because of the contesting of his will six months after his burial Benny Hills grave was found opened and part of the top of his coffin was missing but thankfully his body was undisturbed nobody really knows if the grave robbers found anything more than just an EM fishin on Benny Hill face with his hand giving his famous Daniel silly [Music]

Channel: Tales of Fame and Fate

Views: 90,325

Rating: 4.8225565 out of 5

Keywords: Benny Hill, Sad life of Benny Hill, Tales of Fame and Fate, Celebrity graves, Famous graves, Ed Doyle, Alfred Hill, Hills Angels, Funny, Comedian, Vaudville, Grave, Benny, Hill, TV, Classic, Benny Hill death, Benny Hill Sex, Benny Hill Tribute, Nenny Hill Theme, Benny Hill Chase, comedy, sex, naughty, how did they die

Id: ki27_z_0SZw

Length: 18min 30sec (1110 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 04 2019