Benny Hill

There is a bicycle, an auto, or some other form of conveyance, usually. There is fast-motion filming—at the end of each session, with gorgeous women chasing a flailing and frantic everyman. And there is much blundering and busting out in laughter. This is an understated definition, of course, of the great Benny Hill, world-renowned British comedian who is best known for the spectacular Benny Hill Show.

Benny Hill endeared himself to millions the world over by way of what are now called the Thames shows, televised hour-long shows (revised to half-hour shows for US audiences) that numbered 58 and ran starting in the late sixties--featuring the bumbling, bubbly, self-effacing chubby, witty one as star. And brilliant wit and star he was. As much as his shows still air in re-run and as available as are, thankfully, his skits on DVD, fascinating facts about Hill are still discussed today:

Benny Hill, born Alfred Hawthorn Hill, took the stage name Benny in honor of his favorite comedian Jack Benny.

Not only did Benny Hill work at various jobs before landing his own shows—bridge operator, driver, drummer, milkman—but as a comic he was a “compulsive” worker, devoting many hours to work over socializing.

Besides The Benny Hill Show, which is still in syndication (after building it for twenty years), Hill also acted in such films as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (in which he played the toymaker); Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (wherein he played Fire Chief Perkins); and A Midsummer night’s Dream (a TV movie for which he co-starred as Bottom).

A seemingly unpredictable versatility (and gall) has found Benny Hill making an appearance in Phil Collin’s/Genesis’ music video, “Anything She Does”; upping to Thames to produce his show with ATV, leaving BBC cranky and without Hill, whom they had slated in four shows; and creating skits that, in the feminist-eighties, were criticized gauche and sexist. (Though Hill reportedly responded by suggesting it was not the women on his show who were exploited—for they were depicted in dignified, intelligent form; it was the men, chasing and being rebuffed by these beauties, who were portrayed as the “buffoons.”)

A successful and wealthy man, Benny Hill made his will out to name his parents as beneficiaries. But when Hill died (of complications of obesity, purportedly), his parents were already passed. The will’s contents then would go to his siblings, but they too were deceased. So Hill’s estate was divided among seven nieces and nephews, who shared somewhere between 7.5 and 10 million pounds.

As rumors circulated about Hill’s burial—that he had been buried sheathed in gold and riches—those intent on sharing the wealth uninvited dug up his grave.

We who enjoyed his ditties and his dabbling appearances can still share in the wealth of one who is still considered one of the most recognized comedians of the UK: we can catch the old episodes of his shows, might, if we are lucky enough, catch a re-run of his appearances on “Top of the Pops” or “What’s My Line.” And, if we’re smart enough, we can rent or buy his acts of buffoonery and bumbling on tape, record, and DVD.