The actor had doubled his dosage of antacid without discussing this with his doctor; this, combined with the mixture of medication, is the widely accepted cause of death. Williams had a half-sister, Alice Patricia "Pat", born in 1923 before Louie had met Charlie Williams, and three years before Kenneth was born. [14] Cook's "One Leg Too Few" and "Interesting Facts" were part of the show and became routines in his own performances. When the series ended, Williams returned to radio work, and also made the rounds of the TV talk shows in addition to writing several books, including his autobiography. Listed calligraphy among his hobbies in Who's Who. [12] Main Wilson was casting Hancock's Half Hour, a radio series starring Tony Hancock. The British comic actor Kenneth Williams was born in 1926 in a working class section of London, England, where he and his older sister Pat were raised by their parents Louisa and Charlie, who ran a hairdressing shop. For the record he did not appear in, Regarded as a brilliant raconteur, he made many guest appearances on the original run of the television series, Was very fond of the company of fellow "Carry On" regulars. [43], In 2006, Williams' life was the subject of the television play Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!. Williams left an estate worth just under £540,000 (equivalent to £1,458,600 in 2019). In his diaries, Williams wrote that he earned more in a St Ivel advert than for any Carry On film, although he was still earning the average Briton's annual salary in a month for the latter. [11], Williams's professional career began in 1948 in repertory theatre. Other close friends included Stanley Baxter, Gordon Jackson and his wife Rona Anderson, Sheila Hancock and Maggie Smith and her playwright husband, Beverley Cross. He and fellow radio performer Tony Hancock didn't get along as Williams felt Hancock was threatened by him, regarding overall acting ability. I found that if I got up on the stage to entertain the troops I could make them shut up and look. He sustained continued success throughout the 1960s and 1970s with his regular appearances in Carry On films, and subsequently kept himself in the public eye with chat shows and other television work. He also appeared with Maggie Smith in 'The Private Eye/Public Ear', Edith Evans in 'Gentle Jack' and Ingrid Bergman in 'Captain Brassbound's Conversion'. Williams had been a Methodist, though he spent much of his life struggling with Christianity's teachings on homosexuality.
A fan club is a group of people who tell an actor he's not alone in the way he feels about himself. [25] Williams was later denied a visa to the United States, when it emerged that Scotland Yard kept a file on him relating to his father's death – the suspicion being that he had poisoned his father.
"[20]) He was also remembered for such phrases as "I've come all the way from Great Portland Street" (i.e. The British comic actor Kenneth Williams was born in 1926 in a working class section of London, England, where he and his older sister Pat were raised by their parents Louisa and Charlie, who ran a hairdressing shop.
He trained as a lithographer and in his spare time acted with the amateur Tavistock Repertory Theatre,. ", "Kenneth Williams: The greatest diarist since Pepys? He came to prominence as the Angel in the BBC tv production of H.G. [21] He once talked for almost a minute about a supposed Austrian psychiatrist called Heinrich Swartzberg, correctly guessing that the show's creator, Ian Messiter, had just made the name up.
He was cremated at East Finchley Cemetery; his ashes were scattered in the memorial gardens. Charlie Williams{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Charlie Williams", "gender": "Male" }, Louie Williams{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Louie Williams", "gender": "Female" }, Lyulph Stanley School, Mornington Crescent, London, England, United Kingdom, Pat Williams{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Pat Williams", "gender": "Female" }, View Kenneth Williams's Family Tree and History, Ancestry and Genealogy, Kenneth Williams's father was Charlie Williams Kenneth Williams's mother was Louie Williams, Kenneth Williams's half-sister was Pat Williams, Dame Barbara Windsor{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Dame Barbara Windsor", "gender": "Female" }, Leslie Phillips CBE{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Leslie Phillips CBE", "gender": "Male" }, Dora Bryan OBE{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Dora Bryan OBE", "gender": "Female" } Everyone is becoming better and better, at less and less. At this time, he also began to pursue his interest in acting by joining an amateur drama group. Charles thought the theatre immoral and effeminate, although his son aspired to be involved in the profession from an early age. What hogwash! On television he was a popular host of 'Jackanory'. [In 1964].
Explore how the celebrity world connects. On 14 October 1962, Kenneth's father, Charlie Williams, was taken to hospital after drinking carbon tetrachloride that had been stored in a cough-mixture bottle. Many seem to think that suicide is unlikely simply because he would never have entertained such ideas while his mother was alive (she was left nothing in his will, presumably because Ken was expecting to outlive her). The Democratic party contender for President. He had a stock of painkilling tablets and it is argued that he would have taken more of them if he had been intending suicide. [17] The films were commercially successful but Williams claimed the cast were poorly paid. His last stage role was as the undertaker in 'The Undertaking' at the Greenwich Theatre in 1979. But do note that it is not possible to be certain of a person's genealogy without a family's cooperation (and/or DNA testing). Spotted by the BBC comedy producer Dennis Main Wilson he was cast as the resident character in 'Hancock's Half Hour' for 7 years playing various characters which brought about his life long catch phrase 'Stop Messin' About'. He was quick to find fault with his own work, and also that of others. He became a sapper in the Royal Engineers Survey Section, doing much the same work that he did as a civilian. See the Elon Musk family tree here at FameChain. (last entry in diary), The thing to do, in any circumstance, is to appear to know exactly what you are doing and at the same time convey casual doubts about the abilities of everybody else and undermine their confidence. The latter included material specially written for him by Peter Cook, then a student at Pembroke College, Cambridge. I know I'm male, and what's more I can prove it! Click here to Start FameChaining. He often privately criticised and "dripped vitriol" upon the films, considering them beneath him, even though he continued to appear in them. [28], Williams lived in a succession of small rented flats in central London from the mid-1950s. Wells' 'The Wonderful Visit' in 1952 and in the same year played Slightly in 'Peter Pan' at the Scala Theatre and appeared in the Birmingham Repertory Theatre's production of 'Henry Vi' as Burgundy in part 1, Smith in part 2 and Rutland in part 3 In 1954 he played the Dauphin in George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan at the Arts Theatre and the St Martin's Theatre. They've all got it in for me! [41] The biography notes that Williams used a variety of handwriting styles and colours in his journals, switching between different hands on the page. The following day, Charlie died and, an hour after being given the news, Kenneth went on stage in the West End. Peter Rogers, producer of the series, recollected, "Kenneth was worth taking care of because, while he cost very little—£5,000 a film, he made a great deal of money for the franchise. He was a good friend of the playwright Joe Orton and performed in his 'Loot' in 1967.