Benny Hill and his show. Biography and creativity of the English comedian Benny Hill

Many amateurs of laughter could watch the British humorous show "Benny Hill Show", broadcast on Russian TV channels. This show for over thirty years has been shown in more than 140 countries around the world, despite the fact that it has been constantly criticized by spectators and persecuted by governments. What then is its popularity? Let's find out together. Also in this article will be described the biography of Benny Hill - the founder of the show, an English comedian and actor.

History of the show

For the first time the program appeared on air in 1955. Throughout its existence, it had the character of a sketch series, that is, it consisted of an indefinite number of short comedic scenes (an analogy can be drawn from one of the popular TV programs in our time "Nasha Russia"). Benny Hill performed in his broadcast not only as an actor, performing the main roles, he also performed the functions of musician, songwriter and director. The visiting card of the show was an accelerated shooting and each of his releases usually ended with a scene where an angry crowd quickly runs after the Benny Hill character.

Sketches of the show were not only on household themes, they were often parodized by famous figures of art and politics. So, Benny Hill released parodies of such famous Hollywood actors as Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Kane, Richard Burton, Marlon Brando, on popular artists - Bob Dylan, Sher, Mireille Mathieu, Lisa Mineylli, the Rolling Stones group and many others. He ridiculed the actor and political figures, among them Enoch Powell, Margaret Thatcher, Harold Wilson.

Colleagues on set

Next to the creator of the show, other actors have worked on the set, including Jackie Wright, Sue Upton, Bob Todd, Bella Amberg, Jeremy Hawk, André Melli, Paul Eddington, Leslie Goldie, Patricia Hayes, Bettina Le Bo, Ronnie Brody and many others.

Benny Hill respected all his colleagues and often helped them through life. It is known that when Jackie Wright was already old for filming, besides seriously ill, Benny Hill inserted in new releases episodes from old films, so that the elderly actor could still receive royalties.

About the creator

For thirty years, Benny Hill's program was the most popular of all existing in the world. Benny Hill for most countries was like Eugene Petrosyan for Russia. Many loved and respected him, but there were also those who criticized his work, and the actor himself was called the "red, stupid old man". But the English comedian Benny Hill tried not to pay attention to such people and did his business for those to whom it brought joy.

In 1971, his work was evaluated by the British Television Academy - a show to which he gave his life, received an award in the category "Best entertainment telecast".

Few people know how, in reality, there was always cheerful and carefree in the frame of Benny Hill. How was his personal life developing, what did he live, what did he really seek?

The story of the life of the Red Comedian: childhood

Alfred Hawthorne Hill was born on January 21, 1924 in the suburbs of London (Teddington). It is known that Alfred Hill, the father of the future actor, participated in the First World War. Upon his return home, he met Helen Cave, with whom he tied his knot. A year after the wedding they had their first son, Leonard. Three years later, a second son appeared in the family - Hawthorne Hill. The third child of the Hill family was the girl Diana, who was born in 1933.

Alfred Hill owned a medical store where condoms were sold next to the drugs, which was often the object of ridicule of classmates over his children.

Hawthorn often joked and eventually realized that he had a good sense of humor, began to compose various jokes and entertain others.

The Birth of Benny Hill

His grandfather instilled love for the ridiculous Hawthorne. He often took his grandson to various performances and shows in parody theaters. Grandfather was the initiator of that Hawthorne was taken to the group of artists of the school mini-theater, and then contributed to his reception in the comic troupe.

Hawthorne Hill served in the army during World War II and in 1946 moved to London. There he began to do various auditions and perform in all sorts of shows. Scenic name guy-humorist borrowed from his favorite comedian Jack Benny. For the first time a young comedian actor was invited to television in 1949 on the show "Hello Everyone!". A few years later, Benny Hill came up with the idea of creating his own show, and he immediately implemented it. So there was the "Benny Hill Show", which managed to conquer the whole world.

Bennimania and the creative crisis

In the early 1980s, the planet was overwhelmed by "Binimania" - people around the world repeated the facial expressions and gestures of their favorite humorist, and American policemen began to salute as one of his characters - turned upside down with the palm of his hand.

After thirty years of creativity, Benny Hill had a period of crisis. Passers-by on the street teased him, laughed at him in the face, which irritated the actor. Hill became pissed, rudely ridiculed in one of the editions of his show the British government and the royal family. Margaret Thatcher did not tolerate the arrogance of the actor and ordered that every series of his show be subjected to the strictest censorship. As a result, over ten years the commission rejected more than 150 hours of video material. Hill closed in himself, fell into a depression, began to drink. At the same time, his colleagues began to ridicule him by profession, which further exacerbated the internal state of the comedian.

Eventually in 1991 the show was closed.

Personal life

Benny Hill was never married, had no children and, despite the huge fortune, never had either his own apartment or car. People who knew him in life, argued that Hill was a very complex person, did not know how to communicate with women.

After the show was closed, the actor lost interest in life - he began to drink, he did not eat too much, he practically did not leave the house. In April 1992, one of the comic's friends found him dead in an apartment that he was shooting near the television studio. Doctors diagnosed a heart attack. It was not possible to determine exactly when it was death. Found the actor in the chair before the included TV among the mountains of dirty glasses and cymbals. Thus ended the life of one of the most popular actors in the world, humorists. A few years after his death, the British government decided to show the audience all the films with Benny Hill, which were previously banned. But they did it, according to Prime Minister Tony Blair, only so that everyone would learn about it and forgot as soon as possible.