Kenneth Charles Williams (22 February 1926 – 15 April 1988) was a British actor and comedian. He was best known for his comedy roles and in later life as a raconteur and diarist. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the 31 Carry On films, and appeared in many British television programmes and radio comedies, including series with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne,[1][2] as well as being a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4's comedy panel show Just a Minute from its second series in 1968 until his death 20 years later.
Williams grew up in Central London in a working-class family; he claimed his father spoke Cockney. He served in the Royal Engineers during World War II, where he first became interested in becoming an entertainer. After a short spell in repertory theatre as a serious actor, he turned to comedy and achieved national fame in Hancock's Half Hour. 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.
Williams was fondly regarded in the entertainment industry; in his private life, however, he suffered from depression. He kept a series of diaries throughout his life that achieved posthumous acclaim.
Early life and education
Kenneth Charles Williams was born on 22 February 1926 in Bingfield Street, King's Cross, London.[3] His parents were Charles George Williams, who managed a hairdressers in the Kings Cross area, and Louisa Alexandra (née Morgan), who worked in the salon. Charles was a Methodist who had "a hatred of loose morals and effeminacy", according to Barry Took, Williams's biographer. Charles thought the theatre immoral and effeminate, although his son aspired to be involved in the profession from an early age.[4] Between 1935 and 1956, Williams lived with his parents in a flat above his father's barber shop at 57 Marchmont Street, Bloomsbury. Williams had a half-sister, Alice Patricia "Pat", born to his mother in 1923 before she had met Charles and three years before Kenneth was born.[5]
He was educated at The Lyulph Stanley Boys' Central Council School,[6][7] a state-owned Central school,[8] in Camden Town, North London, and subsequently became apprenticed as a draughtsman to a mapmaker. His apprenticeship was interrupted by the Blitz, and he was evacuated to the home of a bachelor veterinary surgeon in Bicester. It provided his first experience of an educated, middle-class life. He returned to London with a new, vowel-elongated accent.[9] In 1944, aged 18, he was called up to the British Army. He became a sapper in the Royal Engineers Survey Section, doing much the same work that he did as a civilian. When the war ended he was in Ceylon and he opted to transfer to the Combined Services Entertainment Unit, which put on revue shows. While in that unit he met Stanley Baxter, Peter Vaughan, Peter Nichols and John Schlesinger.[10]
Both of Williams' parents were born in London, but with a Welsh heritage extending for several generations.[11] Williams sometimes described himself as Welsh, noting his parents' surnames and origins in his diaries and in interviews.[12]: 108 :[13] In 1968, during the filming of Carry On Up the Khyber in Snowdonia National Park, Williams stated that "I always like being back in Wales. I always feel a hiraeth, it always comes back to you, once you step back into the place where you have atavistic memories."[14][15] A year later, Williams would describe a debate in Ireland when he was told he had some nerve showing his "English face in Dublin". Williams dramatically responded with a "very slow take and riposted 'Wanna get your facts right, dear, I'm Welsh'" before rising to his feet and reciting The Bard. A Pindaric Ode by Thomas Gray. Williams noted that this performance was cut short by applause, for which he was grateful as he did not know any more of the poem.[12] Two years before his death, Williams guest hosted the Wogan chatshow; drawing the audience's attention to a display of red roses, Williams commented, "It's St George's Day today and the rose is the symbol of St George, the patron saint of England. I wouldn't know anything about it. I'm not English, I'm Welsh." before proclaiming "Mymryn bach o Gymru, Cymru fydd, Cymru sydd – Cymru am byth!" (English: A little bit of Wales, Wales will be, Wales is – Wales forever!)[14][16] Despite this, he disliked nationalism, and opposed devolution.[17]
Career
Early career
Williams's professional career began in 1948 in repertory theatre. Failure to become a serious dramatic actor disappointed him, but his potential as a comic performer gave him his break when he was spotted playing the Dauphin in Bernard Shaw's St Joan in the West End, in 1954 by radio producer Dennis Main Wilson.[18] Main Wilson was casting Hancock's Half Hour, a radio series starring Tony Hancock. Playing mostly funny voice roles, Williams stayed in the series almost to the end, five years later. His nasal, whiny, camp-cockney inflections (epitomised in his "Stop messing about ... !" catchphrase) became popular with listeners. Despite the success and recognition the show brought him, Williams considered theatre, film and television to be superior forms of entertainment. In 1955 he appeared in Orson Welles's London stage production Moby Dick—Rehearsed. The pair fell out after Williams became annoyed with Welles's habit of repeatedly changing the script.[19]
When Hancock steered his show away from what he considered gimmicks and silly voices, Williams found he had less to do. Tiring of this reduced status, he joined Kenneth Horne in Beyond Our Ken (1958–64), and its sequel, Round the Horne (1965–68). His roles in Round the Horne included Rambling Syd Rumpo, the eccentric folk singer; Dr Chou En Ginsberg, MA (failed), Oriental criminal mastermind; J. Peasemold Gruntfuttock, telephone heavy breather and dirty old man; and Sandy of the camp couple Julian and Sandy (Julian was played by Hugh Paddick). Their double act was characterised by double entendres and Polari, the homosexual argot.
Williams worked regularly in British film during the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, mainly in the Carry On series (1958–78) with its double entendre humour; and appeared in the series more than any other actor.[22] The films were commercially successful but Williams claimed the cast were poorly paid. 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 year for the latter. He often privately criticised and "dripped vitriol" upon the films, considering them beneath him, even though he continued to appear in them.[23] This became the case with many of the films and shows in which he appeared. He was quick to find fault with his own work, and also that of others. Despite this, he spoke fondly of the Carry Ons in interviews. 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."[24]
Radio and television shows
Williams was a regular on the BBC Radioimpromptu-speaking panel game Just a Minute from its second series in 1968 until his death. He frequently got into arguments with host Nicholas Parsons and other guests on the show. (Russell Davies, editor of The Kenneth Williams Letters, explains that Williams's "famous tirades on the programme occurred when his desire to entertain was fuelled by his annoyance."[25]) He was also remembered for such phrases as "I've come all the way from Great Portland Street" (i.e. one block away) and "They shouldn't have women on the show!" (directed at Sheila Hancock, Aimi MacDonald and others).[26] 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.[27] Williams was also a regular on the BBC Radio comedy show Round the Horne, playing, alongside Hugh Paddick, the characters Julian and Sandy who spoke in a comedic version of Polari.[28]
On television, he co-hosted his own TV variety series on BBC2 with the Young Generation entitled Meanwhile, On BBC2, which ran for ten episodes from 17 April 1971.[29] He was a frequent contributor to the 1973–74 revival of What's My Line?, hosted the weekly entertainment show International Cabaret and was a regular reader on the children's storytelling series Jackanory on BBC1, hosting 69 episodes.[30] He also narrated and provided all of the voices for the BBC children's cartoon Willo the Wisp (1981).
In 1983, Williams was the subject of an episode of the BBC series Comic Roots, in which he revisited the places in London where he grew up and went to school.[31][32]
Personal life and death
On 14 October 1962, Williams' father, Charlie Williams, was taken to hospital after drinking carbon tetrachloride that had been stored in a cough-mixture bottle. He died the following day. An hour after being given the news, Williams went on stage in the West End. Williams was later denied a visa to the United States when it emerged that Scotland Yard had suspected him of poisoning his father.[33] The coroner's court recorded a verdict of accidental death due to corrosive poisoning by carbon tetrachloride. Williams said he believed his father had committed suicide, because the circumstances leading to the poisoning seemed unlikely to have happened by bad luck.[34]
Williams often said that he was asexual and celibate, and his diaries appear to substantiate his claims—at least from his early forties onwards. He lived alone all his adult life and had few close companions apart from his mother, and no significant romantic relationships. His diaries contain references to unconsummated or barely consummated homosexual dalliances, which he describes as "traditional matters" or "tradiola". He befriended gay playwright Joe Orton, who wrote the role of Inspector Truscott in Loot (1965) for him. Williams went on holidays to Morocco with Orton and his partner, Kenneth Halliwell. Other close friends included Stanley Baxter, Gordon Jackson and his wife Rona Anderson, Sheila Hancock, and Maggie Smith and her playwright husband, Beverley Cross.[35] Williams was also fond of fellow Carry On regulars Barbara Windsor, Bernard Bresslaw, Peter Butterworth, Kenneth Connor, Hattie Jacques and Joan Sims.[36]
From the mid-1950s, Williams lived in a succession of small rented flats in central London. After his father died, his mother Louisa lived near him, and then in the flat next to his. His last home was a flat on Osnaburgh Street in Bloomsbury[37] (since demolished).[38]
Williams rarely revealed details of his private life although, in two half-hour documentary programmes in 1977 on BBC Radio London[39] entitled Carry On Kenneth, he spoke openly to Owen Spencer-Thomas about his loneliness, despondency and sense of underachievement.[40]
He died on 15 April 1988 in his flat. His last words, recorded in his diary, were "Oh, what's the bloody point?"[41] and the cause of death was an overdose of barbiturates.[22] An inquest recorded an open verdict, because it was not possible to establish whether his death was suicide or an accident.[42] His diaries reveal that he had often had suicidal thoughts, and some of his earliest diaries record periodic feelings that there was no point in living.[citation needed] His authorised biography argues that Williams did not take his own life but died of an accidental overdose. He had doubled his dosage of antacid without discussing it with his doctor. That, combined with the mixture of medication, is the widely accepted cause of death. 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.[43][page needed] He was cremated at East Finchley Cemetery, and his ashes were scattered in the memorial gardens. Williams left an estate worth just under £540,000 (equivalent to £1,540,418 in 2021).[44]
Legacy
Diaries and biographies
In April 2008 Radio 4 broadcast the two-part The Pain of Laughter: The Last Days of Kenneth Williams.[45] The programmes were researched and written by Wes Butters and narrated by Rob Brydon. Butters purchased a collection of Williams's personal belongings from the actor's godson, Robert Chidell, to whom they had been bequeathed.[46]
The first of the programmes said that, towards the end of his life and struggling with depression and ill health, Williams abandoned Christianity following discussions with the poet Philip Larkin. Williams had been brought up a Wesleyan and then a Methodist, though he spent much of his life struggling with Christianity's teachings on homosexuality.[45]
Kenneth Williams Unseen by Wes Butters and Russell Davies, the first Williams biography in 15 years, was published by HarperCollins in October 2008.[47]
An authorised biography, Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams, by Christopher Stevens,[48] was published in October 2010. This drew for the first time on the full Williams archive of diaries and letters, which had been stored in a London bank for 15 years following publication of edited extracts.[49] The biography notes that Williams used a variety of handwriting styles and colours in his journals, switching between different hands on the page.[50]
David Benson's 1996 Edinburgh Fringe show Think No Evil of Us: My Life with Kenneth Williams saw Benson playing Williams; after touring, the show ran in London's West End. Benson reprised his performance at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe and continues to tour.[51]
A flat in the Osnaburgh Street block in which Williams lived from 1972 until his death was bought by Rob Brydon and Julia Davis for the writing of their comedy series Human Remains. The building was demolished in 2007.[53]
Williams is commemorated by a blue plaque at the address of his father's barber shop, 57 Marchmont Street, London, where he lived from 1935 to 1956. The plaque was unveiled on 11 October 2009 by Leslie Phillips, Bill Pertwee and Nicholas Parsons, with whom Williams performed.[5]
On 22 February 2014—on what would have been Williams' 88th birthday—an English Heritage blue plaque was unveiled at Farley Court off Marylebone Road, where Williams lived between 1963 and 1970. Speaking at the ceremony, his Carry On co-star Barbara Windsor said: "Kenny was a one-off, a true original".[54][55]
Kenneth Williams on Pleasure Bent 1967, Decca LK 4856. Music by Ted Dicks, lyrics by Myles Rudge. Arrangements and musical direction by Barry Booth, sound supervision by Roger Cameron.
The World of Kenneth Williams 1970, Decca SPA 64. Stereo edition of recordings from the 1950s and 1960s.
The Bona World of Julian and Sandy 1976, DJM DJF20487
Castle on Luke Street 1978, Sanctuary Records, SU0803. Roy Castle narrated eight stories from the David Lewis Series of books on side 1. Williams recorded "Lost and Found" on side 2. Dora Bryan, Derek Nimmo and Thora Hird narrated one story each.
^Born: 22 February 1926, London Died: 15 April 1988, London. "Kenneth Williams | BFI". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 19 July 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2014.((cite web)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^Williams, Kenneth (1995). The Kenneth Williams letters. London: HarperCollins. ISBN978-0-00-638092-4. Retrieved 23 February 2023. Anyway, my mother was a Morgan, and my father was a Williams, so I suppose the ancestry can be said to be Welsh. But I don't like nationalism. The very IDEA of devolution is mad. I don't even like the sound of the Welsh language, and I think their insistence on retaining it is barmy. All those signs to be re-written! can you imagine?: 243
^GRO Register of Deaths: JUN 1988 14 1873 CAMDEN – Kenneth Charles Williams, DoB = 22 February 1926 aged 62
^"Open verdict recorded on Williams". The Guardian. London. 17 June 1988. Dr John Elliott, deputy coroner for inner north London said: "The cause of death was a barbiturate overdose. Where Mr Williams would have got these from we would not be able to establish. There is no indication given as to why he should have taken this overdose and therefore I record an open verdict."
