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RIP Bill Kerr

bryemycazbryemycaz Posts: 11,737
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in Showbiz #1
Not many people these days will have known about him. However he was very famous in the 50s and 60s when he was part of Hancock's Half Hour on the radio. Bill played Hancocks dimwitted Australian lodger.

He did not make the transition to the TV series, probably because he was becoming to popular for Tony Hancock to deal with. However he outlived Hancock by 46 years. Bill also appered in many films including the Dam Busters and the Wrong Arm Of The Law with Peter Sellers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28980254
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  • MoggioMoggio Posts: 4,289
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    #2
    Wow. Never even considered he might still have been alive when listening to Hancock recently!

    RIP Bill Kerr
  • hatpeghatpeg Posts: 3,215
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    #3
    Remember him from The Flying Doctor, and Two Way Stretch.
    Distinctive voice, and part of my childhood.
    RIP
  • DavidTDavidT Posts: 20,264
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    #4
    In Dr Who as well in the recently recovered The Enemy of the World I think.
  • swingalegswingaleg Posts: 103,095
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    #5
    I love listening to those old Hancocks.........it always raises a smile when Bill calls Hancock 'Tubs'.......:D
  • NosediveNosedive Posts: 6,602
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    #6
    Good post ! I remember him from when I had a 'Hancock' phase some years ago.
  • GORTONIANGORTONIAN Posts: 8,673
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    #7
    DavidT wrote: »
    In Dr Who as well in the recently recovered The Enemy of the World I think.

    Indeed he was !
    So much more to him than Hancock
    And yes I'd agree Tony dumped him and Kenny Williams as they were a tad too popular for his liking

    I truly can't remember a year when we've lost so many notable STARS at once
    Have to ask will today's inflated egotists be remember as fondly when they leave us ???
    I doubt it somehow

    Rip Bill xx
  • ShrikeShrike Posts: 16,603
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    #8
    GORTONIAN wrote: »
    ...And yes I'd agree Tony dumped him and Kenny Williams as they were a tad too popular for his liking...

    Though it doesn't mention Bill Kerr, I always thought this Willie Rushton cartoon summed up Hancock's attitude very well.
    (Willie drew it six years before Tony's suicide - certainly seems chillingly prescient!)

    Like others I had no idea Bill Kerr was still with us,

    RIP Bill.
  • nanscombenanscombe Posts: 16,588
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    #9
    Bill Kerr OBE

    Hancock: "Bill. You were ordered OUT of the British Empire"
  • SemillionSemillion Posts: 612
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    #10
    Gutted to hear about this :( Damn good actor he was. He appeared in the Australian film Gallipolli as young Archie's uncle Jack who trained him to run. He made that role memorable for me.
  • benjaminibenjamini Posts: 32,066
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    #11
    Really glad to see a wee thread for him tho to be fair not many people old enough to remember him. Funny guy.

    This interview with him is well worth a listen . I recommend it tho it's a nostalgia jag for us oldies :D

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fhzqs
  • bryemycazbryemycaz Posts: 11,737
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    #12
    benjamini wrote: »
    Really glad to see a wee thread for him tho to be fair not many people old enough to remember him. Funny guy.

    This interview with him is well worth a listen . I recommend it tho it's a nostalgia jag for us oldies :D

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fhzqs

    I'm actually quite young at 36. Though it was my dad who got me into listening to Tony Hancock. As well as watching the classic British films of the 50s and 60s.
  • dellaradellara Posts: 39
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    #13
    I too was sorry to read Bill had passed away. Love that one quoted above about the Order of the British Empire. Also remember him in the Christmas episode where he acts like a kid and hypnotised and all but Tony Hancock pander to him. Thank goodness for Radio 4Extra.
  • GPWGPW Posts: 3,375
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    #14
    Another legend of the golden days of radio comedy has gone. :(
    I love to listen to the Hancocks Half Hours - never grow tired them.


    R.I.P Bill
  • fizzycatfizzycat Posts: 6,120
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    #15
    I had quite a crush on Bill when I was a tiddler listening to Hancock with my dad. His was probably the first Aussie accent I'd heard and I thought it was wonderful - so exotic! :blush:

    RIP Bill
  • ftvftv Posts: 31,668
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    #16
    There's a very good obit in The Times today which says he died at home in Perth enjoying watching Seinfeld, his favourite show, on TV - seems appropriate somehow.
  • Jungle CatsJungle Cats Posts: 765
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    #17
    never heard of him
  • CLL DodgeCLL Dodge Posts: 115,802
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    #18
    Yes, a familiar face at the time.
  • Michael_EveMichael_Eve Posts: 14,455
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    #19
    "Hit him, Sid."

    Loved Bill Kerr in Hancock's Half Hour. Good age. Talented man. RIP.
  • Walter NeffWalter Neff Posts: 9,175
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    #20
    Jungle Cats wrote: »
    never heard of him

    So why do you bother to come on to a tribute thread to display your ignorance?

    There's always one idiot on every RIP thread. >:(>:(
  • IamBagpussIamBagpuss Posts: 290
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    #21
    He was a bit of a dish in Return to Eden.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,062
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    #22
    nanscombe wrote: »
    Bill Kerr OBE

    Hancock: "Bill. You were ordered OUT of the British Empire"

    I still chuckle at that gag. Thanks for the memories Bill.
  • tiger2000tiger2000 Posts: 8,541
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    #23
    Always enjoyed listening to him on HHH.

    RIP
  • CampcrusaderCampcrusader Posts: 3,242
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    #24
    I'd seen him in older British productions, but was surprised to see him when he popped up for a guest stint in the old Aussie soap 'The Young Doctors' in the late 1970s!

    RIP Bill
  • bryemycazbryemycaz Posts: 11,737
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    #25
    Michael_Eve wrote: »
    "Hit him, Sid."

    Loved Bill Kerr in Hancock's Half Hour. Good age. Talented man. RIP.

    Ah yes from the The Poetry Society, so here is Bills Abstract poem

    ‘Incandescence’, by William.
    Hick, hack, hock,
    Rinky tinky on purple grass,
    Shafts of light, hob-nail boots,
    Tramping down the bamboo,
    That grows upwards, downwards, sideways,
    Into the Concrete Cosmos,
    Life is mauve,
    I am orange,
    Hick, hack, hock.
  • Michael_EveMichael_Eve Posts: 14,455
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    #26
    bryemycaz wrote: »
    Ah yes from the The Poetry Society, so here is Bills Abstract poem

    ‘Incandescence’, by William.
    Hick, hack, hock,
    Rinky tinky on purple grass,
    Shafts of light, hob-nail boots,
    Tramping down the bamboo,
    That grows upwards, downwards, sideways,
    Into the Concrete Cosmos,
    Life is mauve,
    I am orange,
    Hick, hack, hock.

    Brilliant. :D (A favourite episode.)

    Edit: He was always great, especially as he got stupider, but The East Cheam Drama Festival sticks out for me too. Bill goes 'angry young man' in 'Look Back in Hunger'. (snarls) "Have a cup of tea, Jim." It also has the exchange that always cracks me up;

    Sid: "Shut up and put your trousers on." (that line comes out of nowhere. What an image!)
    Bill: "No, I want to be different!"
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