Kenneth Williams was born in 1926 in Islington, London. He is a cult favourite from his starring roles in 26 of the Carry On films. Prior to this he had in “Beyond Our Ken” with Kenneth Horne from 1955 until 1964. In the earlier Carry On films he was somewhat sombre but became more outrageous as the series proceeded. After the series was finished he became very popular on the talk show TV circuit e.g. Parkinson. He made his film debut in 1952 in “Trent’s Last Case” with Margaret Lockwood. A subsequent film was “The Seekers” with Jack Hawkins and Glynis Johns. He had three notable stage sucesses, “Saint Joan” with Siobhan McKenna in 1954, “Share My Lettuce” with Maggie Smith and “Captain’s Brassbound Conversion” in 1971 with Ingrid Bergman. Keneth Williams died in 1986 at the age of 62.
IMDB entry:
The acting bug bit Kenneth Williams when, as a student, his English teacher suggested he try out for a school play. He found that he enjoyed it tremendously, but when he raised the possibility at home of becoming an actor, his father forbade it. Williams was eventually sent to art school in London in 1941. In 1944 he was drafted into the army, and although posted to the Royal Engineers, he managed to land a job in the Combined Services Entertainment unit, where he got a chance to act in shows that were put on to entertain the troops, and even designed the posters that advertised the shows.
After his discharge from the army he began to work as a professional actor, and traveled the country in repertory companies. It was in a production of “Saint Joan”, where he played the Dauphin, that a radio producer saw him and hired him to do voice characterizations on a popular radio comedy show, “Hancock’s Half Hour”. His penchant for wild, off-the-wall characters led to his being hired by the producers of the “Carry On” comedy series, where he performed in 26 entries in the long-running series. 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. Later in his life Williams developed a serious ulcer, and was given medication to combat the pain. On April 15th 1988, he was found dead in his bed; it was determined that in addition to his regular pain pills, he had apparently taken some sleeping pills the night before, and the combination of those and his regular medication proved fatal.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: frankfob2@yahoo.com
The above IMDB entry can be accessed online here.
