FRANKIE HOWERD

'Francis Alick Howard', OBE (6 March 1917 – 19 April 1992), known as 'Frankie Howerd', was a distinctive English comedian and comic actor whose career spanned six decades.

Contents

Biography

Private life

Works

Television

Selected filmography

Selected bibliography

References

External links

Biography

Howerd was born the son of a soldier in York, England, in 1917 (not 1922 as he later claimed). He was "lightly" educated at Shooters Hill Grammar School (later to become Eaglesfield School) in Eltham, London. His early hopes of becoming a serious actor were dashed when he failed an audition for RADA. He got into entertaining during wartime service in the army. Despite suffering from appalling stage fright he continued to work after the war, beginning his professional career in the summer of 1946 in a touring show called ''For the Fun of It''.
He soon started working in radio, making his debut at the start of December 1946 on the BBC ''Variety Bandbox'' programme with a number of other ex-servicemen. His fame built steadily throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s (aided by material written by Eric Sykes, Galton and Simpson and Johnny Speight). In 1954, he made his screen debut opposite Petula Clark in ''The Runaway Bus'', which had been written for his specific comic talents, but he never became a major film presence. When he began experimenting with different formats and contexts, including stage farces, Shakespearean comedy roles, and television sitcoms, he began to fall out of fashion. After suffering a nervous breakdown at the start of the 1960s, he began to recover his old popularity, initially with a season at Peter Cook's satirical Establishment Club in Soho. He was boosted further by success on ''That Was The Week That Was'' (TW3) in 1963 and on stage with ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'' (1963–65), which led into regular television work. He was awarded an OBE in 1977.
He was famous for his seemingly off-the-cuff remarks to the audience, especially in the show ''Up Pompeii!'', which was a direct follow-up from ''Forum''. His television work was characterised by addressing himself directly to the camera and littering his monologues with verbal tics: "Oooh, no missus", "Titter ye not", and so on. Another feature of his humour was to feign innocence about his obvious and risque double entendres while mockingly censuring the audience for finding them funny.
Howerd's face was a gift to comedy but a testament to tragedy. When a reporter wrote that he had a face like "a landslide of sadness", Howerd got in touch with him to say how right that was.
In 1978, Howerd found himself cast in the big-budget Hollywood musical ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' playing Mean Mr. Mustard, he was acting alongside musical and film talent such as Peter Frampton, The Bee Gees, George Burns, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith and Steve Martin. He was cast by producer Robert Stigwood as Howerd was on Stigwood's record label at the time. The film was a critical and commercial flop, although now it has achieved cult status. Since Howerd was not well known to American audiences, this may have been his biggest exposure in the U.S.
After five years without a regular television show (though he had hosted a one-off UK version of ''The Gong Show'' for Channel 4, which was critically panned and was not commissioned for a full series), Howerd returned to the TV screens in 1987 in the Channel 4 show ''Superfrank!'' scripted by Miles Tredinnick and Vince Powell. In the last years of his career, Howerd developed a cult following with student audiences and performed at universities. He was also a regular and popular guest on the late night BBC Radio 1 programme ''Into the Night'', hosted by Nicky Campbell.
Howerd often worked with Sunny Rogers who was his accompanying pianist from 1960 onwards. She appeared in his TV and live theatre shows including his last major West End appearance — his one-man show — at the Garrick Theatre in 1990.
Howerd suffered respiratory problems at the beginning of April 1992 and died of heart failure at home two weeks after leaving hospital in London. (Reference: TV programme BBC4 on 4th September 2007 'Reputations: Frankie Howerd'). Two hours before Frankie died, he was speaking on the telephone to his TV Producer about new ideas for his next show.
Howerd died one day before fellow comedian Benny Hill. News of the two deaths broke almost simultaneously, and some newspapers ran a canned obituary of Howerd in which Hill was quoted as regretting Howerd's passing, saying "We were great, great friends."
The song "Sects Therapy" from the CD ''Freudiana'' (released 1990) featured lead vocals by Howerd.

Private life

Throughout his career, Howerd hid his potentially career-destroying homosexuality (which had been illegal in Britain until 1967) from both his audience and his mother. In 1955, Frankie met waiter Dennis Heymer, who later became his manager. Dennis was with Frankie for thirty years, both as lighting operator, manager and partner; until Howerd died.
Backstage, Howerd was notoriously bold in his advances, and was known for his promiscuity. One of Howerd's former partners was comic actor Lee Young who created the TV sitcom ''Whoops Baghdad''. His uncomfortable relationship with his sexuality — he once said to Cilla Black, "I wish to God I wasn't gay" — as well as his depressive mental state, led him to seek resolution through a series of different methods. Heymer would often drop Howerd off on Friday at his psychiatrist, who would ply him with LSD over the weekend.^[1]
Frankie Howerd lived for the latter part of his life in the village of Cross, Somerset. Dennis Heymer continues to live in the house which is a tourist attraction and hosts concerts in the summer and opens regularly as a museum. Howerd's grave is at St. Gregory's church in Weare, Somerset.

Works

Television

★ ''That Was The Week That Was'' (1962)

★ ''East of Howerd'' (1966)

★ ''Howerd's Hour'' (1968)

★ ''Carry on Christmas'' (1969)

★ ''The Frankie Howerd Show'' (1969)

★ ''Up Pompeii!'' (1970)

★ ''Whoops Baghdad''

★ ''The Frankie Howerd Show'' (1976)

★ ''Howerd Confessions'' (1976)

★ ''Up the Convicts'' (1976)

★ ''Frankie Howerd Strikes Again'' (1981)

★ ''Then Churchill Said to Me'' (1982)

★ ''Superfrank!'' (1987)

★ ''All Change'' (1989)

★ ''Frankie Howerd on Campus'' (1990)

★ ''Frankie's On...'' (1992)

Selected filmography

★ ''The Runaway Bus'' (1954)

★ ''The Ladykillers'' (1955)

★ ''Jumping For Joy'' (1956)

★ ''A Touch of the Sun'' (1956)

★ ''Further Up the Creek'' (1958)

★ ''The Cool Mikado'' (1962)

★ ''The Mouse on the Moon'' (1963)

★ ''The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery'' (1966)

★ ''Carry on Doctor'' (1967)

★ ''Carry on Up the Jungle'' (1969)

★ ''Up Pompeii!'' (1971)

★ ''Up the Chastity Belt'' (1971)

★ ''Up the Front'' (1972)

★ ''The House in Nightmare Park'' (1972)

★ ''Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (1978)

Selected bibliography

★ ''On the Way I Lost It'' by Frankie Howerd (1976). ISBN 0-491-01807-X.

★ ''The Complete Frankie Howerd'' by Robert Ross (2001). ISBN 1-903111-08-0.

★ ''Frankie Howerd: Stand-Up Comic'' by Graham McCann (2004). ISBN 1-84115-310-9.

References

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6480117.stm

External links

★

★ Frankie Howerd Tribute Site

★ {{nndb name|id=993/000107672|name=

★ Carry On Line: Official Website of the Carry On films Detailed information on the Carry Ons