Kenneth Williams

1926 -- 1988

Kenneth Williams was a stage actor, appeared in many revues and was one of the great raconteurs but it is his radio work in Beyond Our Ken and Round The Horne and appearances in the Carry On films that are best known and most loved.

Raised by a Father that he hated and a Mother whom he adored, Williams grew up in London. He joined the army at eighteen and, like so many of his contemporaries, first took to performing in the Combined Services Entertainment. After the war his attempts to become a serious actor were largely unsuccessful (for which he would always be disappointed) but his comedic abilities found him appearing on Hancock's Half Hour for almost five years before joining Kenneth Horne and giving his amazing vocal talents free reign in Beyond Our Ken and Round The Horne.

The Carry On films and appearances on TV chat shows, as well as acting as MC for television variety shows, kept him in the public eye until his death from a barbituates overdose in 1988. The posthumous publication of his diaries casued controversy and revealed the extent of his ambivalence towards his sexuality.