Web Page 3071 25th May 2023 First Picture: Portrait

Second Picture: Grave in Somerset

Third Picture: As Lurcio

Forth Picture: In Carry on Doctor

Francis Alick Howard OBE was born on 6th March 1917 and died 19th April 1992),was better known by his stage-name Frankie Howerd, was an English actor and comedian. He was the son of soldier Francis Alfred William and Edith Florence Howard in York. His mother worked at the Rowntree's chocolate factory. For his first two and a half years, He later said he had only one memory of living in York and that was of falling down the stairs, an experience which left him with a life-long dread of heights. His family moved to Eltham, London when he was young, and he educated at Shooter's Hill Grammar School. His first stage appearance was at age 13 but his early hopes of becoming a serious actor were dashed when he failed an audition for RADA. He began to entertain during World War II in the Army. In 1944 he became a bombardier in Plymouth, was promoted to sergeant, and on 6th June 1944 was part of the D-Day effort but was stuck on a boat off Normandy. Despite suffering from stage fright, he continued to work after the war, beginning his professional career in the summer of 1946 in a touring show. His act was soon heard on radio, when he made his debut, in early December 1946, on the BBC's Variety Bandbox programme with a number of other ex-servicemen. He then toured the Music Hall circuit with an act including what became his standard catch-phrases such as "titter ye not". He also became a regular in the 1950s editions of the weekly hard-copy comic Film Fun. In 1954 he made his screen debut opposite Petula Clark in The Runaway Bus, which had been written for his comic talent. Filming took five weeks, with a budget of £45,000. He then experimented with different formats and contexts, including stage farces, Shakespearean comedy roles, and television sitcoms. At the start of the 1960s, he began to recover his old popularity and was boosted by success on That Was the Week That Was in 1963 and on stage with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1963–1965), which led into regular television work. In 1966 and 1967, he co-hosted a 90-minute Christmas show called The Frankie and Bruce Christmas Show with Bruce Forsyth, featuring many top acts of the day. He was known for his seemingly off-the-cuff remarks to the audience, especially in the show Up Pompeii! (1969–70. His television work was characterised by direct addresses to camera and by his littering monologues with verbal tics such as "Oooh, no missus" and "Titter ye not". A later sale of his scripts, however, showed that the seemingly off-the-cuff remarks had all been meticulously planned. He appeared as Francis Bigger, one of the lead characters in 1967's Carry On Doctor. The success of the film version of Up Pompeii in 1971 saw British exhibitors vote him the ninth most popular star at the British box office that year.. He was awarded an OBE in 1977. In 1978, he appeared in the Hollywood musical Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band playing Mean Mr Mustard. After six years without a regular television show he returned to TV screens in 1987 in the Channel 4 show Superfrank!. In the last years of his career, he developed a following with student audiences and performed a one-man show at universities and in small theatrical venues. Throughout his career, he hid his homosexuality from both his audience and his mother. In his early career, he suffered from a stutter, which caused him some distress, but which he turned to an advantage in developing his delivery style as a comic For the last 20 years of his life, he and his partner lived in Wavering Down, a house in the village of Cross, Somerset. Having contracted a virus during a Christmas trip to the Amazon in 1991, Frankie Howerd suffered respiratory problems at the beginning of April 1992 and was taken to a clinic in London's Harley Street, but was discharged at Easter. He collapsed and died of heart failure two weeks later, on the morning of 19th April 1992, aged 75.[Two hours before he died, he was speaking on the telephone to his TV producer about new ideas for his next show.[He died the day before fellow comedian Benny Hill. His grave is at St. Gregory's Church in Weare, Somerset. Stay in touch Peter GSSEDITOR@gmail.com