Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hillwas an English comedian, actor, writer and musician. He is best remembered for his television programme, The Benny Hill Show, a comedy-variety show that merged slapstick, burlesque, double entendre and innuendo in live and filmed segments with Hill in almost every one.
The BFI called Hill "the first British comedian to attain fame through television" and "a major star for over forty years". Making his television debut in 1949, he appeared on BBC variety shows where he developed his parodic sketches and, in 1954, was voted television personality of the year. The Benny Hill Show, which debuted in 1955, was among the most-watched programmes in the UK; his audience was more than 21 million in 1971. The show was also exported to over 100 countries, a global appeal which the BFI attributed to "Hill's emphasis on visual humour transcending language barriers".
Hill received a BAFTA Television Award for Best Writer and a Rose d'Or, and he was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance and for two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Variety. In 1990, Anthony Burgess described Hill as "a comic genius steeped in the British music hall tradition". In 2006, Hill was voted by the British public number 17 in ITV's poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars.
Outside television, Hill starred in films including the Ealing comedy Who Done It? (1956), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and The Italian Job (1969). His comedy song, "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)", was 1971's Christmas number one on the UK singles chart and earned Hill an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in 1972.
