Rare Benny Hill Interview (1956)

“King Leer” has a casual chat.

From his 1992 New York Times obituary: “Benny Hill, the English television comedian whose mischievous grin and cherubic looks somehow made him a master of double-entendre, British bawdy style, and ultimately gained him a kind of international cult status, was found dead last night at his home in southwest London. He was 67 years old.

While the cause of death was not determined, Mr. Hill’s chronic heart condition had been well publicized in the London newspapers. The police in Teddington, his hometown, discovered the body after neighbors grew concerned after not seeing Mr. Hill for two days, a spokeswoman for Scotland Yard said last night.

Mr. Hill’s humor, a cross between a leer from W. C. Fields and the naivete of Charlie Chaplin, with a large dose of the Keystone Kops thrown in, found a devoted audience in England, at least among those who confessed to having an appetite for his madcap sight gags and for the young women in skimpy outfits in most of his routines. Though he became a television star in England in the 1950’s, it was not until 1979, when a series of variety specials appeared as a half-hour series in the United States, that Mr. Hill gained worldwide acclaim.”

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