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Hi,
I cannot offer any new angles on the life of Kenneth Connor,but I do agree he was as much instrumental in the success of the Carry On...films as any other of the crew. A fine comedy actor and his death saddened us all.
Marky B frown
The real lives of 'Carry-On' stars such as Sid James and Kenneth Williams have been discussed and well documented at length. Yet, one of the frontline 'regulars', whom I still know very little about, was Kenneth Connor. In other cases, this has often suggested a fairly private individual who shuns the limelight. Even so, can anyone shed a little light on the background of this delightfully funny and, in my opinion, under-rated actor?
Hi,
I cannot offer any new angles on the life of Kenneth Connor,but I do agree he was as much instrumental in the success of the Carry On...films as any other of the crew. A fine comedy actor and his death saddened us all.
Marky B frown
I agree that he was a stalwart of the Carry Ons, but he was always way down the credits. He starred in a couple of films , Nearly a Nasty Accident and one with Sid James which I can't remember the name of, but I do think he was very underated as a comedy actor.
Kenneth was born in London in 1918 and at two years old was on the stage in Portsmouth. His father was in the Royal Navy. Kenneth was in the Middx. Regiment during the war and toured the Middle East with the Stars in Battledress.
He was at home in Shakespear or farce and appeared on the London stage through out the fifties and sixties. He was in the Bristol Old Vic with William Devlin.
The film in which Kenneth Connor starred alongside Sid James is What A Carve Up, although they did feature in other films together, in this one they shared the lead parts. It was a humorous take on the 'old dark house' type of film. Apparently it was based on Karloff's 'The Ghoul' from the thirties, though you'd never guess it! Fine film though.
I agree with you Sergeant, a fine film wich shows Kenneth Connors finely honed acting skills, (superb in comedy,) which made him, I think, one of the great British actors.
Kenneth Connor was a very kind, devoted neighbour and family man. He first appeared on film in The Lady Killers, driving a taxi. He was Ted Ray's brother-in-law in Rays's a Laugh on the radio for several years. He starred in The Black and White Minstrel Show on TV, and in the West End in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He was in other West End productions too and was a talented singer. He was also the voice of the chimpanzees in the ads for PG Tips tea. His son played his son in Carry on Nurse, but did not become an actor. However some of his grandchildren have acted in the West End.
I've been a fan for very, very, VERY many years...but I never knew that!!Originally Posted by nprlistener
A real curiosity that one - as youv'e mentioned a remake of The Ghoul, Ray Cooney script, an interesting cast and also the inspiration for the namesake novel by critically acclaimed Jonathan Coe. Connor didn't get any leads in movies after this outside of the Carry ons (even then he was quickly replaced as the 'lead' by Jim Dale) and James didn't have many outside the Carry ons after this in films. Also there is an interesting support cast. A real one off.
There are a few more details on wiki
I am currently enjoying his voice in Gerry Anderson's Four Feather Falls.
Bats.
He infact made his screen debut some 15yrs earlier in the 1940 British thriller 'Poison Pen' & then made another five films before appearing in 'The Ladykillers'.
Here's a link to one of the PG adverts he did (He's the plumber):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWGEKH-Z2rI
His son Jeremy Connor also appeared in Carry On Dick, Carry On Behind and Carry On England alongside Kenneth.
According to this interview he was very fond of gardening but I know very little about him, would be good to have a biography written about him one day
YouTube - Kenneth Connor interview - mystery programme
He comes across in those interviews as a meticulously professional performer who lets his work speak for him and is slightly ill-at-ease being himself. A real actor not a personality.
I always liked Kenneth Connor, he was a very natural actor. He seemed like a nice man in real life.
Little known fact?
KC was one of the few actors who got to stand in for one of the Goons when they were ill and couldn't broadcast. I think he played Seagoon in at least one episode but I could be wrong.
Another Goon stand in was Dick Emery.
The following is taken from
Blimey! It's teh Sid James Book [2007, ISBN 9780-954218744, Gary Wharton]
What a Carve Up! (Pat Jackson, 87 mins, 1961)'It's Burke and Hare all over again'.
'The only berk around here is you!'
That's just one of the witty exchanges between Carry On co-stars Sid James and Kenneth Connor in what moviesunlimited.com coined 'one of the funniest British genre spoofs'.
Carve Up! finds a resplendent Mr James cast as 'Honest Syd' [sic] a raincoated-bookie or as he prefers to describe himself (to Shirley Eaton), 'A gentleman of the turf.' When flatmate Ernie is informed of the death of a distant uncle via a non-blinking Donald Pleasance, he gets Sid to accompany him to a creepy mansion to claim his inheritance. Cue all kinds of spooky goings on in this homage to horror penned by future farce king Ray Cooney and Tom Hilton from a 1933 novel/play titled The Ghoul.
Atypically wearing his hat tipped up away from his forehead, Sid offers his familial yak-yak-yak laugh in a template performance. There are some snappy exchanges between him and Connor throughout, as they first venture into the house amidst the depths of the Yorkshire moors. Here we are introduced to various distant family members headed by a dapper Dennis Price and a typically-giggle some Esma Cannon. Carry On actress Eaton appears as the nurse of the recently-deceased (who turns out not to be so) but doesn't get much to do other than look lovely. There are also appearances by Michael Gwynne (remembered as the fraudulent Lord Millbury in an episode of Fawlty Towers) and George Woodbridge, an actor with one of those faces that you know that you've seen before. He acted in lots of film and television shows and had roles in 2 other Sid projects: The Flanagan Boy and A King in New York. Frederick Piper, seen briefly but effectively as the hearse driver in Carve Up! had previously acted in It Always Rains on Sunday and The Rainbow Jacket.
Meanwhile, back at the house, as the night progresses, corpses begin to pile up and in the end only Sid, Kenny, Shirley and Ms Cannon remain, alongside the creepy butler who saves the day.
Shot at Twickenham studios with Carry On cinematographer Alan Hume providing very low lighting throughout the film moves along at a swift pace. 'I'm not entirely convinced your friend is the fool he makes himself out to be'. Questions the bearded Pleasance to Sid after another death. 'Oh yes I am!' Connor replies after a fraction delay.
Known as No Place Like Homicide! for it's American audience, it is not a film without humour and the moments between the two Carry On men makes this swift and very slight tale, watchable.
A pulsating soundtrack composed by Muir Mathieson, adds to the tension. Mathieson was the most prolific composer / musical director in the British film industry from the mid-1930s throughout the 1950s, and was involved with a dozen films that Sid acted in; from The October Man to Lady Godiva Rides Again to The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw. Stanley Unwin puts in a joyous cameo (who had been in Carry on Regardless, which proves memorable and the opening credits are well-designed.
Raising the Wind aka Room Mates (Gerald Thomas, 91 mins, 1961)
With the working title The Happy Band this thin comedy was scripted by Carry On music man Bruce Montgomery (who also provided original music and for the Doctor comedy-medical series). Sid appears as a special guest star in a film that was not a hit at the box office.
Sid plays well with Lance Percival, both pictured opposite, as two opportunistic music publishers exploiting the talents of student Leslie Phillips. Wind featured many Sid associates, in what film critic Leslie Halliwell termed a 'Carry On in all but name'. Kenneth Williams, Liz Fraser, Eric Barker, James Robertson-Justice, Esma Cannon, Victor Maddern, Percival and Jim Dale all go along for the ride. Mr Dale, a professional comedienne whilst still a teenager, doesn't appear directly with Sid as he had done in Carry On Cabby.
Jill Ireland, a Sid co-star from The Glass Cage, features as does Joan Hickson and David Lodge, who is very good as a taxi driver. Liz Fraser, super-sexy here as a cello playing student who falls for Phillips is little used. She appears as Sid's girlfriend in Double Bunk as well as in episodes of Hancock's Half Hour, Citizen James and Desert Mice. Born Elizabeth Winch, she was a decent light comedy actress and with Sid, Liz recorded the theme song of the same name used on the opening and closing credits of Double Bunk, and proves to be an irritatingly catchy affair! She later pulled way from her Carry On typecasting but still appeared in a themed stage show at Scarborough after Sid's death. It was written by Sam Cree, the author of the play that Sid died in a production of at Sunderland. Liz later appeared in a number of the rubbish British sex films of the 1970s such as the Confessions series with Sid�s Bless This House screen son, the cheekie chappie, Robin Askwith.
Montgomery, an alcoholic whose career ran across a decade as a composer and music director, including 5 Sid films, died in 1978. Raising the Wind was his own screenplay and the project furthered its Sid connection by being directed by Gerald Thomas. Described by his producer pal Peter Rogers as 'Speedy Gonzalez', the man in charge of all the Carry On series. At the time of release, Sid could also be seen in cinemas starring in What a Carve Up! with Carry On co-star Kenneth Connor, described by June Whitfield as 'a very gentle, kind man.'
May I thoroughly recommend Leslie Phillips' recent autobiography, Hello, which has some little know facts about many of Brit character actors, including Kenneth Connor.
Is this one of yours, Cornershop?
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