Frankie Howerd

[hoggers]

'ITN Factual' are conducting some research for a possible documentary about the life and career of Frankie Howerd. At the moment we are looking for anyone who may have a story to tell about Frankie. Did you meet him? Did you know him?. If so we would be really interested in having an informal chat with you. Please contact James Hogg at hoggers1@ntlworld.com

[julian_craster]

Titter ye not: Frankie Howerd had a dark side





Daily Telegraph

29/03/2008



David Walliams plays comedian Frankie Howerd in a new TV drama. He talks to James Rampton





The technical crew of Frankie Howerd: Rather You Than Me, an absorbing new biopic of the late comedian, are huddled behind a monitor in a draughty school hall in west London.



The entire team - from tattooed electricians to immaculately coiffed make-up women - are roaring with laughter as they watch David Walliams mug to the camera in an uncanny impersonation.



The 36-year-old Little Britain star is perched on a stool, dressed in a costume from Up Pompeii - a combination of cream mini-toga, chunky leather belt and strappy sandals - and surrounded by three busty, scantily clad women.



Puffing out his cheeks and gurning, he leers at the women's cleavages and gaily ad libs:



"Drape yourself over Francis… don't mind if I do… not too close, dear… mind your hand there… there's a strange stirring down there… stir your porridge with it, you could… we could make a go of it, us four, couldn't we?… Is it greedy having three?… Nay, nay and thrice nay."



"Cut!" shouts the director, John Alexander. "Very good, David. Very convincing." And it is. Walliams could have been born to play Frankie Howerd.



Frankie Howerd: Rather You Than Me, which is on BBC4 next month, is far from a cheery, rattling good night in. It peers behind Howerd's familiar comic mask and depicts a homosexual performer who was abused by his father during childhood, and who in adulthood was filled with self-loathing, misery and guilt.



"I hate the way I am," Howerd screams in one scene. "It's dirty, and it's disgusting. It makes me want to vomit."



The drama focuses on Howerd's relationship with Dennis Heymer (played by Rafe Spall), a waiter whom the comedian met in a restaurant in 1955, and remained with until his death in 1992.



If the scenario has the ring of authenticity, it's because it was made in collaboration with Heymer who, at the age of 80, has finally decided to tell all about the relationship that was kept a secret throughout Howerd's lifetime.



As Howerd, Walliams is an ingenious stroke of casting; the two performers share an inextinguishable twinkle, a camp, arched-eyebrow sense of mischief, and a magnetic, exhibitionist screen persona. "It's my dream role," says Walliams. "As soon as my agent told me about this, I said, 'Oh my God, I just have to do it!'?"



The actor's connection with Howerd goes back a long way. As a teenager, during the Eighties, Walliams went to see him at the Chichester Festival Theatre in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and performing his one-man show in Sutton.



"I loved the show so much, I went backstage and got his autograph," the actor recalls.



"A few years later, Matt [Lucas, his Little Britain co-star] and I first connected by swapping impressions of Frankie."



For the purposes of this drama, Walliams had to stretch himself far beyond comic impersonation.



"You can look at the tapes of his shows endlessly, but for most of this drama I'm trying to capture Frankie when he's not performing," he says.



"At times, I'm playing a very serious side of him that no one's ever seen before. In the first scene I filmed, for instance, I was portraying Frankie at a psychotherapy session, high on LSD, writhing on the floor and crying his eyes out about his childhood abuse. However often I watch Carry On Up the Jungle, I can't find a scene like that."



The drama concludes BBC4's strong "Curse of Comedy" season, which has also explored the behind-the-scenes despair afflicting Harry H Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell, Tony Hancock, and Hughie Green.



Walliams feels that in all these biopics, the element of darkness is vital; it is the pain that gives the films their point.



"We're all fascinated by comedians who are deeply unhappy," he says.



"That huge contrast between how they are on stage and how they are at home is utterly riveting."



For Howerd, that divide could hardly have been greater.



"Back then, when homosexuality was still illegal, it could ruin your life to be gay," says Walliams.



"After sex, Frankie used to cry. He saw it as something revolting."



Walliams, who has been linked with a string of beautiful women over the years, took the sex scenes with Spall in his stride.



"I had to touch Rafe's private parts last week," he smirks. "We were very heterosexual on set that day. We talked a lot about girls we fancy.



"But the sex scenes are not that bad. In fact, I quite enjoy them! It's more embarrassing if you really fancy the person you're kissing. Then you don't know where to put yourself!"



While researching for the part, Walliams and Spall paid a visit to Dennis Heymer in the Somerset home he used to share with Howerd. "There were pictures of Frankie everywhere," he says. "Dennis said to us, 'Even though he died 16 years ago, I dreamt of Frankie just last night.' That's real devotion."



Why does Walliams think people still hold Howerd in such affection, all these years after his death?



"He was really, really funny," he says.



"Like Eric Morecambe or Tommy Cooper, he's got what they call funny bones. It's not about smart one-liners; it's about the ability to be funny without saying a word. Frankie had that in spades."





Frankie Howerd: Rather You Than Me is on BBC4 at 9pm on April 9

[Steve Crook]

Titter ye not: Frankie Howerd had a dark side

Was there anyone who didn't know that?

It looks like another episode in this strand where they're not telling us anything that we didn't already know, except where they make things up. But it could well be still worth watching.



Steve

[Moor Larkin]

I once walked past Frankie Howerd on that path that leads down from the Albert Memorial. I was walking towards the memorial and a figure in a 'deerstalker' type hat was coming towards me. For some reason his face caught my eye and I kept staring as we got nearer. It wasn't until we were pretty much crossing that he spotted me staring and his eyes flicked into mine for a moment. That was when I realised who he was.



Then he was gone.

[CaptainWaggett]

Was there anyone who didn't know that?

It looks like another episode in this strand where they're not telling us anything that we didn't already know, except where they make things up. But it could well be still worth watching.



Steve

But that applies to most drama doesn't it. If I watch The Passion I'm not on tenterhooks about whether the reprieve is going to come on time and I'd be slightly disappointed if Hamlet and Laertes decided to shake hands and make up. And I suspect that most people don't know very much about Frankie's private life which was just that - very private indeed (much more so than Hancock's for example). Though of course most people don't watch BBC4. But even if there was a shock revelation in the play, we'd all have read about it in the pre-publicity so it would seem familiar by now.



Interesting choice of subjects though - I wonder if they commissioned writers on general theme or a specific person. Was this one chosen because BBC4 have the rights to Up Pompeii and not to the Benny Hill Show?

[stevie boy]

I read once that he used to go and have Sunday Dinner weekly with Cilla Black and family. Cilla likes to surround herself with camp people.

[scholes]

Howerd was also renowned for making uninhibited sexual advances and was allegedly like Grace Kelly, extremely promiscuous. I think Bob Monkhouse mentioned this once when being interviewed .

Howerd was a brilliant stand up comic .

I have very fond memories as a young teenager of Up Pompeii.

Frankie made it worth watching of course, and his dialogue and interaction with the "audience" was a very funny and well timed.

My favourite part was Nauseus' Odes.

[lovegod]

looks like yet more self indulgence,

the media feeding on itself and calling it entertainment .



(but probably not as painful as the up and coming Hughie Green biopic ! )

[David Brent]

The name of Little Britain star David Walliams always looks like a typo error to me.

I have seen him referred elsewhere as Williams, which of course is incorrect.

Easy mistake to make though.



Dave.

[Steve Crook]

The name of Little Britain star David Walliams always looks like a typo error to me.

I have seen him referred elsewhere as Williams, which of course is incorrect.

Easy mistake to make though.



Dave.

He was born David Williams but there was already another David Williams on Equity's books. Rather than change his name drastically as many others have done, he only changed it slightly. But it does make it memorable



Steve

[Steve Crook]

Quite a good show by David Walliams & Rafe Spall (Tim's lad) and Dilys Laye as Frankie's mum.



It had quite a bit of what's sadly become a theme for this series, that the people hated themselves and didn't have a happy life. But at least in Frankie's case that's fairly close to the truth (from what I've read about him)



I suppose it was inevitable that David Walliams should play Frankie Howerd. They both changed just one letter in their surname when they went into showbusiness



Steve

[Moor Larkin]

I thoroughly enjoyed the old Arena programme that was on afterwards, again. I never felt Frankie held back from anything in that. He didn't wallow in his misery by any means but he didn't hide his showbiz angst either. There were also good contributions from his contemporaries. Mr. Max was particularly interesting, especially as he does not seem to do that sort of thing much.



I have steered clear of all these misery dramatics. It strikes me listening to you guys that there are two things going on. One is that the writers just use the subject for their own agenda but the more constructive thing seems to be that viewers can appreciate the actors, playing the parts, as a performance. That does leave me still with a sense that the subjects are merely being used, even unto death.

[penfold]

The consecutive running of the two programmes meant you got a fairly full picture...Frankie was a past master of obscuring his private life for obvious reasons. It also illustrated whatan outstanding job Walliams made of getting Howerd right....

[Steve Crook]

The consecutive running of the two programmes meant you got a fairly full picture...Frankie was a past master of obscuring his private life for obvious reasons. It also illustrated whatan outstanding job Walliams made of getting Howerd right....

I haven't watched all of the Arena documentary yet, but it looks good. And it was made later in his life, after his comeback when he had been "rediscovered" and so was happier with his professional life. And of course the times meant he could be a bit more open and honest with himself, if not publicly, about his private life



Steve

[Steve Crook]

Oh, and I was a bit puzzled by the LSD treatment. With an aperitif of amyl nitrate!

They then left him in a room by himself to face his demons?

That seems a good way to screw people up, not to cure them of anything



Steve

[christoph404]

The performances have indeed been very good and David Walliams was superb as Howerd but the programmes seem to be very focused on the more lurid sexual aspects of the subjects lives, especially the programme on Howerd which I watched last night, I mean was it really necessary to be so graphic about it all? It seemed to convey a rather lurid aspect just for the sake of it which rather disappointed me.

[Steve Crook]

The performances have indeed been very good and David Walliams was superb as Howerd but the programmes seem to be very focused on the more lurid sexual aspects of the subjects lives, especially the programme on Howerd which I watched last night, I mean was it really necessary to be so graphic about it all? It seemed to convey a rather lurid aspect just for the sake of it which rather disappointed me.

I read a biography of Howerd some time ago, and that said that he did often ask for "relief" from anyone who happened to be around in the dressing room.



It's a stressful job



Steve

[rskershaw]

The performances have indeed been very good and David Walliams was superb as Howerd but the programmes seem to be very focused on the more lurid sexual aspects of the subjects lives, especially the programme on Howerd which I watched last night, I mean was it really necessary to be so graphic about it all? It seemed to convey a rather lurid aspect just for the sake of it which rather dissapointed me.

I'm sorry to disagree but I thought Walliams (silly name) was poor, his performance at times lazy. He can not act as he also demonstrated in Capturing Mary.

[davidb]

The performances have indeed been very good and David Walliams was superb as Howerd but the programmes seem to be very focused on the more lurid sexual aspects of the subjects lives, especially the programme on Howerd which I watched last night, I mean was it really necessary to be so graphic about it all? It seemed to convey a rather lurid aspect just for the sake of it which rather dissapointed me.

i was hoping to show some of these plays to my mum who hasnt got bbc 4 but on second thoughts ....,the one with hughie green was a bit too explicit ,too many thrupennys on display ,they could have got the point of him being a womaniser across a bit more subtley ,then again it shattered some of the illusions you had about hughie ,had heard that frankie always propositioned men for sex backstage though

[julian_craster]

Frankie asked this of young Jess Conrad (when Frankie was filming at Pinewood in 1950s) according to JC in a television documentary. JC did not oblige......