thirdlady

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img] I was wondering has everyone seen the night of Kenneth williams shown last night on BBC4 it was a real hoot! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clapping.gif[/img]

Some people might not find it funny!

A.S.Carroll
"Happiness isn't sold in bottles you have to achieve it in your own lifetime!"

arty-dave

I watched all the programmes and found Fantabulosa! to be both wickedly funny and profoundly sad...

samkydd

I watched Kenneth Williams Fantabulosa last night and I was very impressed. The acting and difficult story was done very well indeed and worthy of a BAFTA for Michael Sheen at the very least. Williams was a complex character with many demons in his life, and it’s sad that his career will always be remembered chiefly for Carry-On films when his talent was much more far reaching, but his sexually frustrated and love less private life, loneliness and typecasting prevented him from reaching his full potential as an actor.

I liked the way it showed all through Williams’ career his mother Lou (played brilliantly by Cheryl Campbell) proudly listening to her son on the radio, then later on the television, but in later life when she was an old lady she was fast asleep during his performance as the voiceover in the advert he did where a cartoon toilet popped in the Bloo cleaning tablet in the cistern, so she'd witnessed his gradual rise but not his fall!

It just shows how times have changed because nowadays regular voiceover work is respectable and very well paid, but back in the 1970s desperation must have been a key factor for stars to accept such parts.

For once, well done BBC but a shame I missed the rest of the programmes on him last night.

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

Ascoyne D'Ascoyne

Apparently Dennis Price, always desperate for money, auditioned for a part in an ad. towards the end of his life and was turned down because of his physical deterioration....that's even sadder than appearing in one, especially as Price seems to have been a far nicer character than Williams appears to have been.

samkydd

I was advised to do voiceover acting work many years ago because I am able to do lots of regional dialects and foreign accents (there's not a lot to do in North Norfolk as a child but to learn different dialects from the holidaymakers), but I didn't pursue it unfortunately because I was waiting for my day job to give me up!

The only use it has now is when me and a mate go out for the evening and we decide to be South African for the night, or from Sheffield or Belfast. Great fun until you meet the same girls in a pub as you saw the week before and you can't remember which accent you used the last time! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

sanndevil

Me! Though I can't deny it was a good drama, with perhaps an over-emphasis "on the dark side". Not enough Sid James, that's for sure. In fact, why don't they do a biog on him?

Why has Polari become fashionable again? Can't seem to move for references to it.

samkydd

"Oooh there's nothing like playing solo on a nice cottage upright!"

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

smudge

From the bit I've seen (I have yet to watch it all) I thought they relied too much on the actor's (passable) KW impression - apart from when he was speaking as the voice of the diary. One mustn't forget that in himself, as himself 'proper', KW's speaking voice was not so OTT and quite elegant...

SMUDGE

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/vampire.gif[/img]

Welcome to my house. Enter freely, and of your own will...

samkydd

From earlier extracts from his diaries I heard a few years ago, he was fond of "going off on one" in front of the general public as well as in the company of friends and he could go through his entire repertoire of voices in just a few sentences in general conversation.

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

smudge

This is true Sam - the man was a mass of contradictions ; one night he'd be playing to the gallery, the next he'd have a hissy fit if just one person recognised him in a restaurant. He did, however, have some restraint and was not in caricature the whole time.

When he was being himself, and being rather erudite with it, I could sit and listen to him all night. I didn't think this came through in what I saw, but I shall speak again once I get chance to see the whole piece...

SMUDGE

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/vampire.gif[/img]

Welcome to my house. Enter freely, and of your own will...

arty-dave

Reminds me of the Hancock's Half Hour episode where Hancock and Bill Kerr decide to be French to impress the girls at Clacton

samkydd

I've got the audio cassettes of Kenneth Williams doing Wind in the Willows and it's terrific stuff.

There is a tendency for each generation to produce almost carbon copies of actors and comedians from the previous generation, and I always tend to think of Stephen Fry as the new Kenneth Williams, and has possibly shared similar frustrations in his own personal life.

Oh the luxury of being able to sit at home bobbing around the swimming pool in one of those infaltable swimming pool armchairs with a G&T, wrestling with one's fears and doubts. To not enjoy the extended holidays in exotic locations, and endless wealth because one's feelings of unfulfilment and unrequited love have driven you into a frenzy of hand-wringing, foot stamping and object throwing, questioning the pointlessness of your very existence!

The rest of us never have such problems of course, we're too knackered as we fall out our pits at 05:45 every morning to feed the cat and then drive to work amongst an endless stream of droopy-eyed drivers to arrive at jobs we all loathe. The only fulfilment we need is to remain in paid employment for at least the rest of the day and to make it safely home in time for Eastenders and a cup of cocoa, before hitting the sack to dream of how things might have been had you been talented! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rotfl.gif[/img]

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

Rob Compton

This is how I particularly remember him in more recent times, in Just a Minute: "I think its a dis-GRACE! I've come all the way here from Great Portland Street!" etc etc

Even though I'd heard it before, all the different voices made it a work of comic genius.

rgds
Rob

Captain Casper

The actors playing Joan Sims and Sid James were pretty poor by comparison but Orton nearly stole it for me.

Michael Sheen was extraordinary in the role of KW which must have been hell to play. Having read KW's diaries many many times trying to work out if he did end his life deliberately I'm still none the wiser after "Fantabulosa" but have to admit the diaries couldnt really have been portrayed much better. Thankfully we were spared Morocco.

The predecessor "Cor Blimey" was hated by the Carry On aficionado's but I enjoyed it immensely and still do.

thirdlady

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clapping.gif[/img] I thought it was great!

Sam I'm sure they might repeat it!

Let's hope they do so you can get to see how good it was!

It was sad having to hear the diary getting read out moved me in a big way!

A.S.Carroll
"Happiness isn't sold in bottles you have to achieve it in your own lifetime!"