Besides The Benny Hill Show, which is still in syndication (after building it for twenty years), Hill also acted in such films as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (in which he played the toymaker); Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (wherein he played Fire Chief Perkins); and A Midsummer night's Dream (a TV movie for which he co-starred as Bottom).
A seemingly unpredictable versatility (and gall) has found Benny Hill making an appearance in Phil Collin's/Genesis' music video, 'Anything She Does'; upping to Thames to produce his show with ATV, leaving BBC cranky and without Hill, whom they had slated in four shows; and creating skits that, in the feminist-eighties, were criticized gauche and sexist. (Though Hill reportedly responded by suggesting it was not the women on his show who were exploited'for they were depicted in dignified, intelligent form; it was the men, chasing and being rebuffed by these beauties, who were portrayed as the 'buffoons.')
A successful and wealthy man, Benny Hill made his will out to name his parents as beneficiaries. But when Hill died (of complications of obesity, purportedly), his parents were already passed. The will's contents then would go to his siblings, but they too were deceased. So Hill's estate was divided among seven nieces and nephews, who shared somewhere between 7.5 and 10 million pounds.
As rumors circulated about Hill's burial'that he had been buried sheathed in gold and riches'those intent on sharing the wealth uninvited dug up his grave.
We who enjoyed his ditties and his dabbling appearances can still share in the wealth of one who is still considered one of the most recognized comedians of the UK: we can catch the old episodes of his shows, might, if we are lucky enough, catch a re-run of his appearances on 'Top of the Pops' or 'What's My Line.'And, if we're smart enough, we can rent or buy his acts of buffoonery and bumbling on tape, record, and DVD.
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