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| Carry On Messin' About: Kenneth Williams at the Height of his Carry On Fame in the 1960's. |
Kenneth Williams was an extraordinary comic and entertainer. Whether he himself believed this is open to debate. Born in London in 1926. Kenneth knew from an early age he was going to be a star. His mother encouraged him but his father most certainly did not and Kenneth being homosexual was a major factor in their mutual resentment of each other.
Kenneth's father died in 1962 after drinking cleaning fluid that had been stored in a cough mixture bottle. Kenneth was undisturbed by his father's death and it remains a mystery to this day how the acid ended up in the bottle. There is speculation that Kenneth killed his father and Scotland Yard had him as a suspect, something which denied him a visa to America to work with Orson Welles, work which would have undoubtedly made him an international star. Kenneth himself stated that he simply didn't like America and had no desire to work there but for a man with such a precocious talent for comedy he would surely have loved to have joined the British Invasion of popular culture in the 1960's.
Kenneth rose to prominence on the BBC Radio show 'Hancock's Half Hour' but he is best remembered in Britain for starring in 26 of the 29 Carry On films. Beginning in 1958 with the first one, 'Carry On Sergeant' and ending with 'Carry On Emmannuelle' in 1978. The Carry On films were at their peak in the 1960's and by the time of the last movie, they had become somewhat old-fashioned and outdated despite their taking a more risque approach. Kenneth, however, was bored of them by 1962's 'Carry On Cruising', calling the script he received "The same old crap". The Carry On films never made the cast rich but they made them famous.
Kenneth was a regular on the chat show circuit and even had his own show. Often appearing on 'Parkinson' and 'Wogan' in the 70's and early 80's. He was a friend of Playwright Joe Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell. When Halliwell murdered Orton and then committed suicide in 1967 Kenneth was dumbfounded, even though he'd written in his diary; "Ken & Joe are rubbish. They deserve each other. I hope they die."
Kenneth Williams accidentally overdosed on barbiturates in 1988. His death came at a time when his career had stalled and he seemed to be at his bleakest ever. His last diary entry read "This, plus the stomach trouble combines to torture me...Oh....What's the bloody point?"
This last entry gives rise to the notion that Kenneth committed suicide. My personal opinion is that if Kenneth Williams was going to commit suicide, he would still be writing that suicide note.
Kenneth's diaries were posthumously published in 1993 and contain his thoughts and feelings of everything and everyone around him.
"Everything is so shit. I really can't see the point in anything. It's all so fucking shit!"
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