Kenneth Connor
Encyclopedia
Kenneth Connor MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (6 June 191828 November 1993) was an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 comedy stage, radio, film and TV actor, best known for his appearances in the Carry On films
Carry On films
The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres....

.

Career

Born the son of a naval officer in Islington
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Connor first appeared on the stage at the age of 2. By 11 years old, he had his own act. After periods at drama school and the armyduring which time he participated in the British invasion of Romehe returned to the stage. He found more success, however, in BBC radio comedy, particularly in comedian Ted Ray
Ted Ray
Ted Ray may refer to:*Ted Ray , real name Charles Olden, British comedian*Ted Ray , Edward Ray, British golfer-See also:*Ted Wray, Canadian politician*Edward Ray...

's Ray's a Laugh where played the brother-in-law and other oddball characters such as Sidney Mincing. He also on occasion appeared in The Goon Show
The Goon Show
The Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme...

, standing in for regular cast members struck down by illness.

In 1955, Connor gained a small role in the film The Ladykillers
The Ladykillers
The Ladykillers is a 1955 British black comedy film made by Ealing Studios. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick, it stars Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Danny Green, Jack Warner and Katie Johnson...

(1955) as a taxi driver. In 1958, he was cast in the first Carry On film
Carry On films
The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres....

, Carry On Sergeant
Carry On Sergeant
Carry On Sergeant is the first Carry On film. Its first public screening was on 1 August 1958 at Screen One, London. Actors in this film who went on to be part of the regular team in the series were Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Connor and Terry Scott...

and became one of the regular cast in the series, appearing in seventeen of the original thirty films and many of the associated television productions. Alongside Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Charles Williams was an English comic actor and comedian. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the Carry On films, and appeared in numerous British television shows, and radio comedies with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne.-Life and career:Kenneth Charles Williams was born on 22 February...

 and Eric Barker
Eric Barker
Eric Leslie Barker born in Thornton Heath, Surrey, was an English comedy actor. He is most remembered for his roles in the popular British Carry On films.-Career:...

, Connor was one of only three actors to appear in both the first and last of the original sequence of Carry On films (Carry On Sergeant and Carry On Emmanuelle).

In his earlier Carry On appearances, Connor frequently played the romantic lead or other sympathetic straight roles, while later appearances saw him play pompous unsympathetic characters such as married men with wandering eyes and lascivious remarks. In Carry On Nurse
Carry On Nurse
Carry On Nurse is the second Carry On film, released in 1959. Of the regular team, it featured Joan Sims , Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor and Charles Hawtrey, with Hattie Jacques and Leslie Phillips. The film was written by Norman Hudis based on the play Ring For Catty by Patrick Cargill and Jack...

(1959), his real-life son Jeremy appeared as his character Bernie Bishop's son. In 1961, he starred with fellow Carry On stars Sid James
Sid James
Sid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...

 and Esma Cannon
Esma Cannon
Esma Ellen Charlotte Cannon was a diminutive Australian-born character actress, who moved to England in the early 1930s.-Career:...

 in the comedy film What a Carve Up!
What a Carve Up! (film)
What a Carve Up! is a 1961 British comedy horror film directed by Pat Jackson. It was released in the United States in 1962 as No Place Like Homicide...

. In the early 1960s, he appeared as various characters in the Four Feather Falls puppet series.

Between 1971 and 1973, Connor joined Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...

stars Arthur Lowe
Arthur Lowe
Arthur Lowe was a BAFTA Award winning English actor. He was best known for playing Captain George Mainwaring in the popular British sitcom Dad's Army from 1968 until 1977.-Early life:...

 and Ian Lavender
Ian Lavender
Arthur Ian Lavender , better known as Ian Lavender, is an English stage, film and television actor, best known for his role as Private Frank Pike in the BBC comedy series Dad's Army.-Early life and career:...

 on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 radio comedy Parsley Sidings
Parsley Sidings
Parsley Sidings was a BBC Radio sitcom created by Jim Eldridge. It starred Arthur Lowe and Ian Lavender , together with Kenneth Connor from the Carry On films....

. In contrast with some of his Carry On co-stars, Connor found further success on the London stage playing a leading role alongside Frankie Howerd
Frankie Howerd
Francis Alick "Frankie" Howerd OBE was an English comedian and comic actor whose career, described by fellow comedian Barry Cryer as "a series of comebacks", spanned six decades.-Early career:...

 in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart....

, and he also appeared in West End revues. On television he appeared in The Black and White Minstrel Show
The Black and White Minstrel Show
The Black and White Minstrel Show was a British light entertainment show that ran on BBC television from 1958-1978 and was a popular stage show. It was a weekly light entertainment and variety show presenting traditional American minstrel and Country songs, as well as show and music hall numbers,...

, in the children's show Rentaghost
Rentaghost
Rentaghost is a British children's television comedy show, broadcast by the BBC between 6 January 1976 and 6 November 1984. The show's plot centred on the antics of a number of ghosts who worked for a firm called Rentaghost, which rented out the ghosts for various tasks.-Background:The company,...

(1983–1984), and as Monsieur Alfonse
Monsieur Alfonse
Monsieur Alfonse is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom Allo 'Allo!, which ran from 1982 to 1992. He was played by actor Kenneth Connor.-Character overview:...

 in 'Allo 'Allo!
'Allo 'Allo!
'Allo 'Allo! is a British sitcom broadcast on BBC One from 1982 to 1992 comprising eighty-five episodes. It is a parody of another BBC programme, the wartime drama Secret Army, and was created by David Croft, who also wrote the theme music, and Jeremy Lloyd. Lloyd and Croft wrote the first 6...

(1984–1992) and Uncle Sammy Morris in Hi-de-Hi!
Hi-de-Hi!
Hi-de-Hi! is a British sitcom that aired on the BBC from 1980-1988. It was set in a holiday camp during the 1950s and 1960s and was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, who had written Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum. The title was the phrase used to greet the campers and in early episodes...

(1986–1988). He also made guest appearances in sitcoms including That's My Boy and You Rang, M'Lord?
You Rang, M'Lord?
You Rang M'Lord? is a British television series written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, the creators of Dad's Army, It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Hi-de-Hi! It was broadcast between 1990 and 1993 on the BBC...

and he made a memorable cameo in an episode of Blackadder the Third
Blackadder the Third
Blackadder the Third is the third series of the BBC situation comedy Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 17 September to 22 October 1987....

in 1987, alongside fellow veteran comic star Hugh Paddick
Hugh Paddick
Hugh William Paddick was an English actor, whose most notable role was in the 1960s BBC radio show Round the Horne in sketches such as Charles and Fiona and Julian and Sandy...

.

His final TV appearance, as Mr Warren in The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the name given to the TV series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations produced by British television company Granada Television between 1984 and 1994, although only the first two series bore that title on screen. The series was broadcast on the ITV network in the UK,...

episode The Adventure of the Red Circle
The Adventure of the Red Circle
"The Adventure of the Red Circle" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. It is included in the anthology His Last Bow.-Synopsis:...

, was broadcast posthumously in 1994. He was in over fifty movies and was honoured by the Queen with an MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 in 1991.

He made his first stage appearance at the age of two and was still working just two days before his death, with an appearance on Noel Edmond's Telly Addicts.

Connor died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

 at his home in Harrow
London Borough of Harrow
The London Borough of Harrow is a London borough of north-west London. It borders Hertfordshire to the north and other London boroughs: Hillingdon to the west, Ealing to the south, Brent to the south-east and Barnet to the east.-History:...

, London in 1993, and was survived by his wife Margaret (Miki), his son and three grandchildren, Thomas, Hayley and Rose, all of whom have been accomplished child actors.

Television roles

Year Title Role
1970 to 1971 On the House Gussie Sisson
1975 to 1976 Carry On Laughing
Carry On Laughing
Carry on Laughing is a British television comedy series produced in 1975 for ATV. Based on the Carry On films, it was an attempt to address the films' declining cinema attendance by transferring the franchise to television...

Various
1983 to 1984 Rentaghost
Rentaghost
Rentaghost is a British children's television comedy show, broadcast by the BBC between 6 January 1976 and 6 November 1984. The show's plot centred on the antics of a number of ghosts who worked for a firm called Rentaghost, which rented out the ghosts for various tasks.-Background:The company,...

1984 to 1992 'Allo 'Allo!
'Allo 'Allo!
'Allo 'Allo! is a British sitcom broadcast on BBC One from 1982 to 1992 comprising eighty-five episodes. It is a parody of another BBC programme, the wartime drama Secret Army, and was created by David Croft, who also wrote the theme music, and Jeremy Lloyd. Lloyd and Croft wrote the first 6...

Monsieur Alfonse
Monsieur Alfonse
Monsieur Alfonse is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom Allo 'Allo!, which ran from 1982 to 1992. He was played by actor Kenneth Connor.-Character overview:...

1986 to 1988 Hi-de-Hi!
Hi-de-Hi!
Hi-de-Hi! is a British sitcom that aired on the BBC from 1980-1988. It was set in a holiday camp during the 1950s and 1960s and was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, who had written Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum. The title was the phrase used to greet the campers and in early episodes...

Uncle Sammy Morris
1987 Blackadder the Third
Blackadder the Third
Blackadder the Third is the third series of the BBC situation comedy Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 17 September to 22 October 1987....

Enoch Mossop
1994 Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the name given to the TV series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations produced by British television company Granada Television between 1984 and 1994, although only the first two series bore that title on screen. The series was broadcast on the ITV network in the UK,...

Mr. Warren

Selected filmography

  • Poison Pen
    Poison Pen (film)
    Poison Pen is a 1939 British psychological drama, directed by Paul L. Stein and starring Flora Robson, Reginald Tate and Ann Todd. The film is an adaptation of a novel by Welsh author Richard Llewellyn...

    (1939)
  • Don't Say Die (1950)
  • Miss Robin Hood
    Miss Robin Hood
    Miss Robin Hood is a 1952 British film directed by John Guillermin. It falls neatly within the genre of post-war British fantasy, and there are strong correlations with a number of films within this genre such as e.g...

    (1952)
  • There Was a Young Lady (1953)
  • Marilyn
    Marilyn (film)
    Marilyn is a 1963 documentary film based on the life of the 1950s sex symbol Marilyn Monroe. The film was released by 20th Century Fox, and was narrated by Rock Hudson.-Background:...

    (1953)
  • The Black Rider
    The Black Rider (film)
    The Black Rider is a 1954 British thriller film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Jimmy Hanley, Rona Anderson and Leslie Dwyer. A gang of smugglers use a haunted castle as their base, detering curious locals by pretending to be ghosts.-Cast:...

    (1954)
  • The Ladykillers
    The Ladykillers
    The Ladykillers is a 1955 British black comedy film made by Ealing Studios. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick, it stars Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Danny Green, Jack Warner and Katie Johnson...

    (1955)
  • Davy
    Davy (film)
    Davy is a 1958 British comedy-drama film directed by Michael Relph and starring Harry Secombe, Alexander Knox and Ron Randell. It was the last comedy to be made by Ealing Studios.-Plot:...

    (1957)
  • Carry On Sergeant
    Carry On Sergeant
    Carry On Sergeant is the first Carry On film. Its first public screening was on 1 August 1958 at Screen One, London. Actors in this film who went on to be part of the regular team in the series were Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Connor and Terry Scott...

    (1958)
  • Make Mine a Million
    Make Mine a Million
    Make Mine a Million was a 1959 British comedy film starring Arthur Askey, Sid James, and Bernard Cribbins. It was directed by Lance Comfort. The film parodies the stuffiness of the 1950s BBC and the effect of television advertising in the era.-Plot:...

    (1959)
  • Carry On Nurse
    Carry On Nurse
    Carry On Nurse is the second Carry On film, released in 1959. Of the regular team, it featured Joan Sims , Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor and Charles Hawtrey, with Hattie Jacques and Leslie Phillips. The film was written by Norman Hudis based on the play Ring For Catty by Patrick Cargill and Jack...

    (1959)
  • Carry On Teacher
    Carry On Teacher
    Carry On Teacher is the third Carry On film, released in 1959. It features Ted Ray in his only Carry On role, alongside series regulars; Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Williams and Hattie Jacques. Leslie Phillips and Joan Sims make their second appearances in the series here, having made...

    (1959)
  • Watch Your Stern
    Watch Your Stern
    Watch Your Stern is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Gerald Thomas and starring Kenneth Connor, Eric Barker and Leslie Phillips.Watch Your Stern shares its cast and production team with the Carry On films, but the film is not an official member of the Carry On series.-Synopsis:When the crew...

    (1960)
  • Carry On Constable
    Carry On Constable
    Carry On Constable is the fourth Carry On film. It was released in 1960. Of the regular team, it featured Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims and Hattie Jacques. Sid James makes his debut in the series here, while early regulars Leslie Phillips, Eric Barker and Shirley...

    (1960)
  • Dentist in the Chair
    Dentist in the Chair
    Dentist in the Chair is a 1960 British comedy film, directed by Don Chaffey and starring Bob Monkhouse, Ronnie Stevens, Eric Barker and Vincent Ball. The screenplay was written by Val Guest, based on a novel by Matthew Finch...

    (1960)
  • Nearly a Nasty Accident
    Nearly a Nasty Accident
    Nearly a Nasty Accident is a 1961 British comedy film directed by Don Chaffey and starring Jimmy Edwards, Kenneth Connor, Shirley Eaton and Eric Barker.-Cast:* Jimmy Edwards as Group Captain Kingsley* Kenneth Connor as AC 2 Alexander Wood...

    (1961)
  • His and Hers
    His and Hers (film)
    His and Hers is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Terry-Thomas, Janette Scott and Wilfrid Hyde-White. An eccentric author tries to impose his lifestyle on his reluctant wife.-Cast:* Terry-Thomas - Reggie Blake...

    (1961)
  • Carry On Regardless
    Carry On Regardless
    Carry on Regardless was the fifth in the series of Carry On films to be made. It was released in 1961. By now a fairly regular team was established with Sid James, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims and Kenneth Williams all having appeared in previous entries. Hattie Jacques - who was...

    (1961)
  • A Weekend with Lulu
    A Weekend with Lulu
    A Weekend with Lulu is a 1961 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Bob Monkhouse, Leslie Phillips, Alfred Marks, and Shirley Eaton.-Cast:*Bob Monkhouse as Fred Scrutton*Leslie Phillips as Timothy Gray...

    (1961)
  • Dentist on the Job
    Dentist on the Job
    Dentist on the Job is a 1961 British comedy film directed by C.M. Pennington-Richards. It was released in the US with the title Get on with it! It is the sequel to Dentist in the Chair. The film was co-written by Bob Monkhouse and Hazel Adair...

    (1961)
  • What a Carve Up!
    What a Carve Up! (film)
    What a Carve Up! is a 1961 British comedy horror film directed by Pat Jackson. It was released in the United States in 1962 as No Place Like Homicide...

    (1961)
  • Carry On Cruising
    Carry On Cruising
    Carry On Cruising is the sixth Carry On film and was released in 1962. It was the first in the Carry On series to be filmed in colour and was based on an original story by Eric Barker. P&O - Orient Lines were thanked in the credits. Regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Kenneth Connor appear in...

    (1962)
  • Carry On Cabby
    Carry On Cabby
    Carry On Cabby is the seventh Carry On film. Released in 1963, it was the first one written by series mainstay Talbot Rothwell from a story by Sid Green and Dick Hills...

    (1963)
  • Carry On Cleo
    Carry On Cleo
    Carry On Cleo is the tenth film in the Carry On film series and was released in 1964. The website ICONS.a portrait of England cites the Carry On films as iconic of British cinema, and describes Carry On Cleo as "perhaps the best". Regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor, Charles...

    (1964)
  • Gonks Go Beat
    Gonks Go Beat
    Gonks Go Beat is a 1965 British science fiction/musical fantasy film, directed by Robert Hartford-Davis and starring Kenneth Connor and Frank Thornton...

    (1965)
  • Cuckoo Patrol
    Cuckoo Patrol
    Cuckoo Patrol is a 1967 British musical comedy film directed by Duncan Wood and starring Freddie Garrity, Victor Maddern, John Le Mesurier and Kenneth Connor.-Cast:* Freddie Garrity as Himself* Kenneth Connor as Wick* Victor Maddern as Dicko...

    (1967)
  • Rhubarb
    Rhubarb (1969 film)
    Rhubarb was a 1969 British short film written and directed by Eric Sykes, starring Sykes and Harry Secombe. The dialogue consisted entirely of repetitions of the word "rhubarb", all the characters last names were "Rhubarb", and even the license plates on vehicles were "RHU BAR B"...

    (1969)
  • Captain Nemo and the Underwater City
    Captain Nemo and the Underwater City
    Captain Nemo and the Underwater City is a 1969 British film, featuring the character Captain Nemo and some of the settings of Jules Verne's novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. It was written by Pip and Jane Baker and stars Robert Ryan as Nemo....

    (1969)
  • Carry On Up the Jungle
    Carry On Up the Jungle
    Carry On Up the Jungle is the nineteenth Carry On film, released in 1970. The film marked Frankie Howerd's second and final appearance in the series. He stars alongside regular players Sid James, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Terry Scott and Bernard Bresslaw. Kenneth Williams is unusually absent...

    (1970)
  • Carry On Henry
    Carry On Henry
    Carry On Henry is the 21st of the Carry On series and was released in 1971. It tells a fictionalised story involving Sid James as Henry VIII, who chases after Barbara Windsor's character Bettina. James and Windsor feature alongside other regulars Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Terry...

    (1971)
  • Carry On Matron
    Carry On Matron
    Carry On Matron is the twenty-third Carry On film. It was released in 1972. It features series regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Hattie Jacques, Bernard Bresslaw, Barbara Windsor and Kenneth Connor. This was the last Carry on... film for Terry Scott after appearing...

    (1972)
  • Carry On Abroad
    Carry On Abroad
    Carry On Abroad is the twenty-fourth Carry On film, released in 1972. The film features series regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims, Bernard Bresslaw, Barbara Windsor, Kenneth Connor, Peter Butterworth and Hattie Jacques. It was the 23rd and final appearance for Charles Hawtrey. June...

    (1972)
  • Carry On Girls
    Carry On Girls
    Carry On Girls is the 25th Carry On film, released in Britain in 1973. The film is notable for being the first not to feature either Kenneth Williams or Charles Hawtrey. Williams was appearing in a West End play, My Fat Friend. Hawtrey had been dropped from the series the year before...

    (1973)
  • Carry On Dick
    Carry On Dick
    Carry On Dick was the 26th Carry On film. It was released in 1974 and marked the end of an era for the series. It featured the last appearances of Sid James and Hattie Jacques although both would make a further appearance in the Carry On Laughing TV series...

    (1974)
  • Carry On Behind
    Carry On Behind
    Carry On Behind is the twenty-seventh Carry On film and was released in 1975. The film was the first not to feature Sid James since Follow That Camel seven years previously. It was also the first not to be scripted by Talbot Rothwell since Carry On Cruising 13 years previously. James was busy...

    (1975)
  • Carry On England
    Carry On England
    Carry On England is the 28th Carry On film. It was released in 1976 and featured Carry On regulars Kenneth Connor, Jack Douglas, Joan Sims and Peter Butterworth. It was second and final Carry On film for Windsor Davies, Diane Langton, and Peter Jones, while Patrick Mower, Judy Geeson and Melvyn...

    (1976)
  • Carry On Emmannuelle
    Carry On Emmannuelle
    Carry On Emmannuelle is the 30th Carry On film, and was released in 1978. This was the last Carry On film to be made until Carry On Columbus in 1992. The film was to be the final Carry On for many regulars including Kenneth Williams , Kenneth Connor , Joan Sims and Peter Butterworth...

    (1978)

External links

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