Kenneth Halliwell
Encyclopedia
Kenneth Halliwell was a British
actor
and writer
. He was the mentor, boyfriend and eventual murderer of playwright
Joe Orton
.
. In general, he was ignored by his father and pampered by his mother. When he was 11, he witnessed his mother's death at the family home from a wasp
sting.
Halliwell was a classics scholar at Wirral Grammar School
, where he gained his Higher School Certificates in 1943. Becoming liable for military service in 1944, he registered as a conscientious objector
, and was exempted conditional upon becoming a coal miner
. After discharge in 1946, he acted for a time in Scotland
and then returned home to act in Birkenhead
. His father committed suicide
in 1949 by putting his head in an oven; Halliwell was the first to find the body the following morning. Afterward, Halliwell moved to London
to study drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA
), having inherited the family fortune.
In 1962 Halliwell was sent to HM Prison Ford
in Sussex
for six months for the theft and defacement of library books. (Orton went to Eastchurch in Kent.) Orton's emerging success as a writer, following their release from prison, put a distance between the two men that Halliwell found difficult to handle. Towards the end of his life, Halliwell was on regular courses of anti-depressants
.
. Halliwell died first. Their bodies were discovered late the following morning, when a chauffeur arrived at the door of their Noel Road flat in Islington
to collect Orton for a meeting with The Beatles
regarding a screenplay
he had written for them.
Halliwell's suicide note
referred to the contents of Orton's diary as an explanation for his actions:
This is presumed to be a reference to Orton's description of his promiscuity
; the diary contains numerous incidents of cottaging
in public lavatories and other sexual relationships.
, the 1987 film based on Orton's life, Halliwell was portrayed by Alfred Molina
.
In Fantabulosa!, the 2006 biopic about Kenneth Williams
, he was portrayed by Ewan Bailey.
British experimental music group Coil
recorded three tracks titled "The Halliwell Hammers" for their 1995 album Worship The Glitch
. The two primary members of Coil, John Balance
and Peter Christopherson
, were romantic partners through most of the band's existence, and much of their work was inspired by or dedicated to gay icons and personalities of the past.
The stage version of Prick Up Your Ears, written by Simon Bent
, opened on the West End in London at the Royal Theatre on September 17, 2009. Matt Lucas
played Kenneth Halliwell and Chris New
plays John Orton. Con O'Neill
took over the role of Halliwell after Lucas pulled out. The play closed early, on November 15, 2009.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
. He was the mentor, boyfriend and eventual murderer of playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
Joe Orton
Joe Orton
John Kingsley Orton was an English playwright.In a short but prolific career lasting from 1964 until his death, he shocked, outraged and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies...
.
Childhood
Halliwell's early years were traumaticPsychological trauma
Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
. In general, he was ignored by his father and pampered by his mother. When he was 11, he witnessed his mother's death at the family home from a wasp
Wasp
The term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their...
sting.
Halliwell was a classics scholar at Wirral Grammar School
Wirral Grammar School for Boys
Wirral Grammar School for Boys, founded in 1931, is situated on Cross Lane, Bebington, on the Wirral Peninsula in England.-Admissions:It is a foundation school, located within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and requires all potential pupils to take, and pass, the eleven plus exam exam prior to...
, where he gained his Higher School Certificates in 1943. Becoming liable for military service in 1944, he registered as a conscientious objector
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
, and was exempted conditional upon becoming a coal miner
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
. After discharge in 1946, he acted for a time in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and then returned home to act in Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
. His father committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
in 1949 by putting his head in an oven; Halliwell was the first to find the body the following morning. Afterward, Halliwell moved to 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...
to study drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA
Rada
Rada is the term for "council" or "assembly"borrowed by Polish from the Low Franconian "Rad" and later passed into the Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages....
), having inherited the family fortune.
Relationship with Orton
In 1951, he met Joe Orton, a fellow RADA student. Both men were struggling actors who became struggling writers. However, their common interests led to a lengthy romantic relationship. Halliwell, in the early years, seems to have been something of a tutor to Orton, who had had a rather cursory education, and helped to mould the writing style that would later be called "Ortonesque". The two men collaborated on several novels, including The Boy Hairdresser, which were not published until after their deaths.In 1962 Halliwell was sent to HM Prison Ford
Ford (HM Prison)
HM Prison Ford is a Category D men's prison, located at Ford, in West Sussex, England, near Arundel and Littlehampton. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...
in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
for six months for the theft and defacement of library books. (Orton went to Eastchurch in Kent.) Orton's emerging success as a writer, following their release from prison, put a distance between the two men that Halliwell found difficult to handle. Towards the end of his life, Halliwell was on regular courses of anti-depressants
Antidepressant
An antidepressant is a psychiatric medication used to alleviate mood disorders, such as major depression and dysthymia and anxiety disorders such as social anxiety disorder. According to Gelder, Mayou &*Geddes people with a depressive illness will experience a therapeutic effect to their mood;...
.
Murder
On 9 August 1967, Halliwell killed Orton with nine hammer blows to the head and then overdosed on Nembutal sleeping pillsSleeping pills
Sleeping pills may refer to:*Hypnotic, a drug used to induce sleep*Sleeping Pills , an American film by Michael Lauter...
. Halliwell died first. Their bodies were discovered late the following morning, when a chauffeur arrived at the door of their Noel Road flat 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...
to collect Orton for a meeting with The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
regarding a screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
he had written for them.
Halliwell's suicide note
Suicide note
A suicide note or death note is a message that states the author has died by suicide, and left to be discovered and read in anticipation of suicide....
referred to the contents of Orton's diary as an explanation for his actions:
"If you read his diary, all will be explained. KH PS: Especially the latter part."
This is presumed to be a reference to Orton's description of his promiscuity
Promiscuity
In humans, promiscuity refers to less discriminating casual sex with many sexual partners. The term carries a moral or religious judgement and is viewed in the context of the mainstream social ideal for sexual activity to take place within exclusive committed relationships...
; the diary contains numerous incidents of cottaging
Cottaging
Cottaging is a British gay slang term referring to anonymous sex between men in a public lavatory , or cruising for sexual partners with the intention of having sex elsewhere...
in public lavatories and other sexual relationships.
In popular culture
In Prick Up Your EarsPrick Up Your Ears
Prick Up Your Ears is a 1987 film, directed by Stephen Frears, about the playwright Joe Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell. The screenplay was written by Alan Bennett, based on the book by John Lahr...
, the 1987 film based on Orton's life, Halliwell was portrayed by Alfred Molina
Alfred Molina
Alfred Molina is a British-born American actor. He first came to public attention in the UK for his supporting role in the 1987 film Prick Up Your Ears...
.
In Fantabulosa!, the 2006 biopic about 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...
, he was portrayed by Ewan Bailey.
British experimental music group Coil
Coil (band)
Coil were an English cross-genre, experimental music group formed in 1982 by John Balance—later credited as "Jhonn Balance"—and his partner Peter Christopherson, aka "Sleazy". The duo worked together on a series of releases before Balance chose the name Coil, which he claimed to be...
recorded three tracks titled "The Halliwell Hammers" for their 1995 album Worship The Glitch
Worship The Glitch
Worship The Glitch is the only album to be released by "ELpH vs. Coil", though an EP called Born Again Pagans is credited to "Coil vs. ELpH"...
. The two primary members of Coil, John Balance
John Balance
John Balance , born in Mansfield, England, was the founder of the experimental music group Coil, along with his partner Peter Christopherson...
and Peter Christopherson
Peter Christopherson
Peter Martin Christopherson, a.k.a. Sleazy was a musician, video director and designer, and former member of the influential British design agency Hipgnosis....
, were romantic partners through most of the band's existence, and much of their work was inspired by or dedicated to gay icons and personalities of the past.
The stage version of Prick Up Your Ears, written by Simon Bent
Simon Bent
Simon Bent is a British screenwriter and playwright, notable for film and tv work including Beau Brummell: This Charming Man and the theatre adaptations of A Prayer for Owen Meany , Royal National Theatre and in America in Washington, Boston, Philadelphia...
, opened on the West End in London at the Royal Theatre on September 17, 2009. Matt Lucas
Matt Lucas
Matthew Richard "Matt" Lucas is an English comedian, screenwriter and actor best known for his acclaimed work with David Walliams in the television show Little Britain; as well as for his portrayals of the scorekeeping baby George Dawes in the comedy panel game Shooting Stars, Tweedledee and...
played Kenneth Halliwell and Chris New
Chris New
Chris New is a British actor.He trained at RADA during 2003-06.As of October 2009, he is playing Joe Orton in a stage version of Prick Up Your Ears in London.He has also appeared in a production of Bent....
plays John Orton. Con O'Neill
Con O'Neill
Con O'Neill may refer to:* Conn O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone , King of the Irish* Con O'Neill , British actor* Con O'Neill , British ambassador...
took over the role of Halliwell after Lucas pulled out. The play closed early, on November 15, 2009.
Works
- The Protagonist (circa 1949), unproduced and unpublished play about Edmund KeanEdmund KeanEdmund Kean was an English actor, regarded in his time as the greatest ever.-Early life:Kean was born in London. His father was probably Edmund Kean, an architect’s clerk, and his mother was an actress, Anne Carey, daughter of the 18th century composer and playwright Henry Carey...
. - The Silver Bucket (1953), The Mechanical Womb (1955), The Last Days of Sodom (1955), novels co-written with Orton, all unpublished and now lost.
- Priapus in the Shrubbery (1959), solo novel, unpublished and now lost.
- Lord Cucumber and The Boy Hairdresser, novels co-written with Orton, published in 2001.