Bill Kerr

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia   William Henry Kerr 10 June 1922 28 August 2014 was a British and Australian film and television actor He was born into a performing arts family in Cape Town South Africa but grew up in Wagga Wagga New South Wales Australia He began working as a child actor in depression era Australia taking his first major role in The Silence of Dean Maitland one of Australias first talking films After serving in the Second World War Kerr moved to England to further his acting career and during the 1940s he was regularly featured in the BBC radio series Variety Bandbox His trademark was his catch phrase Im only here for 4 minutes In the 1950s he had a recurring role as an Australian lodger in the BBC radio comedy series Hancocks Half Hour Initially sharper than Hancocks characterisation it was developed into a more dimwitted character who became the butt of Hancocks jokes His television appearances in Britain include a 1968 Doctor Who story called The Enemy of the World with Patrick Troughton and a long running part in the early 1960s BBCTV soap Compact Bill Kerr had much theatrical success in Britain playing The Devil in the original West End production of Damn Yankees directed by Bob Fosse and Cole He also worked with Spike Milligan He appeared in Milligan and John Antrobuss stage play The BedSitting Room which opened at the Mermaid Theatre on 31 January 1963 A subsequent production opened on 3 May 1967 at the Saville Theatre and a cast containing an unusually high proportion of Australian actors including Bill Kerr and David Nettheim Then in 1972 he costarred with Anthony Newley in the long running NewleyBricusse musical The Good Old Bad Old Days In 1975 Kerr took the part of Bluey Notts described as an Australian bookies clerk a crude racialist in The Melting Pot This was a sitcom written by Spike Milligan and Neil Shand which was cancelled by the BBC after just one episode had been broadcast He also appeared in several British films including The Dam Busters and The Wrong Arm of the Law before moving back to Australia Although probably best known as a comic actor and especially for his appearances in Hancocks Half Hour he has since played a number of serious roles notably in Peter Weirs films Gallipoli 1981 and The Year of Living Dangerously 1982 He also worked on the Australian stage in the 1980s in musicals such as My Fair Lady where he received excellent reviews as Alfred Doolittle In 2001 he appeared in the Australian comedy Lets Get Skase Kerr also appeared in Glenview High and the 1998 television comedy series Minty Kerr has also been involved in documentaries providing the narration for No Survivor The Mysterious Loss of HMAS Sydney Nine Network Australia 1995 Malice or Mutiny for the ABC Australia 2003 and Animal X Natural Mystery Unit series for Discovery in the US TV2 Norway and many others Description above from the Wikipedia article Bill Kerr licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia