( Howerd went on to star in Up Pompeii !, a 1969 British television comedy series set in ancient Pompeii, as the slave Lurcio, whose character was based on Pseudolus.

After the war, but still with the BBC, whilst in Egypt and recording a series of shows by Frankie Howerd, the star was taken ill at the last minute and Unwin was pushed onto the stage and told to " do a turn ".

Francis Alick " Frankie " Howerd OBE ( 6 March 1917, York – 19 April 1992 ) was an English comedian and comic actor whose career, described by fellow comedian Barry Cryer as " a series of comebacks ", spanned six decades.

Howerd was born the son of a soldier, Francis Alfred William ( 1887 – 1935 ) and Edith Florence Howard ( née Morrison, 1888 – 1962 ) at the City Hospital in York, England, in 1917 ( not 1922 as he later claimed ).

It was at this time that he adapted his surname to Howerd " to be different ".

During the 1960s and ' 70s, he was involved in shows for the BBC and Thames Television ( as well as Frankie Howerd Reveals All for Yorkshire Television in 1980 ).

He transformed something you'd just written-what you hoped was in a Frankie Howerd idiom-but when you heard him do it, my God, it was something else ;-it was gossiping over the garden wall, the apparent waffle-he was like a tightrope walker, you thought he's going to fall off in a minute, you thought, ' Come on, Frank ', we're waiting for a laugh, and then, suddenly, Bang.

Since Howerd was not well known to American audiences, this may have been his biggest exposure in the U. S ..

After six years without a regular television show in the United Kingdom ( though he had hosted a one-off UK version of The Gong Show for Channel 4, which was critically panned and was not commissioned for a full series ), Howerd returned to TV screens in 1987 in the Channel 4 show Superfrank !, scripted by Miles Tredinnick and Vince Powell.

Howerd often worked with Sunny Rogers who was his accompanying pianist from 1960 onwards.

Heymer was with Howerd for more than thirty years as lighting operator, manager and lover, until Howerd died.

Backstage, Howerd was notoriously bold in his advances, and was known for his promiscuity.

Having contracted a virus during a Christmas trip up the River Amazon in 1991, Howerd suffered respiratory problems at the beginning of April 1992 and was rushed to London's Harley Street Clinic, but was released at Easter to enjoy his last few days at home.

News of the two deaths broke almost simultaneously and some newspapers ran an obituary of Howerd in which Hill was quoted as regretting Howerd's passing, saying " We were great, great friends ".

A BBC TV biography about Frankie Howerd — Rather You Than Me — was broadcast by BBC Four on 9 April 2008.

The comedian David Walliams was cast as Howerd.

A well known pantomime actor, Grady is also a regular on the after dinner circuit, where he has given accounts of his early days in show business and the stars he encountered, such as Frankie Howerd and Peter Sellers.

In the 1950s, the theatre hosted variety and revues, starring such famous performers as Norman Wisdom, Peter Sellers, Bob Hope, Gracie Fields, Benny Hill, Hughie Green, Frankie Howerd, and Morecambe and Wise.

On stage, he played the part of Lycus in the 1963 London production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Frankie Howerd and appeared in the smaller role of Crassus in the 1966 film version.

In 1971 Howerd recorded, with June Whitfield, a comedy version of the song " Je t ' aime ", made famous by Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, in which she featured as " Mavis " alongside Howerd's " Frank ", and a third unexplained sleeping partner named " Arthur ".

In 1988, Howerd asked one of his writers, Miles Tredinnick, to work on an updated stage version of Up Pompeii!

In 1971 Whitfield recorded, with Frankie Howerd, a comedy version of the song " Je t ' aime, originally made famous by Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, in which she featured as " Mavis ".

After releasing family drama Old Mac and a potboiler mystery called Out of the Shadow in 1961, Winner brushed with Gilbert and Sullivan, writing the screenplay and directing a version of The Mikado entitled The Cool Mikado ( 1962 ), starring Frankie Howerd which was produced by Harold Baim.

He also appeared in the comedy films The Amorous Milkman and Doctor at Large ; the big-screen version of Love Thy Neighbour ; and the Frankie Howerd trilogy Up Pompeii !, Up the Front and Up the Chastity Belt.

Ray Galton and Alan Simpson wrote for him from 1964 to 1966 when he worked for the BBC and also for a one-off show for Thames, Frankie Howerd meets the Bee Gees, shown on 20 August 1968.

Also, Howerd made anachronistic comments like " I don't use that glycerine rubbish " or " The BBC told me ..." when such things didn't exist in ancient times.

for a proposed national UK tour, but the play was shelved when Howerd was offered a chance by Larry Gelbart to reprise his role as Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum at the Piccadilly Theatre in London's West End.

Connor starred in the revue One Over the Eight ( 1962 ), at the Duke of York's Theatre, the original London West End production with Frankie Howerd of the Stephen Sondheim musical A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum ( 1963 ), as Hysterium – and directed the show when it went on tour – The Four Musketeers ( 1967 ), with Harry Secombe at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, playing King Louis XIII, and the revue Carry On London ( 1973 ) at the Victoria Palace.

The storyline concerned Uncle Bob, played by Howerd, who would give all his money when he died to one branch of his family.

Sykes began providing scripts for both Fraser and Frankie Howerd and soon found himself in demand as a comedy writer.

In the forties, the Lyceum began to produce its own pantomime and was soon bringing in stars of radio such as Morecambe and Wise, Harry Secombe and Frankie Howerd.

More comedies followed, including Trouble in Store ( 1953 ) with Norman Wisdom, The Runaway Bus ( 1954 ) with Frankie Howerd and An Alligator Named Daisy ( 1955 ) with Donald Sinden and Diana Dors.

In the last years of his career, Howerd developed a following with student audiences and performed a one-man show at universities and in small theatrical venues.

Heymer would often drop Howerd off on Friday at his psychiatrist, who would ply him with LSD over the weekend.

Howerd played a slave, Lurcio ( pronounced Lurk-io ); the other main characters were Lurcio's bumbling old master, Senator Ludicrus Sextus ( initially Max Adrian and then Wallas Eaton ), the senator's promiscuous wife Ammonia ( Elizabeth Larner ), his daughter Erotica ( Georgina Moon ) and his eternally virginal son Nausius ( Kerry Gardner ), along with the Cassandra-esque Senna the Soothsayer ( Jeanne Mockford ) and Plautus ( Willie Rushton ).

Howerd was central to most of the gags and he started each episode with a prologue — a " to camera " piece that was seldom concluded and rarely had anything to do with the episode's plot.

Bill Cotton in an interview with author Graham McCann on 6 June 2000 said that the then director of BBC Comedy, Michael Mills, prompted by the plays of Plautus, came up with the idea for the show for Frankie Howerd.

( not to be confused with the 1991 ITV special Further Up Pompeii ), the already-released Comedy Greats: Frankie Howerd DVD, and another Howerd series along a similar vein, Then Churchill Said To Me.

( 1961 ), Frankie Howerd at The Establishment ( 1963 ), a series of recordings with Paddy Roberts ( best known for " The Ballad of Bethnal Green "), numerous " original cast " and soundtrack albums including Oh!

She starred with Frankie Howerd and Dennis Price in her only film role as Ruby, in the 1956 farce, A Touch of the Sun.

In February 2001, BBC Online incorporated Douglas Adams ' previously independent h2g2 project into its group of web sites, and eventually replaced all its existing message boards, which used an archaic system called Howerd, with the DNA software derived from that project.

Acts who appeared included: Gloria Gaynor, George Roper, Ken Dodd, Duncan Norvelle, Black Lace, Bernie Winters, Stutz Bear Cats, Kit and the Widow, Wall Street Crash, Kiki Dee, Diane Solomon, Michael Ball, ' Nasty Nigel ' Lythgoe, Martin " The Beast " Francis, Tom Pepper, Fay Presto, Pete Price, Manhattan Transfer, Shane Richie, The Flaming Hamsters, Stan Boardman, Fascinating Aida, Showaddywaddy, Kajagoogoo, Frankie Howerd, Colm Wilkinson, Wilfrid Brambell from Steptoe and Son, Sinitta, Five Star, Indigo Lady, Cheryl Baker, Phil Cornwell, Jaki Graham, Nana Mouskouri, The Chuckle Brothers, Brian Conley, Roy Walker, Wayne Sleep, Andrew O ' Connor, Gareth Hunt, Peter Beckett, Syd Lawrence ( with his orchestra ), Frankie Vaughan, Jessica Martin, George Roper, Caroline Cossey, The Foxes, Mud, Chris Emmett, Keith Harris and Orville, Mick Miller, Diane Solomon, Mark Heap ( The Two Marks ) and Vince Hill.