( 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.

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

Howerd was a regular feature in the 1950s version of the comic Film Fun but when he began experimenting with different formats and contexts, including stage farces, Shakespearean comedy roles, and television sitcoms, he began to fall out of fashion.

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.

* Frankie Howerd ( born Howard ) ( 1917 – 1992 ), English comedian

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 ).

* Francis Howerd In Concert ( 1974 )

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.

Several new actors were brought in, including Frankie Howerd as Alfred ( Alphonse ) Askett, Reg Varney as Gilbert, Dora Bryan as headmistress Amber Spottiswood, and Stratford Johns as the Voice.

* Frankie Howerd as " Alphonse of Monte Carlo " / Alfred Askett

* 1917 – Frankie Howerd, English comedian ( d. 1992 )

It was also notable for Pertwee's Frankie Howerd impersonation, Hankie Flowered, and Hugh Paddick's working-class pop singer Ricky Livid – the name being a mickey-take on contemporary pop singers ' stage names such as Marty Wilde and Billy Fury.

Under Whitbread's custodianship the comedian Frankie Howerd fronted the campaign in a series of six television advertisements which mainly aired in the North West in 1990 – 1991.

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.

Eric Hugh Peter Merriman ( 6 December 1924 – 2 June 2003 ) was a British radio and television writer, who provided material for numerous comedians including Frankie Howerd, Terry Scott and Morecambe and Wise.

Throughout his career, Howerd hid his potentially career-destroying homosexuality ( acts between consenting males being illegal in England and Wales until 1967 and illegal in Scotland until 1981 ) from both his audience and his mother, Edith.

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.

with Frankie Howerd ( 1969 ), Fagin in the 1962 dramatisation of Oliver Twist, and parts in The Baron, Adam Adamant Lives!

The 1963 production and its 1986 revival were staged at the Strand Theatre and the Piccadilly Theatre respectively, and featured Frankie Howerd starring as Pseudolus, Kenneth Connor as Hysterium, ' Monsewer ' Eddie Gray as Senex, Jon Pertwee as Marcus Lycus and Leon Greene as Miles Gloriosus.

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 also lived at 27 Edwardes Square, Kensington, London W8 6HH.

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.

* Frankie Howerd, comedian, was educated at Shooter's Hill Grammar School in Woolwich.

( 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!

But Also, appeared in a Ray Galton-Alan Simpson revue in London's West End — Way Out In Piccadilly — alongside Frankie Howerd, made notable appearances on The Eamonn Andrews Show, and starred in her own television special ( the first of its kind to be filmed in colour ), Cilla at the Savoy.

Other performers at that performance included The Crazy Gang, Benny Hill, Frankie Howerd, Vera Lynn, Sammy Davis Jr., Nat King Cole and Liberace.

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.

It starred Frankie Howerd, Peggy Mount, Maggie Steed, Tony Haygarth and Pam Ferris, and was devised by Morwenna Banks and Chris England.