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 Australia's 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 "I'm only here for 4 minutes..."
In the 1950s, he had a recurring role as an Australian lodger in the BBC radio comedy series Hancock's Half Hour. Initially sharper than Hancock's characterisation, it was developed into a more dim-witted character who became the butt of Hancock's 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 BBC-TV 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 Antrobus's stage play The Bed-Sitting 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 co-starred with Anthony Newley in the long running Newley/Bricusse musical, The Good Old Bad Old Days. In 1975, Kerr took the part of Bluey Notts, described as "an Australian bookie's 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 Hancock's Half Hour, he has since played a number of serious roles, notably in Peter Weir's 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 Let's 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.
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| Known For | Acting |
|---|---|
| Most Rating | 0.7499 |
| Birthday | 1922-06-10 |
| Place of Birth | Cape Town, South Africa |
| Also Known As | William Henry Kerr, Willie Kerr, |
1981
Gallipoli
7.057/537
Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in the Ottoman Empire during World War...
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Gallipoli
1982
The Pirate Movie
5.233/45
Left behind by her friends on a boat trip, contemporary teen Mabel takes pursuit but is knocked unconscious on an island, where she has a dream involv...
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The Pirate Movie
1984
Razorback
5.945/211
In the Australian outback a vicious wild boar kills and causes havoc to a small community.
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Razorback
1984
Vigil
6.536/28
Toss lives on a sheep farm with her father in New Zealand. When Toss's father dies in an accident, Ethan, an itinerant hunter, wanders onto the family...
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Vigil
1963
The Wrong Arm of the Law
6.66/47
The crooks in London know how it works. No one carries guns and no one resists the police. Then a new gang appears that go one better. They dress as p...
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The Wrong Arm of the Law
1981
Save the Lady
8/2
A ragtag group of kids set out to save derelict steam ferry Lady Hope from destruction.
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Save the Lady
1955
The Night My Number Came Up
6.939/33
British Air Marshal Hardie is attending a party in Hong Kong when he hears of a dream, told by a pilot, in which Hardie's flight to Tokyo on a small D...
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The Night My Number Came Up
1987
The Christmas Visitor
8/2
In the Australian outback, a small boy determines to see that a nasty, curmudgeonly miser gets the Christmas spirit.
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The Christmas Visitor
2001
Let's Get Skase
7/2
Christopher Skase. He ruled Australia and stole a fortune, fleeing to the coast of Spain. No one could touch him. No one could stop him. Until Peter D...
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Let's Get Skase
1983
Dusty
6.6/5
The eponymous Dusty is an appropriately named dingo, or wild dog. Roaming the fertile fields of Australia, Dusty is captured as a puppy. Though dingoe...
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Dusty
1987
Rob Roy
6/3
The tale of Scottish legend Rob Roy MacGregor is retold in beautiful animation. Rob Roy borrows money from the local nobility to buy cattle to increas...
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Rob Roy
1962
A Pair of Briefs
6.25/4
She's new in chambers, and he's a troublemaker. But what 'is' the true status of the old lady's wartime marriage, and can the two young legal minds fi...
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A Pair of Briefs
1991
Sweet Talker
5.3/10
When scam artist Harry Reynolds gets out of jail, he makes his way to the depressed coastal village of Beachport, where according to local myth, an ol...
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Sweet Talker
1984
The Settlement
8/1
Down-on-their-luck drifters Kearney and Martin wander into the small town of Cedar Creek looking to swindle a few pounds from the locals. After a not-...
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The Settlement
1989
Kokoda Crescent
7/1
The grandson of a war veteran is found dead from an overdose of heroin. He and his old army buddies swing into action and stake out the drug dealer, o...
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Kokoda Crescent
1973
Ghost in the Noonday Sun
4.875/8
A pirate crewman kills his captain after learning where he has hidden his buried treasure. However, as he begins to lose his memory, he relies more an...
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Ghost in the Noonday Sun
1959
The Captain's Table
6/6
A captain is promoted by his company from tramp steamers to their flagship passenger liner. Although he is a thoroughly competent sailor ready to take...
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The Captain's Table
1985
The Coca-Cola Kid
5.444/63
An eccentric marketing guru visits a Coca-Cola subsidiary in Australia to try and increase market penetration. He finds zero penetration in a valley o...
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The Coca-Cola Kid
1985
Tony Hancock: From East Cheam to Earls Court
0/0
Ex-colleagues reflect on the comic genius and sometimes difficult character of Tony Hancock.
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Tony Hancock: From East Cheam to Earls Court
1982
Deadline
6.25/4
A journalist sets out to report on a minor earthquake in the Australian outback, and finds that the tremor was a result of a small nuclear explosion -...
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Deadline
1986
Platypus Cove
10/1
After saving a drowning boy's life, a fifteen-year-old orphan is taken aboard by the family as a deckhand.
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Platypus Cove
1968
Doctor Who: The Enemy of the World
7.909/11
On Earth in 2018, the Doctor and his companions are enmeshed in a deadly web of intrigue thanks to his uncanny resemblance to the scientist/politician...
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Doctor Who: The Enemy of the World
1933
Harmony Row
9/1
George enlists in the police force and is assigned to Harmony Row, a haunt of criminals such as Slogger Lee.
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Harmony Row
1976
House of Mortal Sin
6.458/48
A troubled young girl goes to confession at the local church. Unfortunately, the sexually frustrated priest she confesses to becomes obsessed with her...
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House of Mortal Sin
1982
The Year of Living Dangerously
6.682/358
A young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive ph...
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The Year of Living Dangerously
1963
Doctor in Distress
6.313/16
"Doctor in Distress" is the fifth of the seven films in the "Doctor" series, and focuses on Sir Lancelot Spratt, Simon Sparrow's old teacher and som...
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Doctor in Distress
1988
Mortuary Academy
3.75/8
"Police Academy" clone, about some nerds who inherit an academy for morticians, which is run by a corrupt closet necropheliac. Of course, the most inc...
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Mortuary Academy
1975
Girls Come First
3.214/7
Up and coming portrait artist Alan Street is employed by the owner of a Soho Swingers Club to paint the nude hostesses. Whilst Alan relishes his new j...
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Girls Come First
1956
Port of Escape
6/6
Two sailors dock in London in search of a good time. But when one of them fatally stabs a man during a scuffle in a bar, the pair flee the scene, comm...
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Port of Escape
1953
Appointment in London
6.531/16
Wing-commander Tim Mason leads a squadron of Lancaster bombers on almost nightly raids from England. Having flown eighty-seven missions he will shortl...
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Appointment in London
1961
Spike Milligan: A Series of Unrelated Incidents at Current Market Value
0/0
Spike stars with Bob Todd, Bill Kerr, Graham Stark, Valentine Dyall, and Sheree Winton & a final TV outing for moustachioed 'token Italian' comedy act...
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Spike Milligan: A Series of Unrelated Incidents at Current Market Value
1966
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
6.071/120
A wily slave must unite a virgin courtesan and his young smitten master to earn his freedom.
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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
2003
Peter Pan
7.14/2756
In stifling Edwardian London, Wendy Darling mesmerizes her brothers every night with bedtime tales of swordplay, swashbuckling and the fearsome Captai...
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Peter Pan
1955
The Dam Busters
6.955/156
The story of the conception of a new British weapon for smashing the German dams in the Ruhr industrial complex and the execution of the raid by 617 S...
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The Dam Busters
1952
My Death Is a Mockery
6.667/3
A fisherman cannot make a decent living from his trawler so he decides to turn his hand to smuggling.
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My Death Is a Mockery
1986
Double Sculls
9/1
A man tries to rehabilitate his alcoholic friend by entering them both into the Australian national rowing championships.
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Double Sculls
1951
Penny Points to Paradise
4.357/7
When Harry and Spike visit Bristol to spend the winnings from Harry's latest Pools win, the boys are soon targeted by a gang of local counterfeiters.
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Penny Points to Paradise
1992
Over the Hill
4.833/6
Alma can't stand to have one more birthday without seeing her estranged daughter, Elizabeth, who lives in Sydney, Australia.
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Over the Hill
1962
A Pair of Briefs
6.25/4
She's new in chambers, and he's a troublemaker. But what 'is' the true status of the old lady's wartime marriage, and can the two young legal minds fi...
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A Pair of Briefs
1987
The Lighthorsemen
6.039/38
In 1917 when the British forces are bogged down in front of the Turkish and German lines in Palestine they rely on the Australian light horse regiment...
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The Lighthorsemen
1957
The Shiralee
5.088/17
An Australian "swagman" finds his wife with another man, so he takes the daughter, Buster, with him. On the road together, going from town to town and...
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The Shiralee
1966
Doctor in Clover
5.75/18
Doctor in Clover is another 'Doctor' movie, but this time Leslie Phillips is the main doctor in the story, looking for love and romance from the hospi...
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Doctor in Clover
1983
Great Expectations
2/1
Orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman. Reunited with his childhood...
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Great Expectations
1987
Running from the Guns
5.5/4
Dave (Jon Blake) and his buddy Peter (Mark Hembrow) are chased by a gang of thugs when they pick up the wrong box from a Melbourne warehouse in this c...
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Running from the Guns
1934
The Silence of Dean Maitland
6.5/2
Dean Maitland (John Longden), a young man in orders and engaged to a woman, is involved in a tragedy, to reveal the details of which would ruin his ca...
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