Howerd was born Francis Alick Howard, the son of a soldier, in York, England). He was "lightly" educated at Shooters Hill Grammar School (later to become Eaglesfield School) in Eltham, London. His early hopes of becoming a serious actor were dashed when he failed an audition for RADA. He got into entertaining during wartime service in the army. Despite suffering from stage fright he continued to work after the war, beginning his professional career in the summer of 1946 in a touring show called For the Fun of It.

He soon started working in radio, making his debut at the start of December 1946 on the BBC Variety Bandbox programme with a number of other ex-servicemen. His fame built steadily throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s. In 1954, he made his screen début opposite Petula Clark in The Runaway Bus. 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. After suffering a nervous breakdown at the start of the 1960s, he began to recover his old popularity, initially with a season at Peter Cook's satirical Establishment Club in Soho in London. He was boosted further by success on That Was The Week That Was (TW3) in 1963 and on stage with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1963 - 1965), which led into regular television work. He was awarded an OBE in 1977.

In 1978, Howerd was cast in the big-budget Hollywood musical Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He was cast by producer Robert Stigwood as Howerd was on Stigwood's record label at the time. The film was a critical and commercial flop, although now it has achieved cult status. Since Howerd was not well known to American audiences, this may have been his biggest exposure in the U.S.

After five years without a regular television show (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 the TV screens in 1987 in the Channel 4 show Superfrank! . In the last years of his career, Howerd developed a cult following with student audiences and performed a one man show at universities and in small theatrical venues, although some were offended by his inclusion of a small number of racist jokes in his act. He was also a regular and popular guest on the late night BBC Radio 1 programme Into the Night, hosted by Nicky Campbell.

Throughout his career, Howerd hid his potentially career-destroying homosexuality (which had been illegal in Britain until 1967) from both his audience and his mother. In 1955, Frankie met waiter Dennis Heymer, who later became his manager. Dennis was with Frankie for more than thirty years, both as lighting operator, manager and partner, until Howerd died.

Backstage, Howerd was notoriously bold in his advances, and was known for his promiscuity. One of Howerd's former partners was comic actor Lee Young who created the TV sitcom Whoops Baghdad. Howerd's uncomfortable relationship with his sexuality - he once said to Cilla Black, "I wish to God I wasn't gay" - as well as his depressive mental state, led him to seek resolution through a series of different methods. Heymer would often drop Howerd off on Friday at his psychiatrist, who would ply him with LSD over the weekend.

Frankie Howerd lived for about the last 20 years of his life in Wavering Down, a house in the village of Cross, Somerset by the Mendip Hills, with his lover Dennis Heymer.

Howerd suffered respiratory problems at the beginning of April 1992 and died of heart failure at home two weeks after leaving hospital in London. Howerd's grave is at St. Gregory's church in Weare, Somerset.

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Theatre: For the Fun of It (1946) Ta Ra Rah Boom de Ay (1948) Out of This World (1950) Charley's Aunt A Midsummer's Night Dream Mr. Venus (1958) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962) Films: The Runaway Bus (1954) The Ladykillers (1955) An Alligator Named Daisy (1955) The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery (1966) Carry on Doctor (1968) Up Pompeii (1971) Up the Chastity Belt (1971) Night of the Laughing Dead (1975) Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) H.M.S. Pinafore (1982) Trial by Jury (1983)

Radio: Variety Bandbox (1946-52) TV: The Howerd Crowd (1952) Up Pompeii (1969-70) Frankie Howerd in Whoops Bagdad (1973) The Howerd Confessions (1976) The Plank (1979) Frankie Howerd Strikes Again (1981) Frankie Howerd: Then Churchill Aaid to Me All Change (1989) Live Frankie Howerd on Campus (1990) Books: On the Way I lost It (1976) Trumps (1982) Website: http://www.frankiehowerd.com