Alfred Hawthorne Hill was born on 21 January 1924 in Southampton, Hampshire, and his father and grandfather had both been circus clowns. After school, he worked in Woolworths, then as a milkman, a bridge operator, a driver and a drummer before becoming assistant stage manager with a touring revue. He was called up in 1942 and trained as a truck mechanic the British Army. He lived to 68, never married and there were unfounded rumors he was gay, which he denied. In his will, he left an estate, north of £16,600,000, to his parents, but they’d predeceased him, so the money went to his nieces and nephews. Alfred counted a number of luminaries as fans, including Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon, Michael Jackson, Walter Cronkite, Michael Caine, Anthony Burgess and John Mortimer. He was a devoted Francophile, fluent in French and he appeared in five feature-length films. After his burial, when stories went round that he’d been interred with gold and jewels, grave robbers broke into his coffin and found nothing. That’s not how we think of this entertainer, but here’s who Alfred was on screen.
© 2024 John Oliver
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