Editing Frankie Howerd (section)

== Career ==
His first stage appearance was at age 13 but his early hopes of becoming a serious actor were dashed when he failed an audition for the [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]]. He began to entertain during [[World War II]] service in the [[British Army]]. It was at this time that he adapted his surname to Howerd "to be different".<ref name="ODNB"/> In 1944 he became a bombardier in Plymouth, was promoted to sergeant, and on 6 June 1944 was part of the [[D-Day]] effort but was stuck on a boat off Normandy.<ref name=McCann/> 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''.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Birmingham Daily Gazette |journal=Birmingham Daily Gazette |date=20 August 1946 |page=2}}</ref>

His act was soon heard on radio, when he made his debut, in early December 1946, on the [[BBC]]'s ''[[Variety Bandbox]]'' programme with a number of other ex-servicemen. His profile rose in the immediate postwar period (aided with material written by [[Eric Sykes]], [[Galton and Simpson]] and [[Johnny Speight]]). Sykes had headed a rival concert party during the war and was asked by Howerd if he could provide his material; Sykes obliged and offered to write anything more Howerd needed. Sykes punctuated the material with various 'ooh's and 'ahh's to provide "punctuation pauses" in the delivery, but Howerd decided to deliver these verbatim.<ref>''[[Arena (British TV series)|Arena]]'': "Oooh Er, Missus! - The Frankie Howerd Story", BBC, 1990</ref> Howerd then toured the Music Hall circuit with an act including what became his standard catch-phrases such as "titter ye not".  He also became a regular in the 1950s editions of the weekly hard-copy comic ''[[Film Fun]]''.

In 1954 he made his screen debut opposite [[Petula Clark]] in ''[[The Runaway Bus]]'', which had been written for his specific comic talent. Filming took five weeks, with a budget of £45,000.<ref name=McCann>{{cite book |author=Graham McCann |author-link=Graham McCann |title=Frankie Howerd: Stand-Up Comic |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] UK |edition=illustrated |date=1 October 2004 |isbn=1841153109 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/frankiehowerdsta0000mcca }}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=April 2017}}

He then experimented with different formats and contexts, including [[farce|stage farces]], [[Shakespearean comedy]] roles, and [[British sitcom|television sitcoms]]. 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. In 1966 and 1967, he co-hosted a 90-minute Christmas show called ''The Frankie and Bruce Christmas Show'' with [[Bruce Forsyth]], featuring many top acts of the day.

During the 1960s and 1970s, he was involved in shows for the [[BBC]] and [[Thames Television]] (as well as ''Frankie Howerd Reveals All'' for [[Yorkshire Television]] in 1980). [[Ray Galton]] and [[Alan Simpson (scriptwriter)|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. He was known for his seemingly [[off-the-cuff]] remarks to the audience, especially in the show ''[[Up Pompeii!]]'' (1969–70), which was a direct follow-up from ''Forum''. His television work was characterised by direct [[Piece to camera|addresses to camera]] and by his littering [[monologue]]s with verbal [[tic]]s such as "Oooh, no missus" and "Titter ye not". A later sale of his scripts, however, showed that the seemingly off-the-cuff remarks had all been meticulously planned. [[Barry Cryer]] said of his technique: "What he could do with a script was amazing, like all the great performers. 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''. He knew exactly what he was doing."<ref>''Titter Ye Not; The Frankie Howerd Story'', 15 September 2009, [[BBC Radio 2]]</ref> Another feature of his humour was to feign innocence about his obvious and [[wikt:risqué|risqué]] [[double entendre]]s, while mockingly censuring the audience for finding them funny.

Howerd appeared as Francis Bigger, one of the lead characters in 1967's ''[[Carry On Doctor]]'',<ref name="BFI Carry On Doctor">{{cite web |url= http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a735060|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171018182854/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a735060|url-status= dead|archive-date= 18 October 2017|title= Carry On Doctor (1968)|author= <!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date= 11 May 2014 |publisher= British Film Institute | access-date= 5 May 2017 }}</ref> of which ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' noted, "Added zest is given by the inclusion of Frankie Howerd as a quack 'mind-over-matter' doctor who becomes a reluctant patient. Howerd's brilliantly droll sense of comedy is given plenty of scope."<ref name="Variety 31 December 1967">{{cite news | author= <!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= Review: 'Carry on Doctor'|url= https://variety.com/1967/film/reviews/carry-on-doctor-1200421679/| date= 31 December 1967|work= [[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |location=New York City| access-date= 5 May 2017 }}</ref>

The success of the film version of ''[[Up Pompeii (film)|Up Pompeii]]'' in 1971 saw British exhibitors vote him the ninth most popular star at the British box office that year.<ref>{{cite news|author=Peter Waymark|title=Richard Burton top draw in British cinemas|newspaper=[[The Times]]|location=London, England|date=30 December 1971}}</ref> He would play versions of the character Lurcio in ''[[Up the Chastity Belt]]'' (Lurkalot), also in 1971, and ''[[Up the Front]]'' (Boot Boy Lurk) in 1972.

In 1971 Howerd recorded, with [[June Whitfield]], a comedy version of the song "[[Je t'aime... moi non plus|Je t'aime]]", previously recorded by [[Jane Birkin]] and [[Serge Gainsbourg]], in which she featured as "Mavis" alongside Howerd's "Frank", and a third unexplained sleeping partner named "Arthur". The song was included in the 2004 CD re-issue of ''[[Oh! What a Carry On!]]''.

In 1976, Howerd appeared in ''[[The Frankie Howerd Show]]'' on [[CBC Television]] in Canada. It received good ratings but was not renewed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250857/|title=The Frankie Howerd Show |publisher=IMDb|date=26 February 1976 |access-date=16 July 2016}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=August 2022}}

He was awarded an [[OBE]] in 1977.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4417871.stm |title=Howerd's OBE raffled for charity |work=BBC News |date=6 April 2005 |access-date=16 July 2016}}</ref>

In 1978, Howerd appeared in the big-budget Hollywood [[Musical film|musical]] ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (film)|Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'' playing Mean Mr Mustard, acting alongside musical and film talent such as [[Peter Frampton]], the [[Bee Gees]], [[George Burns]], [[Alice Cooper]], [[Aerosmith]] and [[Steve Martin]]. He was cast by producer [[Robert Stigwood]] as he was on Stigwood's record label at the time. The film was a critical and commercial flop. Since Howerd was not well known to American audiences, this may have been his biggest exposure in the US.

There was a cabaret tour of New Zealand in 1979.<ref name=McCann/> In 1982, Howerd appeared in the televised versions of [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s ''[[Trial by Jury]]'' (as the Learned Judge) and ''[[H.M.S. Pinafore]]'' (as Sir Joseph Porter, KCB). He performed a comedy-duet with [[Cilla Black]] on ''Cilla Black's Christmas'' (1983).

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]]. 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. He was also a regular guest on the late night [[BBC Radio 1]] programme ''Into the Night'', hosted by [[Nicky Campbell]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/service_bbc_radio_one/1992-05-19 | title=Schedule - BBC Programme Index }}</ref>

In 1990, he contributed to the last recording studio collaboration between [[Alan Parsons]] and [[Eric Woolfson]], on the album ''[[Freudiana]]'', performing "Sects Therapy".

Howerd often worked with [[Sunny Rogers]] (1913–2005), who was his accompanying pianist from 1960 onwards. She appeared in his TV and live theatre shows including his last major West End appearance – his one-man show – at the [[Garrick Theatre]] in 1990.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}} He also occasionally performed with accompanist Vera Roper (1908–2001), of [[Southend-on-Sea]], who was billed as "Madam Vere-Roper".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/vera_roper/ | title=Vera Roper | website=[[British Comedy Guide]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/5477820.vera-roper-southend/ | title=Vera Roper (Southend) | date=3 December 2001 }}</ref>