The acting bug bit Kenneth Williams when, as a student, his English teacher suggested he try out for a school play. He found that he enjoyed it tremendously, but when he raised the possibility at home of becoming an actor, his father forbade it. Williams was eventually sent to art school in London in 1941. In 1944 he was drafted into the army, and although posted to the Royal Engineers, he managed to land a job in the Combined Services Entertainment unit, where he got a chance to act in shows that were put on to entertain the troops, and even designed the posters that advertised the shows.

After his discharge from the army he began to work as a professional actor, and traveled the country in repertory companies. It was in a production of "Saint Joan", where he played the Dauphin, that a radio producer saw him and hired him to do voice characterizations on a popular radio comedy show, "Hancock's Half Hour". His penchant for wild, off-the-wall characters led to his being hired by the producers of the "Carry On" comedy series, where he performed in 26 entries in the long-running series. When the series ended, Williams returned to radio work, and also made the rounds of the TV talk shows in addition to writing several books, including his autobiography. Later in his life Williams developed a serious ulcer, and was given medication to combat the pain. On April 15th 1988, he was found dead in his bed; it was determined that in addition to his regular pain pills, he had apparently taken some sleeping pills the night before, and the combination of those and his regular medication proved fatal.
Carry On... Up the Khyber (1968): £ 5,000

Son of a hairdresser. Was in the Royal Engineers in 1945. Was originally trained as a draftsman. He and his family accompanied Barbara Windsor and her first husband "Ronnie Knight" on their honeymoon in Madeira. The only actor in the "Carry On..." films to appear, along with Kenneth Connor and Eric Barker in the first (Carry on Sergeant) and last authentic "Carry On... films (Carry on Emmannuelle). This does not include the heavily criticised Carry on Columbus. His big break came about while playing a serious role on stage -- as the Dauphin in a production of "Saint Joan." A self-confessed hypochondriac, he was plagued by ill health, including ulcers, toward the end of his life. His death from an overdose of sleeping pills and painkillers remains a mystery -- accidental or suicide? Williams publicly insisted that he was celibate, but in private found his homosexuality difficult for him to deal with. Was good friends with gay playwright Joe Orton and his companion Kenneth Halliwell, and performed in Orton's play "Loot" in 1965. Halliwell later murdered Orton in 1967 in a fit of rage with a hammer. Upon his sudden death, the coroner recorded an open verdict, saying it was possible (but unlikely) that Williams had taken an overdose of sleeping pills in addition to his regular pain killers that caused a lethal cocktail. To this day, views are still divided as to whether it was deliberate or not. On one hand, he mentioned many times in his diaries that suicide was the only option, but he always seemed to bounce back from his bouts of depression. Many seem to think that suicide is unlikely simply because he would never have entertained such ideas while his mother was alive (she was left nothing in his will, presumably because Ken was expecting to outlive her).