
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.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Bill Kerr, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 0.125 |
Birthday | 1922-06-10 |
Place of Birth | Cape Town, South Africa |
Also Known As | William Henry Kerr, Willie Kerr, |

1981

Gallipoli
7.1/487
As World War I rages, brave and youthful Australians Archy and Frank—both agile runners—become friends and enlist in the Australian and New Zealand Ar...
Watch Now
Gallipoli

1982

The Pirate Movie
5/38
A comedy/musical utilizing both new songs and parodies from the original (Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance), as well as references to popula...
Watch Now
The Pirate Movie

1984

Razorback
5.9/189
In the Australian outback a vicious wild boar kills and causes havoc to a small community.
Watch Now
Razorback

1984

Vigil
6.7/24
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...
Watch Now
Vigil

1963

The Wrong Arm of the Law
6.4/37
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...
Watch Now
The Wrong Arm of the Law

1981

Save the Lady
7/1
A ragtag group of kids set out to save derelict steam ferry Lady Hope from destruction.
Watch Now
Save the Lady

1955

The Night My Number Came Up
6.833/30
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...
Watch Now
The Night My Number Came Up

1987

Bushfire Moon
6/1
In the Australian outback, a small boy determines to see that a nasty, curmudgeonly miser gets the Christmas spirit.
Watch Now
Bushfire Moon

2001

Let's Get Skase
6/1
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...
Watch Now
Let's Get Skase

1983

Dusty
6/3
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...
Watch Now
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...
Watch Now
Rob Roy

1962

A Pair of Briefs
5.7/3
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...
Watch Now
A Pair of Briefs

1991

Sweet Talker
4.8/8
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...
Watch Now
Sweet Talker

1984

The Settlement
0/0
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-...
Watch Now
The Settlement

1989

Kokoda Crescent
0/0
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...
Watch Now
Kokoda Crescent

1973

Ghost in the Noonday Sun
4.2/6
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...
Watch Now
Ghost in the Noonday Sun

1959

The Captain's Table
5.8/5
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...
Watch Now
The Captain's Table

1985

The Coca-Cola Kid
5.5/53
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...
Watch Now
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.
Watch Now
Tony Hancock: From East Cheam to Earls Court

1982

Deadline
6/3
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 -...
Watch Now
Deadline

1986

Platypus Cove
0/0
After saving a drowning boy's life, a fifteen-year-old orphan is taken aboard by the family as a deckhand.
Watch Now
Platypus Cove

1968

Doctor Who: The Enemy of the World
7.4/7
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...
Watch Now
Doctor Who: The Enemy of the World

1933

Harmony Row
0/0
George enlists in the police force and is assigned to Harmony Row, a haunt of criminals such as Slogger Lee.
Watch Now
Harmony Row

1976

House of Mortal Sin
6.61/41
Also known as 'The Confessional', another of Pete Walkers's critiques of institutional hypocrisy, in which a troubled young girl goes to confession at...
Watch Now
House of Mortal Sin

1976

House of Mortal Sin
6.61/41
Also known as 'The Confessional', another of Pete Walkers's critiques of institutional hypocrisy, in which a troubled young girl goes to confession at...
Watch Now
House of Mortal Sin

1982

The Year of Living Dangerously
6.6/332
Australian journalist Guy Hamilton travels to Indonesia to cover civil strife in 1965. There—on the eve of an attempted coup—he befriends a Chinese Au...
Watch Now
The Year of Living Dangerously

1963

Doctor in Distress
6.1/13
"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...
Watch Now
Doctor in Distress

1988

Mortuary Academy
3.3/6
"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...
Watch Now
Mortuary Academy

1975

Girls Come First
2.8/2
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...
Watch Now
Girls Come First

1956

Port of Escape
5.4/5
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...
Watch Now
Port of Escape

1953

Appointment in London
6.2/14
Wing-commander Tim Mason leads a squadron of Lancaster bombers on almost nightly raids from England. Having flown eighty-seven missions he will shortl...
Watch Now
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...
Watch Now
Spike Milligan: A Series of Unrelated Incidents at Current Market Value

1966

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
6/107
A wily slave must unite a virgin courtesan and his young smitten master to earn his freedom.
Watch Now
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

2003

Peter Pan
7.1/2643
In stifling Edwardian London, Wendy Darling mesmerizes her brothers every night with bedtime tales of swordplay, swashbuckling and the fearsome Captai...
Watch Now
Peter Pan

1955

The Dam Busters
6.88/146
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...
Watch Now
The Dam Busters

1952

My Death Is a Mockery
5/2
A fisherman cannot make a decent living from his trawler so he decides to turn his hand to smuggling.
Watch Now
My Death Is a Mockery

1986

Double Sculls
0/0
A man tries to rehabilitate his alcoholic friend by entering them both into the Australian national rowing championships.
Watch Now
Double Sculls

1951

Penny Points to Paradise
4.1/4
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.
Watch Now
Penny Points to Paradise

1992

Over the Hill
4.2/4
Alma can't stand to have one more birthday without seeing her estranged daughter, Elizabeth, who lives in Sydney, Australia.
Watch Now
Over the Hill

1962

A Pair of Briefs
5.7/3
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...
Watch Now
A Pair of Briefs

1987

The Lighthorsemen
6.1/36
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...
Watch Now
The Lighthorsemen

1957

The Shiralee
5.1/14
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...
Watch Now
The Shiralee

1966

Doctor in Clover
5.8/13
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...
Watch Now
Doctor in Clover

1983

Great Expectations
2/1
The classic tale of the helpless orphan Pip and his anonymous benefactor is brought to life in this high quality entertaining animated feature for you...
Watch Now
Great Expectations

1987

Running from the Guns
4.5/2
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...
Watch Now