Bill Owen
Encyclopedia
- This article refers to the British actor. For a list of other persons with the same name, see Bill OwenBill OwenWilliam John Owen Rowbotham MBE , better known as Bill Owen, was an English actor and songwriter.-Career:...
.
William John Owen Rowbotham MBE
MBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
(14 March 1914 – 12 July 1999), better known as Bill Owen, was an English actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
.
Career
Born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, he made his first film appearance in 1944 but did not achieve lasting fame until the 1970s, when he took the starring role of Compo Simmonite in the long-running British sitcom Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...
. Owen's character is a scruffy working-class pensioner, often made use of by the characters played by Michael Bates
Michael Bates (actor)
Michael Bates was a British actor born in Jhansi, United Provinces, India.-Biography:Bates served as a Major serving with the Brigade of Gurkhas in Burma before his discharge at the end of World War II...
, Brian Wilde
Brian Wilde
Brian George Wilde was an English actor, best known for his roles in television comedy, including Mr Barrowclough in Porridge and "Foggy" Dewhurst in Last of the Summer Wine...
, Michael Aldridge
Michael Aldridge
Michael William ffolliott Aldridge was an English actor. While it was his role as Seymour in the television series Last of the Summer Wine which made him widely recognised, his long career as a successful character actor on stage and screen dated back to the 1930s.-Early life:The son of Dr...
and Frank Thornton for dirty jobs, stunts and escapades, while his indomitably docile friend Peter Sallis
Peter Sallis
Peter Sallis, OBE is an English actor and entertainer, well-known for his work on British television. Although he was born and brought up in London, his two most notable roles require him to adopt the accents and mannerisms of a Northerner.Sallis is best known for his role as the main character...
follows and watches with a smirk. He wore a woollen hat and spent much of his time lusting after dowdy housewife Nora Batty. As Compo, Owen saw off several co-stars. The series, starting in 1973 and finishing in 2010, is today the world's longest-running comedy series. Owen became an icon, a darling of its audience and central to its success and episodes for 26 years, right until his death. The threesome of Compo, Clegg and Foggy (this third character was initially Blamire, played by Michael Bates and when Brian Wilde's Foggy took a hiatus, by Michael Aldridge's Seymour Utterthwaite) remains the most popular group of three the show ever produced.
In 1958, Owen presented a music panel/programme titled Dad You're A Square for ATV
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
- it ran for one series - and only one episode exists in the archive of ITV.
On the series Floyd On TV - the one-series follower to Clive James On Television - Floyd showed viewers a clip from the show (leaving the audience to work out who the "to be" scruffy presenter was).
During the 1960s, Owen had a successful second career as a songwriter, with compositions including the hit, Marianne
Marianne (1968 song)
"Marianne" was the Italian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968, performed in Italian by Sergio Endrigo.The song is a ballad, with Endrigo expressing his love for the tititular character. He sings, however, that she never stays with him, and he wonders about what she is doing...
, recorded by Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
. He at this time also collaborated with songwriter Tony Russell on musical The Matchgirls
The Matchgirls
In the 1960s, the British actor Bill Owen collaborated with songwriter Tony Russell to create a musical about the London matchgirls strike of 1888. The musical Premiered at the Globe Theatre, London on Tuesday 1 March 1966 and marked the first musical directed and choreographed by Gillian Lynne...
about the London matchgirls strike of 1888
London matchgirls strike of 1888
The London match-girls’ strike of 1888 was a strike of the women and teenage girls working at the Bryant and May Factory in Bow, London.-The strike:...
. He starred as Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
's straight man in the West End hit "Son of Oblomov" in 1964.
Owen was an active supporter of the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
and indeed Peter Sallis has claimed that Owen's left-wing views contrasted so much with the right-wing opinions of Michael Bates that Last of the Summer Wine was almost not made because of their arguments. Owen was a founding member of the Keep Sunday Special
Keep Sunday Special
Keep Sunday Special is a British campaign group set up in 1985 by Dr Michael Schluter CBE to oppose plans to introduce Sunday trading in England and Wales...
campaign group. He was awarded the MBE in 1976.
Bill Owen was a regular in the early Carry On films. He also had a cameo appearance in Brideshead Revisited
Brideshead Revisited
Brideshead Revisited, The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. Waugh wrote that the novel "deals with what is theologically termed 'the operation of Grace', that is to say, the unmerited and unilateral act of love by...
as Lunt, Charles Ryder's scout
Bedder
The term "bedder" is short for "bedmaker" and is a housekeeper in a college of the University of Cambridge and the University of Durham. The equivalent at the University of Oxford is known as a "scout"...
during his days at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. He also featured in several Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Gordon Anderson was an Indian-born, British feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave...
films including O Lucky Man!
O Lucky Man!
O Lucky Man! is a 1973 British comedy-drama fantasy film, intended as an allegory on life in a capitalist society. Directed by Lindsay Anderson, it stars Malcolm McDowell as Mick Travis, whom McDowell had first played as a disaffected public schoolboy in his first film performance in Anderson's...
(1973) and In Celebration
In Celebration
In Celebration is a 1975 film directed by Lindsay Anderson. It is based in the 1969 stage production of the same name by David Storey which was also directed by Anderson. The movie was meant to be shown theatrically with tickets sold in advance....
(1974).
He continued working right up to his death from pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...
in Westminster
City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...
, London, on 12 July 1999. Bill was buried in the churchyard of St John's Parish Church, Upperthong
Upperthong
Upperthong is a village approximately above sea level near the town of Holmfirth in the Holme Valley, approximately seven miles south of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England.-History:...
, in his beloved town of Holmfirth
Holmfirth
Holmfirth is a small town located on the A6024 Woodhead Road in the Holme Valley, within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Centred upon the confluence of the Holme and Ribble rivers, Holmfirth is south of Huddersfield and from Glossop. It mostly consists of...
in Yorkshire, the home of Last of the Summer Wine on 19 July 1999.
Selected television roles
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1963 to 1964 | Taxi! | Fred Cuddell |
| 1971 | Coppers End | Sergeant Sam Short |
| 1973 to 1974 | Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? is a 1970s British sitcom broadcast between 9 January 1973 and 9 April 1974 on BBC1. It is the colour sequel to the mid-1960s hit The Likely Lads. It was created and written, as was its predecessor, by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais... |
George Chambers |
| 1973 to 2000 | Last of the Summer Wine Last of the Summer Wine Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and... |
Compo Simmonite |
Selected filmography
- Tank Patrol (1941) (as Bill Rowbottom)
- The Way to the StarsThe Way to the StarsThe Way to the Stars, also known as Johnny in the Clouds, is a 1945 British war drama film made by Two Cities Films and released by United Artists. It was produced by Anatole de Grunwald and directed by Anthony Asquith...
(1945) (as Bill Rowbotham) - Perfect StrangersPerfect Strangers (1945 film)Perfect Strangers , is a 1945 British drama film made by London Films. It stars Robert Donat and Deborah Kerr as a married couple whose relationship is shaken by their service in the Second World War. The supporting cast includes Glynis Johns, Ann Todd, Roland Culver, and Roger Moore in his...
(1945) - School for SecretsSchool for SecretsSchool for Secrets is a 1946 British film written and directed by Peter Ustinov and starring David Tomlinson, Ralph Richardson, Raymond Huntley, Richard Attenborough, John Laurie and Michael Hordern...
(1946) (as Bill Rowbotham) - Dancing with CrimeDancing with CrimeDancing with Crime is a 1947 British film directed by John Paddy Carstairs with a screenplay by Brock Williams from an original story by Peter Fraser.-Plot:...
(1947) (as Bill Rowbotham) - Holiday Camp (1947)
- When the Bough BreaksWhen the Bough Breaks (1947 film)When the Bough Breaks is a 1947 film by Gainsborough Pictures, J. Arthur Rank and Sydney Box Productions. It is an adaptation of an original story-line by Herbert Victor on adoption and the competing ties of one child's birth and foster family.-Cast:...
(1947) - DaybreakDaybreak (1948 film)Daybreak is a 1948 British film noir drama film, directed by Compton Bennett and starring Eric Portman, Ann Todd and Maxwell Reed. A sombre, bleak film, Daybreak was filmed in 1946, but ran into trouble with the BBFC, resulting in a delay of almost two years before its release...
(1948) - Easy MoneyEasy Money (1948 film)Easy Money, a satirical 1948 British film about one of the most beloved traditions of the English middle class, the football pool, is composed of four tales about the effect a major win has on four different groups in the postwar period...
(1948) - My Brother's KeeperMy Brother's Keeper (1948 film)My Brother's Keeper is a 1948 British crime film in the form of a convicts-on-the-run chase thriller, directed by Alfred Roome for Gainsborough Pictures. It was the first of only two films directed by Roome during a long career as a film editor...
(1948) - Once a Jolly SwagmanOnce a Jolly SwagmanOnce a Jolly Swagman is a 1949 British film starring Dirk Bogarde, Bonar Colleano, Bill Owen and Sid James. It is centred around the sport of speedway racing, which was at its peak of popularity at the time. The film is based on the 1946 novel by Montagu Slater.The title of the film refers to the...
(1949) - Diamond CityDiamond City (film)Diamond City is a 1949 British drama film directed by David MacDonald and starring David Farrar, Honor Blackman, Diana Dors and Niall MacGinnis.-Plot:...
(1949) - Trottie TrueTrottie TrueTrottie True is a 1949 British musical comedy film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Jean Kent, James Donald and Hugh Sinclair. It was adapted from a play by Caryl Brahms and S. J...
(1949) - Hotel SaharaHotel SaharaHotel Sahara is a 1951 British comedy film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Yvonne De Carlo, Peter Ustinov and David Tomlinson.-Cast:* Yvonne De Carlo as Yasmin Pallas* Peter Ustinov as Emad* David Tomlinson as Captain Puffin Cheyne...
(1951) - Stop the Merry-Go-Round (1952)
- The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie MenThe Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie MenThe Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men is a 1952 live action Disney version of the Robin Hood story in Technicolor which was filmed in Buckinghamshire, England...
(1952) - The Square RingThe Square RingThe Square Ring is a 1953 British film directed by Basil Dearden and made at Ealing Studios. It stars Jack Warner, Robert Beatty and Bill Owen...
(1953) - There Was a Young Lady (1953)
- A Day to RememberA Day to Remember (1953 film)A Day to Remember is a 1953 British comedy drama film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring an ensemble cast including Stanley Holloway, Donald Sinden and Bill Owen. The darts team of a London public house go on a day trip to Boulogne-sur-Mer in France....
(1953) - The Rainbow JacketThe Rainbow JacketThe Rainbow Jacket is a 1954 British drama film directed by Basil Dearden, and featuring Robert Morley, Kay Walsh, Bill Owen, Honor Blackman and Sid James.-Cast:* Robert Morley as Lord Logan* Kay Walsh as Barbara Crain...
(1954)
- The Ship That Died of ShameThe Ship That Died of ShameThe Ship That Died of Shame released in the United States as PT Raiders is a black-and-white 1955 Ealing Studios crime film starring George Baker, Richard Attenborough and Bill Owen....
(1955) - Not So Dusty (1956)
- DavyDavy (film)Davy is a 1958 British comedy-drama film directed by Michael Relph and starring Harry Secombe, Alexander Knox and Ron Randell. It was the last comedy to be made by Ealing Studios.-Plot:...
(1957) - Carve Her Name with PrideCarve Her Name with PrideCarve Her Name with Pride is a 1958 British drama film based on the book of the same name by R.J. Minney. Set during World War II, the film is based on the true story of the heroism of Special Operations Executive agent Violette Szabo, with Virginia McKenna in the lead role.The film includes the...
(1958) - Carry on SergeantCarry On SergeantCarry On Sergeant is the first Carry On film. Its first public screening was on 1 August 1958 at Screen One, London. Actors in this film who went on to be part of the regular team in the series were Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Connor and Terry Scott...
(1958) - Carry on NurseCarry On NurseCarry On Nurse is the second Carry On film, released in 1959. Of the regular team, it featured Joan Sims , Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor and Charles Hawtrey, with Hattie Jacques and Leslie Phillips. The film was written by Norman Hudis based on the play Ring For Catty by Patrick Cargill and Jack...
(1959) - The ShakedownThe Shakedown (1959 film)The Shakedown is a 1959 crime-drama film directed by John Lemont.It was banned in Finland .-Cast:* Terence Morgan as Augie Cortona* Hazel Court as Mildred Eyde* Donald Pleasence as Jessel Brown...
(1959) - The Hellfire ClubThe Hellfire Club (film)The Hellfire Club is a 1961 film which tells a story based upon 'The Hellfire Club'. Sir Francis Dashwood's infamous 'Gentlemans' society of the 18th century. It starred Peter Cushing....
(1961) - Carry on RegardlessCarry On RegardlessCarry on Regardless was the fifth in the series of Carry On films to be made. It was released in 1961. By now a fairly regular team was established with Sid James, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims and Kenneth Williams all having appeared in previous entries. Hattie Jacques - who was...
(1961) - On the FiddleOn the FiddleOn the Fiddle is a 1961 British comedy film directed by Cyril Frankel and starring Sean Connery, Alfred Lynch, Cecil Parker, Stanley Holloway, Eric Barker, Mike Sarne, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Kathleen Harrison, Victor Maddern and John Le Mesurier....
(1961) - Carry on CabbyCarry On CabbyCarry On Cabby is the seventh Carry On film. Released in 1963, it was the first one written by series mainstay Talbot Rothwell from a story by Sid Green and Dick Hills...
(1963) - The Masque of the Red DeathThe Masque of the Red Death (film)The Masque of the Red Death is a 1964 British horror film starring Vincent Price in a tale about a prince who terrorizes a plague-ridden peasantry while merrymaking in a lonely castle with his jaded courtiers. The film was directed by Roger Corman; the screenplay by Charles Beaumont and R...
(1964) - Georgy GirlGeorgy GirlGeorgy Girl is a 1966 British film based on a novel by Margaret Forster. The film was directed by Silvio Narizzano and starred Lynn Redgrave as Georgy, Alan Bates, James Mason, Charlotte Rampling and Bill Owen....
(1966) - The Fighting Prince of DonegalThe Fighting Prince of DonegalThe Fighting Prince of Donegal is a 1966 Disney adventure film starring Peter McEnery and Susan Hampshire, based on the novel Red Hugh: Prince of Donegal by Robert T. Reilly. It was released through Buena Vista Distribution Company.-Plot:...
(1966) - O Lucky Man!O Lucky Man!O Lucky Man! is a 1973 British comedy-drama fantasy film, intended as an allegory on life in a capitalist society. Directed by Lindsay Anderson, it stars Malcolm McDowell as Mick Travis, whom McDowell had first played as a disaffected public schoolboy in his first film performance in Anderson's...
(1973) - In CelebrationIn CelebrationIn Celebration is a 1975 film directed by Lindsay Anderson. It is based in the 1969 stage production of the same name by David Storey which was also directed by Anderson. The movie was meant to be shown theatrically with tickets sold in advance....
(1975) - The ComebackThe Comeback (film)The Comeback is a 1978 British horror film directed by Pete Walker.-Plot:A once successful American singer, Nick Cooper , relocates to a country manor in England, leaving L.A. and a failed marriage behind him, to begin work on his career comeback...
(1978) - Laughterhouse (1985)
- The Handmaid's TaleThe Handmaid's Tale (film)The Handmaid's Tale is a 1990 film adaptation of the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name. Directed by Volker Schlöndorff the film stars Natasha Richardson , Faye Dunaway , Robert Duvall , Aidan Quinn , and Elizabeth McGovern . The screenplay was written by Harold Pinter...
(1990)