William Henry Kerr (10 June 1922 – 28 August 2014) was a British and Australian actor, comedian and vaudevillian.
Born in South Africa, he started his career as a child actor in Australia, before emigrating to Britain after the Second World War, where he developed a career as a performer in comedy, especially gaining notice in the radio version of Hancock's Half Hour. In 1979 Kerr returned to Australia and developed a second career as a character actor.
Early life
Kerr was born on 10 June 1922, in Cape Town, to an Australian performing arts family, including mother Anne Roberts, while they were on tour in South Africa. Kerr's grandfather was Professor Roberts, who ran a Dancing Academy in both Sydney and Melbourne. where his mother ensured he worked on his elocution, which paved the way for his acting career, beginning with youth roles in radio.
His first screen appearance was in Harmony Row (1933), where he gave a feisty performance as a juvenile delinquent alongside Australian vaudeville comedian George Wallace. He appeared alongside Wallace once more in the successful film His Royal Highness. The film was one of Australia’s first talking pictures.
Kerr served in the Australian army during the Second World War, alongside his friend, actor Peter Finch. While serving, he performed in theatrical shows in both Australia and abroad overseas. with his wife Margaret, to make his name overseas. The pair only had enough money for one ticket, so Kerr worked as a steward on the boat trip over.
During the next few years he was regularly featured in the BBC radio series Variety Bandbox, part of the BBC Light Programme. Retaining his accent, an unusual choice for performers moving to Britain at this time, he was billed as "the boy from Wagga Wagga." A spokesman for the Australian town's museum said that this "struck an instant chord with the post-war British audience, who thought of 'Wagga Wagga' as a comically surreal, end of the earth, magical place somewhere left of Narnia." Harry Secombe described Kerr as having a "very laconic act" on the show, beginning his spots with the catchphrase "I'm only here for four minutes." In 1952, Kerr embarked on a six week concert tour of Korea. The series, with comedian Tony Hancock as the eponymous lead and also featuring Sid James, ran for six series. He next played the Devil disguised as Mr Applegate in the first West End production of Damn Yankees, directed by Bob Fosse and first performed in March 1957.
From 1958 to 1963, Kerr starred in the radio drama series The Flying Doctor, his character regularly flying in and out of the fictitious Wollumboola base, as he and his 'doctor' colleague brought reprobates to justice in the outback. Later, after Sid James had ended his professional partnership with Hancock, Kerr briefly resumed working with him in the first season of the television comedy series Citizen James (1960). He also appeared in 1963 British film The Wrong Arm of the Law.
Kerr also worked with Spike Milligan, appearing 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, with "a cast containing an unusually high proportion of Australian actors including Kerr and David Nettheim."
Kerr's made further television appearances with a featured role in the 1968 Doctor Who serial The Enemy of the World, with Patrick Troughton and a long-running role in the early 1960s BBC-TV soap, Compact.
In 1972, Kerr co-starred with Anthony Newley in the Newley/Bricusse musical, The Good Old Bad Old Days, which enjoyed a run lasting 309 performances. He also had a role (with Julia McKenzie and Una Stubbs) in the musical play Cole, dedicated to the work of Cole Porter and first staged at the Mermaid Theatre, London in July 1974.
Kerr took the part of Bluey Notts, described as "an Australian bookie's clerk, a crude racialist", in The Melting Pot (1975). This was a sitcom written by Spike Milligan and Neil Shand, which was cancelled by the BBC after just one episode had been broadcast.
Return to Australia
In 1979, after three decades of working in the UK, Kerr returned to Australia and settled in Perth, Western Australia, where his son William lived. before choosing to focus on versatile character roles. He played serious parts in Australian drama films, including Peter Weir's films Gallipoli (1981) and The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), both alongside Mel Gibson. and 1985 film The Coca-Cola Kid. and comedy adventure film Peter Pan (2003) opposite Jason Isaacs.
Additionally, he provided the narration for several documentaries including No Survivor – The Mysterious Loss of HMAS Sydney (1995) for the Nine Network, Malice or Mutiny (2003) for the ABC, and a series for Discovery, released in the US as Animal X (originally Animal X Natural Mystery Unit).
thumb|upright|Walk of Honour plaque
On 26 January 2011, Kerr received the 2011 Walk of Honour in Wagga Wagga, which was unveiled on 17 May 2011.
Personal life and death
During time in Western Australia, Kerr met English teacher Margaret Weaver whom he married at St George's Cathedral. It was the first of his three marriages.
Kerr died in his family home in Perth, Western Australia, on 28 August 2014 at the age of 92.
|-
| Trial by Marriage || Sir Edmund King || 1 episode ||
|-
| rowspan="2"|1982 || ..'Deadline... || William Ashby || TV movie ||
|-
| M.P.S.I.B. || Levine || 1 episode ||
|-
| rowspan="3"|1983 || Great Expectations || Voice || Animated TV movie ||
|-
| Platypus Cove || Mr. Anderson || TV movie ||
|-
| Return to Eden || Dave Welles || Miniseries, 1 episode ||
|-
| 1984 || White Man's Legend || Mac || TV movie ||
|-
| rowspan="2"|1985 || Anzacs || General Monash || Miniseries, 2 episodes ||
|-
| A Fortunate Life || Narrator || Miniseries, 4 episodes ||
|-
| rowspan="3"|1986 || Return to Eden || Dave Welles || 2 episodes ||
|-
| Sons and Daughters || Jeff Dalton || 1 episode ||
|-
| Double Sculls || Cirly Pilsudki || TV movie ||
|-
| 1987 || Flight of Diamonds || Narrator || TV special ||
|-
| 1988 || Australians || Gordon Bennett || Miniseries, 1 episode ||
|-
| rowspan="2"|1989 || The Heroes || Paddy McDowell || Miniseries, 2 episodes ||
|-
| Kokoda Crescent || Russ || TV movie ||
|-
| 1990–1992 || The New Adventures of Black Beauty || Samuel Burton || 25 episodes ||
|-
| rowspan="2"|1991 || The Private War of Lucinda Smith || Scotty || TV movie ||
|-
| The River Kings || Captain Elijah || Miniseries, 4 episodes ||
|-
| rowspan="2"|1993 || Snowy || Stuart McLachlan || 13 episodes ||
|-
| Clowning Around 2 || Max || TV movie ||
|-
| 1993–1996 || Ship to Shore || Horace Brinkmann || 25 episodes ||
|-
| rowspan="2"|1995 || No Survivors – The Mysterious Loss of HMAS Sydney || || ||
|-
| The Celluloid Heroes || Self || Miniseries ||
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| 1998 || Minty || Willie Courtenay / Old Thane || 11 episodes ||
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| 2000 || Funny by George: The George Wallace Story || Narrator || TV movie ||
|-
| 2001 || Changi || Older Eddie || Miniseries, 2 episodes ||
|-
| rowspan="2"|2003 || The Shark Net || Mr Coleman || Miniseries, 1 episode ||
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| Malice or Mutiny: The Koolama Incident || || Documentary ||
|-
| 2004–2006 || Animal X Natural Mystery Unit || || Documentary series ||
|}
Theatre
{|class="wikitable"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
! Ref.
|-
| 1955 || Sabrina Fair || David Larrabee || Theatre Royal, Windsor with Windsor Repertory Company ||
|-
| 1955–1956 || The Teahouse of the August Moon || Sakini || Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, New Theatre Oxford, Brighton Hippodrome ||
|-
| 1954–1959 || Hancock's Half Hour || William Montmorency Beaumont Kerr (Australian lodger) || BBC Radio ||
|-
| rowspan="4"|1979 || A Plum Job || Archie || rowspan="4"|ABC Radio Perth ||