Who's Who Of
The Benny Hill Show

Page 21
(Whatling - Wright)

A Special Thanks must go to contributing editor William Brown for submitting these photos and information on each of these actors / actresses. Many of them were regulars and some were actually guest stars. I have added links to the Internet Movie Database where I could find them. Hope you can find many of those stars you've been wondering about and maybe a few you hadn't thought of. If you don't find what you are looking for, fear not. This section will continue to expand. Thanks again to William Brown, who wrote all of the information. I have also taken this section and put all of the entries in alphabetical order. If you are looking for someone specific, simply place your cursor on the links on the right hand side of the page. A caption will pop up letting you know which names that link will take you to. Enjoy!

Louise Whatling

IMDB Entry

Louise Whatling, in the first of her many appearances amongst the 'Little Angels' in the last two TBHS series, as well as the New York special.

Richard Whatling

IMDB Entry

He made several appearances as one of the Little Angels and even appeared in Benny Hill's New York special.

From the 1979 shows:

Francesca Whitburn

IMDB Entry

A screencap of Francesca Whitburn as seen in the "Soar-Away Sum" blooper of April 25, 1979 {as seen in "Hot Gossamer"}. One of the members of the late 1970's version of Pan's People, she also was in a 1980 episode of The Professionals. Is today a choreographer, among her credits in that vein being a regional (British) stage production of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole (Age 13¾) in 1987 and a 2006-07 stage production of Cinderella.

Les White

IMDB Entry

A still of Les White who played one of two guards on the trail of the title character of the "Benny Kelly, Son of Ned Kelly" sketch from the 1977 Australian Benny Hill Down Under special. He may have also appeared in the "vagabond" sketch of the same show (probably as a tailor or one of the party guests), and in all likehood this was the same Les White who was credited on this show as "Production Management."

Unknowns

More To Come...

Paula Wilcox (b.1949)

IMDB Entry

Paula Wilcox from the "Lonely Miss Fox" sketch.

Freddie Wiles (1905-1983)

IMDB Entry

The late bit-part actor Freddie Wiles (1905-1983), seen here in the "Lower Tidmarsh Hospital Service" sketch of Mr. Hill's first Thames special on Nov. 19, 1969. He was not credited on this show, but his name was listed amongst the cast of the 1974 movie The Best of Benny Hill which featured this routine. Probably most famous as lift (elevator) operator Goddard on Are You Being Served? during its first 4-5 years on the air. "Goddard" was a private chauffer of Mr. Grace ( the younger).

Frances Wingate

IMDB Entry

Two stills of Frances Wingate, both from within the "Sport" musical number of Feb. 5, 1989. Ms. Wingate was one of a handful of Angels who'd danced in the "Hot Gossip" troupe in its last years prior to their breakup in 1986 (others included Lindsey Cole, qv, and Susie Waring, qv). She's still modeling today. Ms. Wingate is listed at www.modelplan.co.uk. She is also listed on www.motmodels.com.

Barbara Wise

IMDB Entry

Barbara Wise, as she appeared in a quickie sketch on the Dec. 5, 1973 show (top) and a vidcap of Ms. Wise, this one from the "If I made love to you" quickie (bottom). This was to be her only TBHS appearance. After 1983, according to The Spotlight (London) casting directory, she would be known as Barbara Ashley.

Also from the 1979 Shows (along with Francesca Whitburn):

Sarah Woollett

IMDB Entry

A shot of Sarah Woollett from the April 25, 1979 "Soar-Away Sum" blooper segment {from "Hot Gossamer"}. Ms. Woollett was a member of the latter-day version of Pan's People at the time, together with Pauline Crawford, Francesca Whitburn, founding member/choreographer Dee Dee Wilde, and future Hill's Angels Louise English and Abigail Higgins; neither she, Ms. Crawford nor Ms. Whitburn were technically Angels, as their appearances on TBHS predated the Angels' founding.

Lesley Woods

IMDB Entry

Two screencaps of Lesley Woods of the 1984 group of Hill's Angels: (top) from the Aerobatics (a.k.a. Workout) opening, and (bottom) towards the end of "The Boys Are Back in Town" number.

Nanette (Workman) (b. 1945)

IMDB Entry

Two shots of Brooklyn, NY-born, Canadian-based singer Nanette (full name: Nanette Workman) from her performance of "Everybody's Singing Like Now" on the Feb. 24, 1971 edition of TBHS (the last of the "Colour Strike Three" that were produced and aired in B&W). At this point in her career, she had been working in England for some two years, where in that time she did backup singing on two tracks ("Country Honk" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want") of The Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed album (on which inner sleeve she was miscredited as Nanette Newman, thus leading over the years to some confusion with the British actress who needless to say did not appear in any Hill shows in any of the places for whom he did his work). Ms. Workman also worked with the likes of John Lennon and Elton John; she also did quite a bit of work in France over her career, and has recorded music in both English and French. Inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame in 2000; seven years later, the state's then-Governor Haley Barbour honored her at the opening of The Nanette Workman French (Francophone) House on the Mississippi State University campus.

David Wright

IMDB Entry

David Wright (no relation to Jackie), seen here (top) as "Pedro" from Dilys Watling's rendition of "Fever" from March 23, 1977. He may have also been (bottom) part of the #7 dance team in "The Great British Dancing Finals" sketch of the Dec. 27, 1973 edition, on which he also received screen credit.

Here's something that's a "fravorite" (sorry 'bout that, Cherri):

talk about reversals, Jackie hitting Benny repeatedly on the head! (From the "Girls, Girls, Girls" segment, 3/23/77.)

From the "Chow Mein: At Home With Henry McGee (II)" sketch of 2/22/73. From left, the girls tending to him and Bob Todd's "Chu En-Gumm" character are: Sui Lin, Su Yong, Chai Lee (who later played Suki in a 1976 production called "Tomkinson's Schooldays" which was the pilot for Michael Palin and Terry Jones' post-Monty Python venture Ripping Yarns) and, in a black wig, Helli Louise (not only not Asian, but Danish to boot).

2. Sui Lin IMDB Entry

3. Su Yong IMDB Entry

4. Chai Lee IMDB Entry

Wonder what (or who) could've been the inspiration for this graphic (which opened the 3/13/74 "Match of the Week" sketch) . . .

Webmaster: threerandot
Contributing Editor:
William Brown
Associate Editor:
David Hawkins