Frankie Howerd; British Star of ‘Carry On’ Film Comedies

Frankie Howerd, the eccentric British comedian whose face has been likened to a menagerie--”usually a distressed camel,” he would say--died in a London hospital Sunday after collapsing at home. The star of farcical British movies and television shows was 71.

The cause of death was not announced, but he had been treated for heart trouble less than two weeks ago, a family spokesman told the Associated Press.

Howerd gained fame as a master of a particularly British style of “nudge-nudge, wink-wink” double-entendre on TV and in the movies. His standard admonition to audiences was “Titter ye not,” and T-shirts expressing that sentiment were a popular item in England.

Among his film credits were “Carry On Doctor,” “Carry On Up the Jungle” and “Carry On Emmanuelle,” part of the series of 29 “Carry On” movies.

He was considered one of London’s true eccentrics, living in a London home he called his “lounge” which he decorated with flocked wallpaper and gilded lamp shades. He was said by one critic to have the “eyes of a wary boar” while another likened his expression to “startled misery.”

His comedy, he told the Sunday Times of London in 1990, grew out of a need for acceptance. His father died when he was quite young and he said he “found the sound of affection” at his South London grammar school where he first began to make people laugh.

After a series of clerical jobs he began to appear in musical revues and then on radio. He appeared on the London stage in “Pardon My French,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Charlie’s Aunt.” In 1963, he won the Critics’ Award for Best Musical Actor for his portrayal of a Roman slave in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” a production directed by the legendary American George Abbott.

Howerd--who stuttered--said he was terrified of “Mr. Abbott,” but heard from a fellow cast member that Abbott had praised Howerd for his ability to take direction.

As the play was opening in Oxford, Howerd said he eagerly awaited some word of praise from Abbott. “He did come into my dressing room,” Howerd recalled for The Times. “But all he said was ‘Do you mind if I leave my raincoat in your room?’ ”

He made his first U. S. appearance on the East Coast in 1968 and returned infrequently to America. Last year he was seen on U. S. television in “Trial by Jury,” playing the Learned Judge in a PBS presentation of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.

Most recently Howerd had been staging his bawdy one-man shows (in which he advertised himself as “Quite Frankly”) to packed houses and critical praise in England.

Howerd said he kept his theory of comedy to the basics: “If there’s more laughs than silences, you’re onto a good thing.”