Kenny Everett was an extraordinary comic genius who started his professional life as the enfant terrible in early days of British pop radio in the 1960’s and after being constantly fired, ended up with his own outrageous TV Shows, the best of which was The Kenny Everett Video Show in 1978. They were all done, as Everett mockingly loved to claim ‘in the best possible taste.’
For years he was a closeted gay man and married to singer and psychic Audrey Lee “Lady Lee” Middleton for a decade before he struck up close friendship with Freddie Mercury who helped Everett to accept his sexuality. Everett announced that he was HIV + to the world in 1993, and two years later he sadly died from an AIDS-related illness, aged 50.
Everett was a much beloved cult figure in the U.K. because his behavior on and off the screen was often quite scandalous …….like his mocking appearance at Margaret Thatcher election rally ….. and his often crude and brilliant sense of camp humor fearlessly pushed boundaries as to what he could get away with in those early days of television.
Here is a clip of Everett playing one of his favorite characters ; an exaggerated actress who loves innuendos : her name is Cupid Stunt!
P.S. To see more of Kenny check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y88S91rG2iU
Labels: 2016, British, culture, Turn Back Time
