Bill Kerr

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. Biography Kerr was born in Cape Town, South Africa, on 10 June 1922<ref name="Telegraph">Obituary: Bill Kerr, Daily Telegraph, 29 August 2014</ref> to an Australian performing arts family, growing up in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia. His career in show business began when he was very young. Wilton, his son, recalled: "His mum used him instead of using a prop, a baby prop, she actually used her son, her newborn son, so he was literally kind of born to do it." Kerr began to work in radio for ABC in 1932, and continued performing child parts for about eight years. His first screen appearance was in Harmony Row (1933), where he gives a feisty performance as a juvenile delinquent alongside the great Australian vaudeville comedian George Wallace. Kerr's first dramatic role on screen was a high-profile one in the Cinesound film The Silence of Dean Maitland (1934), where he displays striking presence as a blind child. Kerr is one of the most important child performers in early Australian film. He saw service in the Australian army during the Second World War, and performed in theatrical shows at home and abroad and toured with his friend, the actor Peter Finch.