Billy Dainty
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William Hooper Frank John (Billy) Dainty (22 February 1927 - 19 November 1986) was a British comedian and pantomime star.
Born in Dudley, West Midlands, Dainty was a RADA-trained performer but was also known for his dancing skills. From childhood he had the ambition to be a dancer, but his nimble feet were most famous for his "funny walks", a well-loved part of his act.
In 1942 he made his stage debut in the pantomime Mother Goose, starring Norman Evans and Patricia Burke, where he played the back end of a dancing pantomime donkey called "Asbestos". Called up for National Service in 1945, he toured the Far East with the Stars In Battledress. He spent the next two decades in variety theatre, before getting his TV break on Sunday Night at the London Palladium in the late 1950s.[1]
In 1975 he had his own Thames Television series Billy Dainty, Esq.[2] Between 1975 and 1980 he starred with Rod Hull and Emu, in Emu's Broadcasting Company on BBC1.[3] Throughout this time his pantomime career blossomed. But halfway through the next decade he had to pull out of Aladdin in Nottingham due to poor health.[4]
He died at his home, 'Cobblers', in Godalming, Surrey on 19 November 1986, at the age of 59.
