He was once one of Britain’s most beloved entertainers whose decades-long TV career and global fame saw him amass a fortune of £7.5million.
But Benny Hill’s dated form of sexualised comedy saw his work cease to be broadcast – meaning it has stunned younger viewers exposed to it for the first time, as MailOnline reported this week.
Now we can reveal how Hill’s sudden death from a heart attack in April 1992 – aged 68 – sparked a bitter rift about who benefitted from his multi-million pound estate.
The famously frugal star never owned a car, bought food only when it was on sale, wore threadbare clothes and glued his shoes back together.
He died watching TV in his rented second-floor flat in Teddington, West London and was found two days later by producer best friend Dennis Kirkland, allegedly surrounded by dirty plates and stacks of uncashed cheques.
Hill’s global TV success left him with a personal fortune of £7,526,777 at the time of his death – equivalent to over £20 million in today’s money.
His only official will – scrutinised by MailOnline – was drafted in 1961 and directed his estate be shared between parents Alfred and Helen Hill, brother Leonard Hill and sister Diana Olive, all of whom had already died by the time Hill passed.
But TV pals have revealed he prepared a later will directing specific amounts to be given to friends and co-stars including Sue Upton, Dennis Kirkland, Bob Todd, Louise English and Henry McGee.
Benny Hill’s sudden death from a heart attack in April 1992 – aged 68 – sparked a bitter rift about who benefitted from his multi-million pound estate. His long-term friend Sue Upton (left) said the star promised to leave her money in his will – but it all went to family he rarely spoke to
The national treasure Hill (left) is pictured here as a child on a seaside holiday with his mother and his brother Leonard (right) and his young sister Diana
Hill died in 1992 watching TV in his rented second-floor flat in Teddington, West London (pictured) and was found two days later by producer best friend Dennis Kirkland
TV pals have revealed he prepared a later will directing specific amounts to be given to friends and co-stars including Sue Upton (pictured), Dennis Kirkland, Bob Todd, Louise English and Henry McGee.
Ms Upton, who became one of his closest friends and worked on The Benny Hill Show from 1977 until 1989 the leader of ‘Hill’s Angels’ a troupe of attractive young women who were regulars, insists he had promised she would be taken care of after his death.
Sue, now 70 and retired and living in Essex, told MailOnline this week: ‘Benny never saw his family, he wasn’t close to them at all. The people who he worked with for many many years on the show, we were his family.
‘He used to say to me ‘you haven’t got to worry about money Little Sausage, you’re in my will’ and I would feel embarrassed because it’s a very cagey subject.
‘He said the same thing to a few people but Benny was the world’s worst person for paperwork, he would leave cheques on the mantelpiece because money didn’t matter to him.
‘I was told there was a piece of paper with people’s names and amounts and I was on that list which is typical of Benny but it wouldn’t stand up in court so that was that.
‘The people who he wanted to share and enjoy his money lost out because we didn’t have a leg to stand on.
‘Talk is cheap and I would urge people to learn from his mistake and if you want to leave something to somebody in your will do it in the proper manner.
‘After Benny’s death nobody had any contact with the family, it was almost like ‘don’t call us, you haven’t got a leg to stand on’ and all his estate and everything since is distributed among his living relatives.
Despite being one of Britain’s best love comic who had amassed a fortune worth £20million in today’s money, Hill was notoriously frugal with money. He rented a flat, bought food only when it was on sale, wore threadbare clothes and glued his shoes back together
He died watching TV in his rented second-floor flat in Teddington, West London and was found two days later by producer best friend Dennis Kirkland,
‘It’s a very sad state of affairs because Benny used to come to my house and became like a family member and a grandchild to my children. He even had them in the show.
‘It’s just really sad and it has become an unhappy ending unfortunately.’
MailOnline has heard differing accounts as to whether the more recent will was produced but rejected during probate because it had not been signed and witnessed correctly or that it was lost by the notoriously unorganised star and could never be produced by its would-be beneficiaries.
Instead the fortune was split between Hill’s seven nieces and nephews who had little to no contact with him.
Among them was Madeleine Sailani, now 68, who lives in a large detached house worth approximately £1.3million. When MailOnline knocked at Ms Sailani’s address just one block from the sea in the bijou East Sussex resort town of Hove, the woman in her sixties who answered declined to discuss her links to the late Benny Hill, saying: ‘I think there’s been some confusion.’ When asked about the Channel 5 documentary about the late funnyman, she appeared flustered and said: ‘I don’t want to talk about it, thank you.’
The late comic’s nephew Jonathan Hill, 62, meanwhile lives in a £1million top floor of a gorgeous Georgian period townhouse on one of Edinburgh’s most upmarket streets. His eldest niece Caroline Hill, 70, last known address was a five-bed mid-terrace house in the expensive south west London enclave of Wandsworth which is home to celebs including Phil Spencer, Gordon Ramsey, Johnny Vaughan and Rupert Penry-Jones. The house last sold for £1.6million in May 2019.
The rest of Hill’s remaining nieces and nephews remain in Australia where his sister Diana was living at the time of her death.
Hill was buried in his family plot in Hollybrook Cemetery, Southampton, the seaside town where he grew up and was seen regularly walking or travelling by bus.
Hill’s global TV success left him with a personal fortune of £7,526,777 at the time of his death – equivalent to over £20 million in today’s money
Hill dressed as a sailor with a member of the Hill’s Angels song and dance troupe
Amid spiralling disputes over who should benefit from his fortune, he was rumoured to have been buried with some of his valuables.
Around six months after his death the grave was dug up and his coffin was smashed open but the raiders left his remains untouched and replaced the lid and earth.
Mr Kirkland who was Hill’s best friend, long-time producer and the man who discovered his body after growing concerned at the comedian not returning calls, died in 2006. He left no will but his total estate was valued at less than £275,000.
But Ms English, another Hill’s Angel, denied claims made in a 2002 Channel 4 documentary that there was any mystery over what happened to his money.
She said: ‘I don’t think the money disappeared and I don’t think there was a ‘sadness of the clown’ side to him.
‘He was sensitive and I don’t think he was introverted. He wasn’t lonely, he was very happy and just loved his work and was just a normal, lovely person.
‘He just kept himself to himself and didn’t go to any showbizzy parties and I suppose that’s why people didn’t get to know him.
‘Then people make things up and it was presumed that he lost all his money and presumed he was lonely. He wasn’t at all. I believe he left lots behind and his family did very well.’
Many of the relatives Hill barely spoke to now live in comfortable properties, having benefited from payouts from his estate when he died – but his TV friends (pictured) who he told would be looked after financially all missed out on any money because he hadn’t updated his will
It comes as a new Channel 5 programme, The Cancellation of Benny Hill, looks back at the comedian’s career, noting that his popularity extended to major stars including Michael Jackson, while he also appeared in a number of movies, including The Italian Job and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
It’s reported that one of his specials, aired in 1969, attracted a bigger audience than the moon landings but in recent years, the comedian has fallen out of favour, with some of his sketches being criticised over their racist and sexist jokes.
In 1971, viewing figures for his show topped 21 million and the comedian was awarded ITV personality of the year.
But his success would come to a sudden end in the 1980s and his shows are ‘rarely on TV nowadays – having been criticised for containing racist, sexist, risqué and vulgar content which would be deemed unacceptable by today’s standards’.
