Monday, July 12, 1999 Published at 21:45 GMT 22:45 UK
Farewell to a Cockney-born Yorkshireman
Bill Owen's role as the loveable rascal Compo attracted a loyal legion of fans
In his woolly hat, threadbare jacket and wellies, Bill Owen, who has died at the age of 85, became one of the nation's best-loved stars as the mischievous Compo in BBC One's Last of the Summer Wine.
As he relentlessly pursued Nora Batty, going wild for her wrinkled stockings and exasperating everyone with his harebrained schemes, viewers shared his matchless portrayal of a pensioner enjoying a second childhood.
Last year he recalled: "I became a professional entertainer 63 years ago, but the past 26 have been occupied by a little man in a woolly hat."
Millions of viewers regularly tuned into the gentle comedy to watch the boyish exploits of Compo, Clegg and Foggy (latterly replaced by Truly) in the Yorkshire town of Holmfirth.
Drawn together by loneliness and with a capacity for youthful pranks, the unlikely elderly trio enjoyed a warm and loveable relationship.
Each episode was always marked by Compo's never-ending and unrequited pursuit of the formidable Nora Batty.
Owen summed up Compo as a "geriatric Just William" who never grew up.
Yorkshire love affair
The townspeople of Holmfirth took the actor to their hearts and Owen admitted to a serious love affair with Yorkshire.
He became an honorary member of the Holmfirth Rotary Club, president of the Air Training Corps cadets and held a number of other titles.
However, many of his second generation of fans were unaware of his earlier glittering career, not just as an actor, but as a writer of plays, musicals and popular songs.
In partnership with Mike Sammes, he wrote the lyrics for dozens of pop songs for the likes of Engelbert Humperdinck, Harry Secombe, Sacha Distel and Pat Boone, as well as Sir Cliff Richard's 1960s hit Marianne.
His steadfast support for the Labour Party and socialism led him to write and perform in a number of great political pantomimes and revues - especially Babes in the Wood and What's Left?
He also adapted the classic novel of working class life, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, for the stage.
His mother worked in a laundry and his grandmother was the local midwife.
He knew from his early years that he wanted to go on the stage, but it was an uphill struggle as his parents could not afford to have him trained.
On leaving school he became a printer's apprentice but, disliked his work so much that he joined a local dance band as a vocalist.
At the age of 18 he took an acting course, paying for his tuition by singing and playing the drums in London nightclubs.
Eventually he was given a job with a repertory company then toured music halls with a cabaret act.
For several summer seasons he was an entertainer at Butlin's holiday camps. He devoted the rest of the year to the Unity Theatre, where he gained great prestige as a producer.
During the Second World War he enlisted in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, reaching the rank of lieutenant, but was forced to return to civilian life after being injured in an explosion during a battle training course.
He went straight back to acting but it was not until early in 1947 in a production of Caste - in which he appeared as a raucous Cockney - that management agencies began to wake up to his potential.
He starred in The Way To The Stars, School For Secrets and Dancing With Crime before signing with the J Arthur Rank Organisation. It was then that he was persuaded to change his name from Rowbotham to Owen.
His first film under this name was When the Bough Breaks and his role of Bill Collins firmly established him on British screens. Also among his 46 movies were Once A Jolly Swagman, Georgy Girl, Lindsay Anderson's O Lucky Man and many of the early Carry Ons, such as Sergeant, Regardless and Nurse.
Co-star to Hepburn
He always insisted his greatest love was the theatre.
"I feel at home there," he said.
He scored a great success on the New York stage as Touchstone in As You Like It, starring Katharine Hepburn.
One of his prized possessions was a photograph showing him playing a scene with Miss Hepburn, which she inscribed: "To Bill, with affection and gratitude - Katharine Hepburn."
His small screen credits included the 1960s BBC comedy Taxi! alongside Sid James, as well as the classic Brideshead Revisited for ITV.
It is his charming role as Compo, though, for which he will long be remembered.
Before stepping into the role in 1973, he had never tried a Yorkshire accent. Yet the natural ease with which he slipped into it meant that for many it was a surprise to find he had a natural London accent.
"Compo has provided me with some sort of security, which I never had before," he recalled last year.
He was awarded the MBE in 1976 for his tireless work for the National Association of Boys Clubs and for his role as chairman of the Performing Arts Advisory Panel.
Although he had only a rudimentary education himself, he was awarded last year an honorary degree by Bradford University.
Owen's 17-year marriage to first wife Edith ended in divorce in 1964. He married former actress Kathleen O'Donoghue in 1977. He had a son, Tom, and a step-daughter, Kathie.