2 weeks Ago By Robert Oliver
Benny Hill’s £7.5million fortune is apparently being contested (Picture: TV Times via Getty Images)It’s been reported that a bitter feud has erupted over the fortune of late comedian and actor Benny Hill, who died aged 68 in 1992.Born in Southampton, Hill – whose real name was Alfred Hawthorne Hill – became a legendary funnyman of British TV in the 1950s and 1960s.
The creation of The Benny Hill Show, which ran from 1955 to 1989, catapulted him to global fame with its use of slapstick sketch comedy and frequent innuendo.Hill died in Teddington, London after suffering both a heart attack and kidney failure in the space of a few days, and was found in his armchair, having been watching TV when he died.A will written by Hill in 1961 left most of his estate to his parents, but they both died before him – this resulted in his £7.
5million fortune (worth £16million in 2025) being divided up among several nieces and nephews.However, it’s now been claimed that Hill ‘wasn’t close’ to his extended family, and that a second will was written, leaving his fortune to many of his colleagues instead. The comedian died in 1992 at the age of 68 (Picture: Evening Standard/Getty Images)Sue Upton, who was part of the Hill’s Angels dance troupe, has claimed that she was among the listed names on the second will that apparently never made it through probate.
Speaking to The Mail, the 70-year-old said: ‘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.
’The Benny Hill Show was a TV staple for more than 30 years (Picture: TV Times via Getty Images)Sue Upton was one of Hill’s famous Angels troupe (Picture: TV Times via Getty Images)Upton’s name is reportedly listed on the second document alongside friends and colleagues such as Dennis Kirkland, Bob Todd, Louise English, and Henry McGee.Kirkland – who died in 2006, aged 63 – had been a producer on The Benny Hill Show and was sadly the person who found Hill’s body, two days after his death.Upton continued: ‘I was told there was a piece of paper with people’s names and amounts.
I was on that list, but it wouldn’t stand up in court, so that was that.’However, when approached by The Mail, one of Hill’s family members who was named in the will replied: ‘I think there’s been some confusion [over the estate].’Hill is reported to have written a second will later in life (Picture: Bettmann Archive)Despite being a rich man, Hill was famously frugal, buying cheap food from supermarkets, walking rather than taking taxis, and mending his own clothes and shoes rather than buying new ones.
Upton has urged people to learn from Hill’s ‘mistake’ and to resolve financial issues before death in order to make any legal processes easier for those left behind.After his death 33 years ago, it was believed that the TV comedian had been buried with some of his fortune, including precious and valuable items.Hill’s grave was broken into by grave robbers six months after his death, resulting in it having to be restored and covered over with a giant concrete slab.
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