Sue Upton was an important person in Benny Hill's life: not just as the longest-serving Angel, "head girl" to the Angels, and veteran of his stock company, but also as a personal friend. For that reason, no book on Benny would be really complete without at least some mention of her.

While in London recently to see Sue, I also visited the library of the British Film Institute. From their collection of books about Benny, I've excerpted some of the best quotes by and about Sue, and I'm pleased to present these excerpts here.

Forwood, Margaret. The real Benny Hill. London: Robson Books, 1992.

"Sometimes, though, it was difficult not to take notice of Sue Upton when Benny wrote in all sorts of stunts for her to do, either as Wondergran or some other character. Especially when her bosom blew up. One day she was WonderGirl being chased round by the baddies. The gag was that she turned round, whipped open her cape and fired at them with machine-guns concealed in her bra. 'I was all wired up so I expected a few bangs,' she said, 'but when they came they were not so much bangs as minor explosions. I thought I was about to lose part of my vital equipment.'" (pp. 118-119)

Hill, Leonard. Saucy boy: the life story of Benny Hill. London: Grafton Books, 1990.

"Despite his protestations, Benny is no misogynist. He has great affection for women of all ages. One of the closest to him is Sue Upton, head girl of Hill's Angels. Over the thirteen years he has known her, my brother has stayed at her home many times, has become a friend to her husband, Roger, and an uncle to her young children, Richard and Louise. He regularly takes the children on trips, plays Santa to them at Christmas, and has even visited their school. Roger, on the other hand, took on the job of decorating [Benny's] Southampton home. 'Benny has become part of the family', says Sue. 'The children love him. He's always kidding them. When he rings them up, he calls Louise Richard and vice versa. They still find it funny. A few days ago, Richard was writing Christmas cards to a couple of his schoolfriends. He asked me to help him with his card to Benny, the only adult he wanted to write to.'

'We all enjoy Benny's visits because he's such good company and so easy to cater for. He likes all kinds of food. Benny lives and breathes nothing but show-business, of course. The only exception is boxing - and that's a branch of show-business, too, I suppose. I have had to learn about the sport so that I can join in the conversation when the two men watch it on television. I have always loved old movies, but Benny has encouraged me to study the comedies in particular. We chat for hours about them. I think Benny enjoys his stays with us. He's not a great one to express his feelings. But sometimes he says, "When I come again, I'll...", then I know that sharing our everyday family life has been a nice change for him.

'Benny is a sincere, considerate and quiet person. At rehearsals, he is always giving the Angels advice about their careers and their boyfriends. They don't often take it, but I've never once heard him grumble about that, swear, raise his voice, or say a disrespectful word to any of the girls. He's not a bit like the parts he plays. People should remember that he's an actor. Benny is very much a man, of course, and he is attracted to women. But he's a very caring man. Knowing what he's like professionally and in his private life, I have the greatest fondness and respect for him.' (pp. 315-16)

"The cast are expected to be equally dedicated to their work. The smallest, and perhaps the pluckiest, of the Angels, Sue Upton, whom Benny sometimes addresses as 'Uptonogood', is often called upon to make contributions beyond the call of duty. In her time, she has careered down a hill on a tricycle with no brakes, bruised her legs dropping into a pit from a jungle vine, and burned her breasts from the back-fire of an exploding bra. Sue remembers with particular vividness the occasion when, as the indestructible Wondergran, she beat off all attacks by Jekyll, Hyde, and crony, who were disguised as Benny, Bob Todd and Henry McGee. She had to stand, nonchalantly humming, while being subjected to a barrage of huge missiles. Balsa-wood park benches, tables, chairs and polystyrene boulders were all hurled, she says, 'with conviction'. As they crashed into her, poor Sue conveyed the impression that she was impervious to pain. In fact, she was shaken and terrified, but she did not flinch. When Dennis shouted 'Cut!' everybody cheered and clapped her courage. Sue was so relieved that she burst into tears." (p. 331)

Kirkland, Dennis. Benny: the true story. Hodder, England: Coronet Books, 1993.

"Sue Upton - [Benny's] longest-lasting Angel, undoubtedly his favorite, and ultimately one of his best friends - still vividly remembers being chosen to appear on The Benny Hill Show. She was just twenty years old [...] when she was auditioned by Ben. [....] Her agent sent Ben her photograph and she was invited for an audition at his Queens Gate flat.

She recalls: 'We ended up singing and laughing together as he played the guitar. He seemed to take a great liking to me. It wasn't a casting couch. He was very precise and polite, asking you to sit down, offering you a drink, always the gentleman.'

Soon after hiring her in 1976 Benny said, 'Sue is really funny. Finding pretty girls who are talented and funny is not easy. And not all girl dancers are pretty. Some of them look like me in drag. Sue is pretty and she is funny.'

Benny had such confidence in Sue that he used to ask her to seek out possible new recruits for his show. If Sue thought a girl dancer had that little bit extra Benny was always looking for, he would know she would be worth him talking to.

'Benny is very hard to please, the perfect professional. That is what makes him the superstar he is. I was very nervous when I first met him. But he immediately put me at my ease. He can bring even the shyest person out of their shell. He doesn't especially want big boobs, only if they are suitable to accentuate a certain sketch - like when he leers at them as Fred Scuttle. The girls have to have some intelligence.'" (pp. 128-9)

Ross, Robert. Benny Hill, merry master of mirth: the complete companion. London: B.T. Batsford, 1999.

"Sue Upton originally came into The Benny Hill Show as part of Love Machine (alongside troupe leader Libby Roberts and Claire Lutter), a sexy dance group which fashioned the style that Hill's Angels would later perfect. Upton was quickly picked out of the line-up and moulded as a supporting actress by Hill. Her comic timing impressed him, and her physical attractiveness exactly fitted the bill. Indeed, an early, very scantily clad TV Times publicity shot of Upton probably doubled the audience ratings for that weeks' show. Married to musician Roger Whatling of Tonix, Upton was, along with Louise English, cited as the most famous Hill's Angel, whereas they were usually credited separately from the rest of the group. Hill was delighted with the actress, developed more character roles for her, and despite her happily claiming the position of 'head girl', moved her career away from glamorous parts when he cast her as an aged superhero, Wondergran, battling Hill's cowardly Count Dracula. Hill's toothy vampire nearly gets hit by a car, finds himself on the wrong side of a belisha beacon and finally succumbs to Upton's dogged old lady. Of all the cast, Hill was closest to Upton, and she was happy to prance along with the other girls or sink her teeth into more meaty comic roles - one of their happiest collaborations being as Laurel and Hardy. As with her Benny Hill assignments, Upton's other credits alternated between the glamorous (What's Up Superdoc!) and the unatrractive (Confessions from a Holiday Camp)." (p. 123)

Ross, Robert. Benny's babes - installment one: Sue Upton. [Biographical sketch of Sue included with the DVD set Benny Hill Complete And Unadulterated: The Hill's Angels Years, Set 4 1977-1981.] New York: A&E, 2006.

The perfect combination of glamour girl and character actress, Sue was equally at home playing a grouchy harridan or a seductive femme fatale on The Benny Hill Show. A valued part of the British sex comedy tradition of the 1970s, she was a bespectacled nuisance to Robin Askwith in Confessions From A Holiday Camp (1977) and a steamy gangster's moll in What's Up Superdoc! (1978). As one of the most prominent members of the Hill's Angels, Sue teased with the best of them, although she is perhaps at her best as the superhero Wondergran! One of Benny's closest friends on the show, Sue considered the star comic one of her family. Instrumental in honoring Benny with several Blue Plaques in London (one at his home and one at Teddington Studios), Sue is a dedicated charity worker with the Heritage Foundation.

Smith, John. The Benny Hill story. London: W. H. Allen, 1988.

"Sue made an early impact on Benny when she was dressed up as a granny, dodging wheelchairs in a crazy chase sequence which he had devised for TV.

'It was when the Belisha beacon fell on her head at a zebra crossing that I realised I had a girl with talent,' recalls Benny. 'Sue is really funny. But finding pretty girls who are talented and funny is not easy. Some of them I have to sit and talk to for an hour, encouraging them and advising them on their future. I mean, you just can't say: "Sorry, dear, you look like me in drag."

'And a lot of girls don't fancy all sorts of things being poured over them and generally having to wear very little during filming, especially in the bitter cold.'

Although the Hill's Angels frequently appear in skimpy costumes, Sue Upton insists that they are never expected to wear or do anything which they find embarrassing. 'If they think a costume is too revealing, they've only got to say so,' she says.

One girl who did feel embarrassed [...] refused to wear a very revealing string bikini for a beach sketch. 'It was just ridiculous, it barely covered you,' protested [the dancer]. 'I told Benny straight that I wasn't going to do it.'

'He was very sweet about it, and said: "O.K., dear heart." Then they got another girl to do the scene.'

This surprisingly amicable settlement of a potentially contentious situation came as no surprise to Sue Upton. 'In all the years I've known Benny I've never heard him swear, raise his voice, lose his temper or say anything disrespectful to a girl,' she claims." (pp. 110-111)

This page updated September 26, 2006.