Kenneth Williams' Best Carry On Performance: The result!

 

Earlier last month I asked you all to decide which of all Kenneth Williams' performances in the Carry On films were your favourites. A tough decision to make given that he appeared in 26 of the films! Well thankfully loads of you took part in my poll, designed to be a part of Kenneth's 90th birthday celebrations this week.

I found it difficult to choose from such a range of characters. Kenneth spanned the entire run of the series from Carry On Sergeant in 1958 through to Emmannuelle in 1978. There couldn't be more of a contrast between these two films. He appeared in contemporary set and historical parody films and thrived in the medical Carry Ons too.

So without going through each of the 26 film roles, which ones came out on top? Well I have decided just to list the top 5, so here goes. 

 

Coming in first place was Kenneth's classic role as Julius Caesar in the 1964 film Carry On Cleo. It was a decisive win for this role and it has become a iconic part for Kenneth, complete with that wonderful line "infamy, infamy...." I don't even need to finish it! Caesar collected 12% of the total vote.

In second place with 10% of the vote came The Khasi in the majestic Carry On Up The Khyber. Coming up in third place is Kenneth's barnstorming performance as Orlando Watt in the classic Carry On Screaming. That polled 8% of the vote.

 

In joint fourth place came two later Carry On roles for Kenneth. Sharing the honours are factory boss W.C Boggs in Carry On At Your Convenience and Professor Roland Crump in what I consider to be the last proper Carry On, 1975's Carry On Behind. Both performances received 7% of the vote.

Finally, sharing fifth place are Kenneth's classic performances as Citizen Camembert in Don't Lose Your Head and super spy Desmond Simkins in the last black and white film in the series, Carry On Spying.

 

Out of interest, the only one of Kenneth's performances not to poll any votes at all was his last role in the series, as Emile Prevert in Carry On Emmannuelle. I can't help but think Kenneth would have been happy with that!

So what do you think of the results? Did your favourite win?

A very big thank you to all the Kenneth fans out there who got involved with the poll. I hope you enjoyed taking part and I hope you agree with the result!

 

Carry On! 

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