Paul Henry (actor)

Born in Aston, Birmingham, Henry attended the city's Alderlea Boys School in Shard End with Jeff Lynne. Henry trained at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama, which was followed by eight years at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.{{cite news |url=https://www.monmouthshirebeacon.co.uk/news/benny-from-crossroads-opens-monmouth-carnival-296053/ |title=Benny from Crossroads opens Monmouth Carnival |work=Sunday Mercury |date=20 June 2010 |accessdate=3 March 2023}} Between 1975 and 1988, he played his best-known role of Benny Hawkins, a handyman in Crossroads.{{Cite news|url=https://www.monmouthshirebeacon.co.uk/news/benny-from-crossroads-opens-monmouth-carnival-296053|title=Benny from Crossroads opens Monmouth Carnival |date=9 October 2021|work=Monmouthshire Beacon|first=Bob |last=Rogers |accessdate=3 March 2023}}

In 1975 Henry featured in the British television police drama, The Sweeney. He appeared in the episode Stoppo Driver in which he played the character of Maurice Brass, a career criminal and hardman, associated with a family of criminals involved in the kidnap of the wife of Detective Constable Brian Cooney, a Flying Squad driver.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b80c54b98|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626121215/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b80c54b98|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 June 2022|title=Stoppo Driver (1975)|website=BFI}}

In 1977, Henry recorded "Benny's Theme" with the Mayson Glen Orchestra for Pye Records. It peaked at no. 39 in the UK Singles Chart in January 1978.{{cite book| first= David| last= Roberts| year= 2006| title= British Hit Singles & Albums| edition= 19th| publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London| isbn= 1-904994-10-5| page= 251}} He was in character as Benny in the song, but spoke rather than sang.

Henry made a guest appearance on the Central Television game show Bullseye, presented by Jim Bowen, on 11 February 1985. He scored 215 and raised £215 for charity.

His country-boy style gained him the part of Peter Stevens in The Archers for a time. Henry's post-Crossroads career included minor stage roles and the running of a nightclub in Whitchurch, Shropshire, but, in 1994, he returned to television briefly in a tribute to Crossroads, called 30 Years On.{{Cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/person/13c7/paul-henry|title=Paul Henry|website=Theatricalia}}
- {{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7deb8999|title=Crossroads 30 Years On (1994)|publisher=British Film Institute}} In a 2002 interview, Henry said that the public still loved Benny and that during a shopping trip, he returned to his car to find someone had left a piece of paper on it saying, "Benny, we miss you."{{cite web |url=http://www.crossroadsnetwork.co.uk/society/paulhenry.htm |title=Paul Henry interview |publisher=Crossroads Appreciation Society |date=August 2002|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927204936/http://www.crossroadsnetwork.co.uk/society/paulhenry.htm |archivedate=2007-09-27 }}

In 2003, he returned to acting on TV in an episode of the British medical soap opera Doctors.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=7851|title=Paul Henry|website=Aveleyman.com}}{{rs|date=March 2023}} He then played the regular character Frank, a baker's delivery man and later attempted rapist, in the penultimate series of the ITV1 prison drama Bad Girls.{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba16483ae|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125200637/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba16483ae|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 November 2020|title=Paul Henry|publisher=British Film Institute}}

Returning to the stage in 2009, he appeared in a touring version of Run for Your Wife and in the following year portrayed Tony Hancock in the play Hancock's Finest Hour.

The slang phrase "throwing a benny" refers to someone having a temper tantrum and may originate from Henry's Crossroads character.{{cite web|url=http://www.stripes.com/news/expand-your-uk-iq-throw-a-benny-1.66839|title=Expand your UK IQ: Throw a benny |first= Geoff |last=Ziezulewicz |website=Stars and Stripes |date=11 July 2007 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141221013300/http://www.stripes.com/news/expand-your-uk-iq-throw-a-benny-1.66839 |archivedate=21 December 2014 |accessdate=3 March 2023}}

The comic actor Ronnie Barker revealed in his later years that he had suggested Henry for casting as his cellmate Lennie Godber in the sitcom Porridge, but that Richard Beckinsale was chosen instead. Henry's intended portrayal was the reason the character came from Birmingham.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-london/plain/A713882 |title='Porridge' - the TV Series - A713882 |publisher=BBC |date= |accessdate=2012-10-13 |archive-date=19 April 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130419175049/http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-london/plain/A713882 |url-status=dead }}

In October 2017, Henry appeared on Pointless Celebrities alongside Shaun Williamson. They won the jackpot.{{Cite web|url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/health/2017/10/30/benny-triumphs-on-pointless/|title='Benny' triumphs on Pointless |first=Sue |last=Austin |website=Shropshire Star |date=30 October 2017}}

In the 2023 ITVX miniseries Nolly, which dramatised the life of his former Crossroads colleague Noele Gordon, Henry was portrayed by Lloyd Griffith.{{cite web |title=Nolly cast: Meet the actors and their real-life counterparts |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/nolly-cast-real-life-itvx/ |website=Radio Times |access-date=23 March 2023 |date=2 February 2023}}

Henry and his wife Sheila had a son, Anthony, and a daughter, Justine, who died as a result of a traffic collision at the age of 19.

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Category:1946 births

Category:English male soap opera actors

Category:Living people

Category:Male actors from Birmingham, West Midlands

Category:People from Aston