A stalwart from the great days of radio comedy, actor Dick Bentley is
best remembered as the gormless Ron in the
Denis Norden and
Frank Muir's fifties series Take It
From Here.
Bentley was born in Australia and during his teens played the saxophone
in local dance bands. He came to Britain in 1939 and appeared briefly
in the BBC radio series You've Asked For It.
During the Second World War he returned to Australia where he
entertained the troops. He also appeared in troop shows throughout the
South Pacific and in New Guinea.
After the War he returned to London and appeared in radio's The Navy
Mixture before teaming up with Joy Nichols
and the comedian Jimmy Edwards in
Take It From Here.
He also had his own weekly radio series Gently, Bentley and
subsequently appeared in a number of Royal Command Performances. His
film appearance included an excellent cameo in
Der endlose Horizont (1960), with
Robert Mitchum and an amusing role in
Barry Humphries'
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972).
He was also a noted singer of light popular songs and made a number of
LPs.
From the early 1970s he lived in retirement in London. In his last
interview he said: "I'd sooner be remembered as a funny man than that
people remembered the funny things I say. I don't want to be a
second-hand Tommy Handley. I want to be a
first class Bentley."
