RIP John Inman, who died last night aged 71: Inman played Mr. Humphries in Are You Being Served and is one of the gay actors who, like Frankie Howerd and Kenneth Williams, brought camp comedy into the UK entertainment mainstream.
However you feel about the use of stereotypical ‘nancy boy’ behaviour as entertainment, entertain it does and thee’s no denying that the public presence of camp comics like Inman made it much more acceptable to be an out gay man.
Here’s some video of Inman in full flight:
When I was a kid I used to laugh just at the pure silliness of Mr Humphries, but it’s only as an adult watching him that you get the sly subversiveness behind the slapstick.
