Bill Kenwright CBE (born 4 September 1945, in Liverpool, Merseyside, England) is an actor and theatrical producer.
He attended Booker Avenue County Primary School, and then Liverpool Institute High School from 1957 to 1964 and appeared in school productions (including Shylock in Merchant of Venice) on the stage in the Mount St. building (predecessor to LIPA. He was also treasurer of the Christian Union at school.
As a young man, he became an actor. He was not spectacularly successful, though he did hold down a role in Coronation Street for almost a year, as Gordon Clegg, from April 1968 to March 1969, after brief stints in other shows, such as The Villains and The Liver Birds and Carry On films. It is said that Gordon Clegg is the only role he would ever act again, out of love for Coronation Street and its cast.
Kenwright is now a successful theatrical producer, best known for the long-running West End hit Blood Brothers and the record breaking tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Other recent productions have included West End runs of Whistle Down The Wind at the Palace Theatre, Festen in London, on a UK tour and now on Broadway, The Big Life, Elmina's Kitchen, Scrooge - The Musical, The Night Of The Iguana, A Few Good Men, A Man For All Seasons alongside UK tours of Jesus Christ Superstar, Tommy, Whistle Down The Wind, Tell Me On A Sunday, and This Is Elvis.
He produced the London revival of Cabaret at the Lyric Theatre in September 2006, starring Anna Maxwell Martin, James Dreyfus and Sheila Hancock.
Bill Kenwright has his own record label (Bill Kenwright Records), which has released three albums as of February 2008. The London Palladium cast recording of Scrooge starring Tommy Steele and the 2006 Lyric Theatre Recording of Cabaret were joined in February 2008 by the debut album of Kenwright's new boy group Dream On.
Dream On, comprising five runners up from the BBC's Any Dream Will Do - Craig Chalmers, Lewis Bradley, Chris Crosby, Chris Barton and Antony Hansen was formed in January 2008.
Perhaps less known is Bill's recording career both solo and with a group Bill Kenwright and the Runaways:
and solo, as Bill Kenwright:
In 2004 he became Chairman of Everton, the football club he has supported all his life, succeeding Sir Phillip Carter in the role, who stepped down from his second stint as Everton Chairman, a position he had regained after Kenwright's takeover of the club in 1999. Bill Kenwright is one of only two Premier League chairman not to take a salary (Steve Gibson of Middlesbrough F.C. being the other), or take any payments for his role. In 2007, Kenwright launched a new professional basketball team as part of the mass-expansion of the British Basketball League. The Everton Tigers, have started competing this season.
He was married to Anouska Hempel from 1978 to 1980.
He is currently linked with British actress Jenny Seagrove.
He has one daughter and one granddaughter
In the year 2000 he was awarded the CBE for his services to film and theatre.
For many years it was thought that Elvis Presley had never set foot in England, and had only ever spent a few minutes on the tarmac at Prestwick airport in Scotland where his plane stopped to re-fuel. However, it emerged on 21-04-2008 (Radio 2) in an interview with Bill Kenwright, a close friend of Tommy Steele, he confirmed that Elvis, then 23, visited his friend Tommy in London in 1958. Kenwright said: “Elvis flew in for a day and Tommy showed him round London. He showed him the Houses of Parliament and spent the day with him.”. Mr Kenwright admitted on 22-04-2008 that he was not sure whether he should have told the story. Tommy Steele later said: “It was two young men sharing the same love of their music. I swore never to divulge publicly what took place and I regret that it has found some way of getting into the light. I only hope he can forgive me."
