Watch Bill Owen Videos

William John Owen Rowbotham MBE (14 March 1914 – 12 July 1999), better known as Bill Owen, was an English actor and songwriter. Born in London, he made his first film appearance in 1944 but did not achieve lasting fame until the 1970s, when he took the starring role of Compo Simmonite in the long-running British sitcom Last of the Summer Wine. Owen's character is a scruffy working class pensioner, often made use of by the characters played by Michael Bates, Brian Wilde, Michael Aldridge and Frank Thornton for dirty jobs, stunts and escapades, while his indomitably docile friend Peter... MORE

William John Owen Rowbotham MBE (14 March 1914 – 12 July 1999), better known as Bill Owen, was an English actor and songwriter. Born in London, he made his first film appearance in 1944 but did not achieve lasting fame until the 1970s, when he took the starring role of Compo Simmonite in the long-running British sitcom Last of the Summer Wine. Owen's character is a scruffy working class pensioner, often made use of by the characters played by Michael Bates, Brian Wilde, Michael Aldridge and Frank Thornton for dirty jobs, stunts and escapades, while his indomitably docile friend Peter Sallis follows and watches with a smirk. He wore a woollen hat and spent much of his time lusting after dowdy housewife Nora Batty. As Compo, Owen saw off several co-stars. The series, starting in 1973 and finishing in 2010, is today the world's longest-running comedy series. Owen became an icon, a darling of its audience and central to its success and episodes for 26 years, right until his death. The threesome of Compo, Clegg and Foggy (this third character was initially Blamire, played by Michael Bates and when Brian Wilde's Foggy took a hiatus, by Michael Aldridge's Seymour Utterthwaite) remains the LESS