Huge benefit for Kinnear charity

Some of the biggest names in theatre and comedy are to take part in a major benefit gig in memory of Roy Kinnear.

Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellan, Bruce Forsyth, Ross Noble, Sandi Toksvig, Richard O'Brien and Ned Sherrin are among those taking part in Comedy Tonight Too in the West End on October 26.

The show is a follow-up to a 1994 performance and is in aid of the Roy Kinnear Foundation for profoundly disabled young adults.

Hosted by Sir David Frost, Comedy Tonight Too! includes:

• Dame Judi Dench as Celia Johnson with Sir Ian McKellan as Trevor Howard in a spoof Brief Encounter directed by Trevor Nunn
• Jean Boht performing a Vagina Monologue
• Frances de la Tour reciting Shakespeare's sonnets
• Stand-up from Ross Noble
• Sheila Hancock and cast in Stephen Sondheim's I'm Still Here
• Ned Sherrin's theatrical anecdotes
• A game of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue featuring Sandi Toksvig, Humphrey Lyttelton, Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden.

Tickets for the show, at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, are priced from £15 to £140 (which includes an exclusive after-show party). Click here to buy.

Comedy actor Kinnear died in 1988 after falling from a horse on the set of a Three Musketeers film, and the benefit is being produced by his widow, Carmel.

Their daughter, Karina, was born a quadriplegic, and the charity was set up because of the difficulties the family encountered once she left local authority responisbility in 1999.

Roy Kinnear House was opened in Twickenham, south-west London in 2000 and now looks after five profoundly disabled youngsters.

Carmel said: "I was unable to find suitable accommodation for my daughter when she finished her schooling. Karina remained at home for nine years until we had finished fundraising and opened Roy Kinnear House in 2000.

"Other than long stay hospitals there was no appropriate housing for young people with such severe disabilities who required nursing care. I am so happy that we have established the home for Karina and other similar young people who now have a home for life."

Published: 10 Oct 2003