Kenneth Victor Campbell (10 December 1941 – 31 August 2008) was an English writer, actor, director and comedian known for his work in experimental theatre.He has been called "a one-man dynamo of British theatre."   Campbell achieved notoriety in the 1970s for his nine-hour adaptation of the science-fiction trilogy Illuminatus! and his 22-hour staging of Neil Oram's play cycle The Warp. The Guinness Book of Records listed the latter as the longest play in the world. The Independent said that, "In the 1990s, through a series of sprawling monologues packed with arcane information and freakish speculations on the nature of reality, he became something approaching a grand old man of the fringe, though without ever discarding his inner enfant terrible."  The Times labelled Campbell a one-man whirlwind of comic and surreal performance. The Guardian, in a posthumous tribute, judged him to be "one of the most original and unclassifiable talents in the British theatre of the past half-century. A genius at producing shows on a shoestring and honing the improvisational capabilities of the actors who were brave enough to work with him."   The artistic director of the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse said, "He was the door through which many hundreds of kindred souls entered a madder, braver, brighter, funnier and more complex universe."  

Filmography

• 2005Friends Reunited — Zero
• Agatha Christie's Marple — Crump
• 2004Creep — Arthur
• 2004Ken Campbell's Meaning of Life — Self, Writer
• 2000Saving Grace — Sgt. Alfred Masely
• 1999Alice in Wonderland — Mr. Duck
• Dooley Gardens
• Six Experiments that Changed the World
• 1998Extraordinary Visitor — Rodney
• 1996Hard Men — Mr Ross
• Local Heroes
• Reality on the Rocks
• Middlemarch — Mr Mawmsey
• 1992A Different Hand — The Doctor
• Heartbeat — Hector Plumpton
• 1992Secret Nation — Parkinson
• 1990Crimestrike — Julius Caesar
• 1990Wings of Fame — Head Waiter
• 1989Scandal — Editor of Pictorial
• The Nineteenth Hole — Johnson
• 1988A Fish Called Wanda — Bartlett
• 1988Darkest England
• Erasmus Microman — Erasmus Microman
• Lovejoy — Ted Goat
• 1986Smart Money — Mr. Sayles
• 1985A Zed & Two Noughts — Stephen Pipe
• 1985Dreamchild — Radio Sound Effects Man/March Hare (voice)
• Home to Roost — Mr Prendergast
• In Sickness and in Health — The Irate Driver, Fred Johnson
• 1985In the Secret State — Hoskins
• 1985Joshua Then and Now — Sidney Murdoch
• 1985Letter to Brezhnev — Newspaper Reporter
• 1985Ligmalion: Or How to Help Yourself in Self-Help Britain — Samuel Smiles
• Screen Two — Tim Rickett, Writer
• Super Gran — Unlucky Luciano
• 1985The Bride — Pedlar
• 1985The Moon Over Soho — Geoffrey Hargreaves
• Sherlock Holmes — James Ryder
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes — James Ryder
• The Bill
• 1984Unfair Exchanges — Tim Rickett, Writer
• Private Schulz — Krauss
• 1981Towers of Babel — Alfie
• 1980Breaking Glass — Publican
• The Gentle Touch
• Minder — Seedy Customer
• 1979Phoelix
• 1979The Last Window Cleaner — DC Denis Deacey
• 1979The Secret Policeman's Ball — Various Roles
• 1979The Tempest — Gonzalo, an honest councillor
• 1978Dinner at the Sporting Club — Neville
• Law & Order — Alex Gladwell
• 1977Secret Service — Producer
• The Professionals — Parker
• 1976Justine — Dubourg
• 1976The Mound Builders — Director
• Fawlty Towers — Roger
• 1975The Rules of the Game — Producer
• 1969The Big Flame — Journalist
• 1968Inspector Clouseau — Reporter
• 1968Uncle Silas — Crabbe
• 1967Poor Cow — Mr. Jacks
• 1967The Heroism of Thomas Chadwick — Thomas Chadwick
• Mystery and Imagination — Crabbe
• Armchair Theatre — Thomas Chadwick, Writer

Appearances as themselves (4)

• 2012Nina Conti: Her Master's Voice — Self
• An Audience with... — Self
• 1976The Story of Pantomime — Self
• 1971The Ken Campbell Roadshow — Self