Glaswegian titan Billy Connolly has had many twists and turns to his career in entertainment. He was a welder, a folk musician, a singer, a comedian, an actor and then... a zombie! Needless to say, fans of his output were caught off guard by that development, and this was coming from a man who scaled the heights of the unexpected in his stand up routines. He took the undead title part in Fido, a warped comedy directed by Andrew Currie about the aftermath of a human v corpse conflict in an alternate history. Playing a domesticated member of the undead saw Connolly broaden his range like never before. However, just as Ross Noble raised a few eyebrows as a marauding, vengeance-obsessed clown in Stitches, so the maverick Scot's admirers couldn't get their heads around him painted grey and shambling round 1950s Canada. The movie was intended as a comedy and received good reviews, but the film became as famous for its unusual choice of lead as it did for pushing the horror envelope. It was the sort of risky decision that resulted in puzzled expressions and dark laughter in equal quantity. Day Of The Dead it ain't!
I am a journalist and comedian who enjoys American movies of the 70s, Amicus horror compendiums, Doctor Who, Twin Peaks, Naomi Watts and sitting down. My short fiction has been published as part of the Iris Wildthyme range from Obverse Books.
