Kinnear had a rather broad performing style which some reviewers quickly found tiresome. In contrast he seemed to positively enchant American expatriate director Richard Lester who cast him in eight features including the Beatles vehicle "Help!" (1965) as the bumbling assistant to mad scientist Victor Spinetti, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (1966), "How I Won the War" (1967) and "The Four Musketeers" (1975) and "Return of the Musketeers" (1989). Kinnear died during the shooting of the latter when he fell off a horse.