This Is Your Life: Melvyn Hayes

Melvyn HAYES (1935-)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Melvyn Hayes, actor, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews during the curtain call of the pantomime Dick Whittington at the London Palladium.

Melvyn, who was born in London, began his career as a magician's assistant before later appearing in repertory theatre. From the mid-1950s, he moved into films, with roles in titles such as The Curse of Frankenstein, No Trees in the Street and The Young Ones.

On television, he appeared regularly in various dramas and comedies, before being cast in 1973 as Gunner 'Gloria' Beaumont in the BBC television sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum - a role that made him a household name.

"I don't believe this!"

programme details...

Edition No: 563
Subject No: 559
Broadcast date: Wed 28 Jan 1981
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Wed 7 Jan 1981
Venue: Royalty Theatre
Series: 21
Edition: 16
Code name: Redhill

on the guest list...

Windsor Davies
Mollie Sugden
Clive Dunn
Victor Spinetti
Jacqueline Reddin
Dino Shafeek
Chris Connah
Cherida Langford
Sandy Strallen
Zee
Derek Holt
Lionel Blair
Jim Davidson
Wendy Padbury - wife
Joanna - daughter
Damian - son
Talla - daughter
Sacha - daughter
Raymond - brother
Shelley - sister-in-law
Eric - brother
Ann - sister-in-law
Carol - sister-in-law
Colin - brother
Shan Mason
Sylvia Syms
Edward Woodward
Richard O'Sullivan
Alfred Marks
Jimmy Edwards
Charlotte - daughter

production team...

Researcher: Vivien Lind
Writers: Tom Brennand, Roy Bottomley
Directors: Stuart Hall, Terry Yarwood
Producer: Jack Crawshaw

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

The Good Life

the sitcom stars

The Night of 1000 Lives

a celebration of a thousand editions

This is the secret life

Jack Crawshaw reviews his time on This Is Your Life

Screenshots of Melvyn Hayes This Is Your Life

Daily Mail weekend: Melvyn Hayes This Is Your Life

Daily Mail weekend 3 May 2014

MY HAVEN – MELVYN HAYES

4 THIS IS MY LIFE

After It Ain't Half Hot Mum I continued working with Windsor Davies, including a 15-week panto season at the London Palladium in 1981 with Jim Davidson, Mollie Sugden, Lionel Blair and Clive Dunn. I used to joke about which side of the stage Eamonn Andrews would come on from to surprise me for This Is Your Life... then he did just that! My episode got 18 million viewers. I was a guest on 12 other occasions, including the 500th and 1,000th editions.

islandlife.magazine.co.uk 1 December 2019

Melvyn Hayes – the panto master – from Bonzo to Buttons!

The pantomime season is nearly upon us – oh, yes it is! Whether you choose to watch one of the many excellent productions that are performed each year on the island, or go further afield in search of Dames and Ugly Sisters, it is almost guaranteed to be an audience pleaser especially for the kids.

But whatever your personal choice, it's a fair bet you will not see anyone with more experience of pantos than actor Melvyn Hayes, a veteran of more productions than Mother Goose has laid eggs!

Melvyn, a youthful and sprightly 84, has lived with his family in Ryde for many years. In this special festive interview he talks about some of the great times he has enjoyed performing alongside a host of top name artists, as the panto posters on his office wall confirm.

He will be celebrating an amazing 70 years in showbiz next year, and he vividly recalls his first panto back in 1951. He said: "I played Bonzo the Dog at the Leicester Opera House, and in those days you did panto for three months. The Bonzo costume was skin-tight so someone had to help me get into it, before I put the dog’s head on. On the final night the audience just kept roaring with laughter, even after the scene had finished, and I couldn't understand why."

"I always wore pyjamas under the suit, and this night the naughty lady dresser left the pyjamas cord dangling out between my legs. I had no idea, but apparently it looked rather rude, swinging about as I walked around the stage, and that was probably the most laughs I ever had in panto."

His favourite panto venue was the London Palladium. He appeared in 1980 in Dick Whittington alongside such fello-stars as Jim Davidson, Mollie Sugden, Clive Dunn, Lionel Blair and Windsor Davies, his co-star in the iconic TV series 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum' where Melvyn played 'Gloria'.

It was at the London Palladium that he received one of his greatest honours. While on stage performing, the late Eamonn Andrews walked out with his famous big red book to announce: "Melvyn Hayes, This Is Your Life."

Melvyn smiled: "Throughout my career I always joked to everyone about the possible moment by saying 'I wonder on which side of the stage Eamonn will appear'. The night before he caught me, I even said it to Lionel Blair, who rushed off to the dressing room, and told Windsor Davies I knew all about it. Actually I had no idea, I was just using the old gag line again, and when Eamonn did appear the following night it was a massive surprise."

Melvyn, whose first stage job was as a 13-year-old doing the Indian Rope Trick, has taken virtually every panto role, from Dame to Buttons and Ugly Sister to... Bonzo! He reckons one of his favourites to appear in was as the Dame in Mother Goose, saying: "You get the comedy and the drama. I was once told to never let the goose talk, even when she came out to lay three eggs on stage, one by one to a big drum role."

"One night the goose came out, and there was a lot of hesitancy in the way she waddled across the stage. I kept talking, not allowing her to speak, until the guy playing the goose whispered to me: 'I've forgotten to load the eggs up!'"

"While he was offstage loading up the three eggs, I kept the audience amused by asking them what the goose's middle name was, with a prize for the winner. They were still screaming out names as the goose returned, eggs and all, and the show went on. That night someone at the stage door was very upset, because I hadn't revealed the goose's middle name, and no prize was given."

One of Melvyn's favourite actors to work alongside in panto was, almost inevitably, the late Windsor Davies. They performed alongside each other at venues including The Palladium, Liverpool Empire and Sunderland Empire, as well as a nine-week run at Shanklin Theatre in a play called 'Sink or Slim'. He smiled: "It wasn't the best, with one newspaper critic saying: 'It Ain't 'Arf Rot Mum!'"

Pantos have changed over the years, as Melvyn points out. He said: "Once there were at least a dozen chorus girls, nowadays your lucky to see four. There were always big name variety artists in the productions, then it became people out of sitcoms, and then out of soap operas. Now it's more reality TV people, so you don't need any talent, you just need to be known from television."

"At one time you did eight shows a week; later in my career we were doing three shows a day sometimes. I once did a panto for 15 weeks, but now they are usually over inside a week."

"One of my gags was to bring out a Rubik's Cube, all sides painted green and say it was an Irish Rubik's Cube. I later received a letter from two Irish people complaining, so I never did it again. There was also the 'Busy Bee' sketch where two guys with bottles would squirt water out of their mouths at each other. Not anymore, nor letting a little girl come on stage during the show and sit on your knee. It's sad how such innocent things can no longer be part of panto."

Melvyn has so many stories it would fill a book. Indeed, he began writing his memoirs 30 years ago, and so far has only got up to the 1970s!

Series 21 subjects