CaptainWaggett

Captain Birdseye
"Captain Birds Eye actor dies, 86
Actor John Hewer, who was best known for playing Captain Birds Eye in the popular fish finger adverts, has died aged 86.
He played the role of the jovial naval captain, who was aimed at children, from 1967 until 1998.

The star, who was a resident of actors' retirement home Brinsworth House in Middlesex, passed away on Sunday.

He also appeared in the original Broadway production of Sandy Wilson's The Boy Friend. The Captain Birds Eye character has outlasted the likes of the Milky Bar Kid and McDonalds' Ronald McDonald. In 1971 an obituary for the Birds Eye character appeared in the Times newspaper after it was decided to retire him.

However, that was only temporary and he returned to TV screens three years later. When he eventually did retire from the role, actor Thomas Pescod took over. In 1993 Captain Birds Eye was voted as the most recognised captain after Captain Cook in a poll. "

He had a bit of a tv career back in the day but being the Cap'n seems to have been more or less a full-time job

JamesM

I see he was one of Maxwell Reed's victims in The Dark Man and played Sydney Tafler's musically talented brother in Assassin For Hire later playing leads for Danziger productions in the 1960s opposite Susan Stephen.

batman

He was indeed .... he played the unfortunate taxi driver.

I wish I had claws.

julian_craster

Obituary: John Hewer

Actor best known for his advertising role as Captain Birdseye
by Simon Farquhar
The Guardian,
Thursday March 20 2008


The actor John Hewer, who has died aged 86, embodied Captain Birdseye, the face of fish fingers, in a series of television commercials from 1967 to 1998. He outlived brand-personalities such as the Milky Bar Kid and the Honey Monster, and came 65th in the Channel 4 poll of the 100 greatest TV adverts in 2000. Seventeen years earlier he had done rather better when he was voted "the second most recognised captain in the world", having been pipped to the post by Captain Cook.

Hewer was born in Leyton, east London, and for most of his life was a resident of Epping. His acting career began in the late 1940s, and for 20 years he appeared in many low-key British movies, especially thrillers such as The Dark Man (1951) and Strip Tease Murder (1961).

He was a particular favourite of producers Harry Lee and Eddie Danziger, in films such as Operation Stogie (?) (1959), alongside Anton Rodgers and Susan Stephen, and the Danziger brothers frequently called on him to appear in small roles. They were renowned for economy and would travel around the major studios buying up old, redundant sets from big budget movies at cheap prices, and then give budding young scriptwriters challenges such as "we need a thriller with a small cast, but it's got to be set in a ballroom, a submarine and the Old Bailey". With usually 14 days to write the script and a similarly gruelling production schedule, such fascinating limitations honed the crafts of many fine actors and writers.

Hewer's television work included Colonel March of Scotland Yard (1956) and Tales from Dickens (1959). He also played Edwin Cherryble in the 1977 BBC dramatisation of Nicholas Nickleby, with Nigel Havers in the title role.

His most high-profile television role - after Captain Birdseye, with his observation to a group of happy children, "only the best for the captain's table" - came when he hosted the Pig and Whistle, Canada's longest running prime-time musical variety show, in the late 1960s. Set in a mocked-up British pub, it featured a gallery of stars such as Max Bygraves, Barbara Windsor, Ann Shelton and Chic Murray.

But it was as a stage actor that Hewer really made his mark. Blessed with a magnificent voice, he was one of the stars of the original Broadway production of Sandy Wilson's musical The Boy Friend, starring Julie Andrews as she turned 19, in 1954. The original Broadway soundtrack album of the show features Hewer giving particularly good performances on two of the finest songs, A Room in Bloomsbury and the charming I Could Be Happy With You. He was also in the London production of the Noël Coward musical Sail Away(1962) alongside Elaine Stritch.

He spent many years as a member of the Players theatre in Charing Cross, London, and his passion for music hall led to him to develop his own business, managing and presenting music-hall shows on Southend pier.

During this time he still contributed the occasional screen role, the last being in 1979, with a small part in Pete Walker's controversial Home Before Midnight.

But throughout this period it was Captain Birdseye who kept the money coming in. Ironically, just four years after his first appearance, his employers killed off the character, deciding that a granddad-like figure was too old to appeal to small children, replacing him with a younger actor. The Times even posted a cod obituary to the fictitious captain on June 7 1971, claiming that "after long exposure, life just slipped through his fingers", while recognising his "selfless devotion to the nutritional needs of the nation's children."

However, in 1974 the paper announced that reports of his death were grossly exaggerated, and Hewer returned to the role, his popularity saving Birdseye - the brand founded by American inventor Clarence Birdseye in the 1930s - from growing competition.

Hewer died in Brinsworth House, the actors' retirement home in Middlesex. His wife predeceased him.

· John Hewer, actor, born January 13 1922; died March 16 2008

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John Hewer: Icon of TV advertisements
THE INDEPENDENT
Thursday, 20 March 2008

One of the most iconic advertisements in British television advertising history featured John Hewer as Captain Birds Eye in commercials for Birds Eye frozen fish fingers. The jovial, white-bearded seafarer was seen on a far-flung beach, surrounded by singing children and inviting them to eat at "the captain's table".

The character – described by his creator, Barry Day, as "Tony Hancock impersonating Robert Newton doing Long John Silver" – spearheaded the company's advertising campaign from its inception in 1967. Although Hewer was dropped in 1971, with the captain supposedly "lost at sea", he was reinstated three years later and continued, on and off, until 1998, when he retired, to be replaced by a younger sea-dog. He said that "many people expressed disappointment at not seeing the old captain again. True, I am an 'old' captain but in the early commercials, these kind people might be surprised to see me, with brown hair and beard, leaping up ladders and on and off boats."

Such an impact had he made that a 1993 survey named Captain Birds Eye as the most recognised captain in the world after Captain Cook. Hewer had earlier appeared in advertisements for Birds Eye frozen peas.

Born in Leyton, east London, in 1922, the son of a steam engine driver, John Hewer attended Leyton High School and began his working life at the London County Council, working in a department that helped those having difficulties in paying their rent.

He served in the Navy's Fleet Air Arm as a navigator during the Second World War, travelling to Vancouver and the Caribbean, and witnessing the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, but he did not see action. However, he performed with a group that entertained other service personnel and, as a result, despite a brief return to the LCC after the war, he opted for a stage career and joined the Unity Theatre, which had been formed in London a decade earlier to bring social and political issues to working-class audiences.

Hewer worked his way up to parts in the films The Dark Man (1951, a melodrama in which his taxi-driver character falls victim to Maxwell Reed's seaside murderer) and the thriller Assassin for Hire (1951, as a violinist whose instrument and lessons are paid for by his brother, a professional killer).

He then landed the title role in the BBC children's series The Great Detective (1953), playing it for the first four episodes, with Graham Stark taking over for the final two – curiously, with no explanation for the switch.

At about the same time, Hewer took the role of John Parrish, the bank clerk wrongly suspected of being involved in a heist, in the first episode of the crime series Colonel March of Scotland Yard (1955-56), which starred the horror actor Boris Karloff as an eyepatch-wearing detective investigating eerie cases involving criminals known by names such as the Abominable Snowman and the Missing Link.

Based on the novel The Department of Queer Complaints, written by John Dickson Carr under the pen-name Carter Dickson, it was a peculiar programme in many ways. Not only was it memorable for its transparently low budget and wobbly studio sets, but it was screened in Britain following a showing in the United States (1954-55), where several episodes – including that with Hewer – had previously been edited together into the feature film Colonel March Investigates (1952).

As a result of his involvement with the Players' Theatre, which performed music-hall entertainment, Hewer then starred as Tony, alongside Julie Andrews, in the original Broadway production of The Boy Friend (Royale Theatre, 1954-55), a musical that had been written specially for the company by Sandy Wilson, although Hewer had not been in the previous West End cast.

When he did later appear in West End musicals, it was in Noël Coward's Sail Away (as Joe, the ship's purser, alongside Elaine Stritch at the Savoy Theatre, 1962), Six of One (Adelphi Theatre, 1963-64) and Peg (as Jarvis, Phoenix Theatre, 1984).

During his career, the actor also produced music-hall shows on Southend Pier with the bandleader Henry Hall, and he was hired by Canadian television to host the variety show The Pig and Whistle (1967-77), set in a fictional, traditional English pub and featuring British music-hall entertainment.

The programme was launched as a response to regulations demanding cultural diversity on screen in Canada. Hewer introduced guests such as Vera Lynn, Max Bygraves, Lonnie Donegan, Andy Stewart and Barbara Windsor, and each show finished with a performance by the Roland & Romaine dance troupe and the Carlton Showband. He travelled to Canada once a month to record four shows at a time.

Hewer had a starring role in the film Strip Tease Murder (1963), as the host of a nightclub and his other pictures included the comedy Mister Ten Per Cent (starring Charlie Drake, 1967). He played Edwin Cherryble in a six-part BBC adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby (1977).

Anthony Hayward

John Hewer, actor: born London 13 January 1922; married 1943 Edna Vernon (died 1998; one son, one daughter); died Isleworth, Middlesex 16 March 2008.

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From Times Online
March 18, 2008
John Hewer
Actor forever linked with the Captain Birdseye character

The actor John Hewer won worldwide fame playing Captain Birdseye in the long-running fish finger TV commercials.

He played the role from 1967 until the late 1980s. The jovial, bearded naval captain outlasted the Milky Bar Kid and Ronald MacDonald to become the longest running "brand personality" since food advertising began.

A poll in 1983 named Captain Birdseye as the most recognised captain in the world after Captain Cook and the character was often the butt of comedians. The Goodies parodied the adverts as "Captain Fishface" and spoofs of the commercials featuring "Captain Fishy, the man with the fishy fingers" were featured by DJ Steve Wright on BBC Radio 1.

In 1971 Birdseye decided to drop Captain Birdseye, inserting a notice in The Times to mark the departure of the man known for "his selfless devotion to the nutritional needs of the nation's children." The same paper carried the notice heralding his return when the company sought to boost sales in the wake of the Cod Wars by reinstating him three years later.

After Hewer was dropped from the commercials he was replaced by a younger actor and Captain Birdseye was seen as a dark-haired man with designer stubble, the advertisers believing that the older white-bearded man would not have the same appeal to children. This version did not last long, however, and the better-known older version soon returned, although not played by Hewer.

Leyton-born Hewer also had an equally successful stage and screen career. He appeared in the original Broadway production of Sandy Wilson's The Boy Friend, opposite Julie Andrews, and he was in the London production of the Noel Coward musical Sail Away, with Elaine Stritch.

For many years he was a stalwart of the Players Theatre in London and he also went into management presenting music hall shows on Southend Pier in association with the bandleader Henry Hall.

His many TV credits included The Great Detective and the mini-series Nicholas Nickleby.

He died in Brinsworth House, the actors' retirement home in Middlesex. His wife predeceased him.

John Hewer, actor, was born on January 13, 1922. He died on March 16, 2008, aged 84.

penfold

Unfortunate phrase in the Guardian Obit, "The Times printed a cod obituary...."

Bit of a Bay Window, what??