Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries

by Paul Donnelley

  CAUSE: Nigel Hawthorne died at his home, Fabdens, in Thundridge, Hertfordshire, at 9.30am on Boxing Day. He was 72 and had been suffering from cancer of the pancreas for two years. He left £346,663 in his will.

  FURTHER READING: Straight Face – Nigel Hawthorne (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2002).

  Charles Hawtrey

  (GEORGE FREDERICK JOFFRE HARTREE)

  Born November 30, 1914

  Died October 27, 1988

  The weedy bespectacled one. Born in Hounslow, Middlesex, he was a child actor who cheekily acquired the name of venerated stage manager and actor Sir Charles Hawtrey. After studying at Italia Conti, Hawtrey began his career in 1921 as a boy soprano and moved to the stage in 1925 in The Windmill Man, playing an Arab. His London début came on December 26, 1927, and two years later he began his radio career, appearing with Will Hay among many others. He was also the snobby Hubert Lane in a dramatisation of Just William. He made his first film appearance in Marry Me (1932) as Billy Hart and was a regular over the years, often appearing alongside his friend Will Hay. His work included Well Done, Henry (1936) as Rupert McNab, Sabotage (1936), Good Morning, Boys (1937) as Septimus, Where’s That Fire? (1939) as Woodley, The Ghost Of St Michael’s (1941) as Percy Thorne, Let The People Sing (1942) as Orton, The Goose Steps Out (1942) as Max, A Canterbury Tale (1944) as Thomas Duckett, Passport To Pimlico (1949) as Bert Fitch, The Galloping Major (1951) as Lew Rimmel, Brandy For The Parson (1952) as George Crumb, You’re Only Young Twice (1952) as Adolphus Hayman, Paid To Kill (1954) as Bill, Man Of The Moment (1955) and Timeslip (1956). In 1957 he was cast in the Granada TV sitcom The Army Game as Private ‘Professor’ Hatchett and featured in its movie spin-off, I Only Arsked! (1958). That same year Hawtrey was cast in a comedy film that was undoubtedly inspired by The Army Game. None of the cast could know what a success Carry On Sergeant (1958) would be or what it would lead to. It made Hawtrey, playing Private Peter Golightly, a household name. He would go on to appear in 23 Carry On s. They were: Carry On Nurse (1958) as Humphrey Hinton, Carry On Teacher (1959) as music master Michael Bean, Carry On Constable (1960) as PC Timothy Gorse, Carry On Regardless (1961) as Gabriel Dimple, Carry On Cabby (1963) as taxi driver Terry ‘Pintpot’ Tankard, Carry On Jack (1964) as Walter Sweetley, Carry On Spying (1964) as agent Charlie Bind: number 000, Carry On Cleo (1964) as ‘dirty old sage’ Seneca, Carry On Cowboy (1965) as Red Indian Chief Big Heap, Carry On Screaming! (1966) as Dan Dann the lavatory man, Carry On … Don’t Lose Your Head (1967) as French aristocrat Duc De Pommfrit, Carry On … Follow That Camel (1967) as Foreign Legionnaire Captain Le Pice, Carry On Camping (1969) as Charlie Muggins (trivia note: Charlie beds down with the Potters [Terry Scott and Betty Marsden] in their tent in a blue sleeping bag but, in the morning, when they do a bunk, it has miraculously changed to a green and yellow patterned one), Carry On Again Doctor (1969) as Dr Ernest Stoppidge, Carry On Up the Jungle (1970) as King Tonka/Walter Bagley, Carry On Loving (1970) as private dick James Bedsop, Carry On Henry (1971) as Sir Roger de Lodgerley, Carry On At Your Convenience (1971) as Charles Coote, Carry On Matron (1972) as Dr Francis A. Goode and Carry On Abroad (1972) as alcoholic mummy’s boy Eustace Tuttle. In real life, Hawtrey’s drinking worsened to the extent that he was sacked from the series and played a parody of himself in his last Carry On. The story is told of Lord Olivier being chauffeured to Pinewood to work on Lady Caroline Lamb (1972) when he saw a familiar figure shuffling along the road carrying two old brown paper carrier bags. Drawing closer he saw it was Hawtrey and he gave him a lift to the studio. Later, in the studio’s restaurant, he expressed amazement that the producers didn’t pay for drivers. “No, we get no transport whatsoever,” Joan Sims responded. “They won’t pay a halfpenny for any extra comforts.” Olivier left saying he felt they deserved better. Said Kenneth Williams, “He’d never put up with Carry On conditions.” “Oh. I wondered why they’d never cast him,” Sims responded. Hawtrey was eccentric, preferring to communicate in a telegraphese nonsense language that baffled many of his Carry On co-stars, although Joan Sims could translate perfectly. A homosexual, Hawtrey lived alone, entertaining a succession of young men in a former smuggler’s cottage in Middle Street, Deal, Kent. On August 5, 1984, his home caught fire and he had to be rescued, naked and sans toupée, accompanied by a young man in his twenties who was clad only in a pair of trousers. Carry On co-star Kenneth Williams was jealous of Hawtrey’s comfortable acceptance of his sexuality: “He can sit in a bar and pick up sailors and have a wonderful time. I couldn’t do it.” Hawtrey was banned from a number of pubs around his home because of his drunkenness. Instead, he sent a taxi to collect his supplies from an off-licence and often failed to pay the taxis.

  CAUSE: In May 1984 he suffered a heart attack and on September 22, 1988, his heart stopped beating because of a serious artery condition. Doctors informed the actor, who had no visitors, that he must face double amputation of the legs or die. Hawtrey refused and he died in a Deal nursing home aged 73. His death certificate is a measure of how much he had alienated his friends. No one was close enough to even know his birthday. It merely reads “Born circa 1915”.

  Will Hay

  Born December 6, 1888

  Died Easter Monday (April 18), 1949

  Brit comic. Born in Stockton-on-Tees, William Thomson Hay was the second of three sons of a Scottish engineer. On leaving full-time education he became a reporter and married Gladys Perkins on October 7, 1907. They had three children, William, Gladys and Joan, before their 1934 separation. (They never got around to formalising a divorce.) Not long after getting married Hay began a musical hall career that led inexorably to radio and then films. He made 18 well-received films that are often still shown on daytime television. They were: Those Were The Days (1933) as Magistrate Brutus Poskett, Radio Parade Of 1935 (1934) as William Garland, Dandy Dick (1935) as the Reverend Richard Jedd, which he also wrote, Boys Will Be Boys (1935) as Dr Alec Smart, which he also wrote, Windbag The Sailor (1936) as Captain Ben Cutlet, which he also wrote, Where There’s A Will as Benjamin Stubbins, which he also wrote, Oh, Mr Porter! (1937) as William Porter, Good Morning, Boys as Dr Benjamin Twist, Old Bones Of The River (1938) as Professor Benjamin Tibbetts, Hey! Hey! USA as Dr Benjamin Twist, Where’s That Fire? (1939) as Captain Viking, Convict 99 (1939) as Dr Benjamin Twist, Ask A Policeman (1939) as Sergeant Dudfoot, The Ghost Of St Michael’s (1941) as William Lamb, The Goose Steps Out (1942) as William Potts/Muller, which he also directed, The Black Sheep Of Whitehall (1942) as Davis, which he also directed, The Big Blockade (1942) as Skipper and My Learned Friend (1943) as William Fitch, which he also directed. Away from entertainment, he was a keen amateur astrologer, who discovered a white spot on Saturn and was made a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

  CAUSE: Will Hay suffered a stroke in 1946 from which he only partially recovered. A further embolism caused his death aged 60 in the early hours of Easter Monday, April 18, 1949, at his London flat, 16 Chelsea Embankment. He was buried in the garden of remembrance, Streatham. He left £27,155 9s 8d.

  Sessue Hayakawa

  Born June 10, 1889

  Died November 23, 1973

  Oriental lead. Born in Nanaura, Chiba, Japan, Hayakawa began acting after being rejected by the Imperial Navy due to a hearing loss. He joined an acting troupe directed by his uncle and later formed his own Japanese Imperial Company which toured the world. After emigrating to Chicago he was discovered by director Thomas Ince and began his career in movies in The Hateful God (1913). He also appeared in The Wrath Of The Gods (1914) as Lord Yamaki, After Five (1915) as Oki, The Secret Sin (1915) as Lin Foo, Alien Souls (1916) as Sakata, The Soul Of Kura San (1916) as Toyo, Each To His Kind (1917) as Rhandah, Forbidden Paths (1917) as Sato, Hashimura Togo (1917) as Hashimura Togo, His Birthright (1918) as Yukio, The Courageous Coward (1919) as Suki Iota, His Debt (1919) as Goto Mariyama, Li Ting Lang (1920) as Li Ting Lang, An Arabian Knight (1920) as Ahmed, Black Roses (1921) as Yoda, Five Days To Live (1922) as Tai Leung, Sen
Yan’s Devotion (1924), Daughter Of The Dragon (1931) as Ah Kee, Atarashiki Tsuchi (1937) as Iwao Yamato, Yoshiwara (1937) as Isamo, Tempête Sur L’Asie (1938) as Le Prince Ling, Malaria (1942), Tokyo Joe (1949) as Baron Kimura, Mask Of Korea (1950) as Ying Tchai, Three Came Home (1950) as Colonel Suga, House Of Bamboo (1955) as Inspector Kito, The Geisha Boy as Mr Sikita, Green Mansions as Runi, Hell To Eternity (1960) as General Matsui, The Swiss Family Robinson (1960) as a pirate chief and his final film The Daydreamer (1966) as the voice of the Mole. He was a major silent star but faded with the advent of sound. It was said he earned $7,500 a week, gambled regularly in Monte Carlo, and once lost $965,000 in one night. The apotheosis of his career was reached in October 1956 when he was given the dream role of Colonel Saito in David Lean’s The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957). He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. His hobby was boxing and he would often spar in the ring after a day of filming.

  CAUSE: He died in Tokyo, Japan, of a cerebral thrombosis, aged 83.

  Sterling Hayden

  (STERLING RELYEA WALTER)

  Born March 26, 1916

  Died May 23, 1986

  ‘The Most Beautiful Man In The Movies’. Born in Upper Montclair, New Jersey, Hayden worked as a sailor and decided he wanted to buy his own vessel. To raise the money he turned to modelling. He was 25 before he made a film, appearing in Virginia (1941) as Norman Williams. After Bahama Passage (1941) in which he played Adrian Hayden, he joined the US Marines in 1942 and then became a spy working undercover in Yugoslavia. It would be 1947 before he began acting again in Blaze Of Noon (1947) as Tad McDonald. A brief flirtation with the Communist Party followed and he appeared in Manhandled (1949) as Joe Cooper, El Paso (1949) as Bert Donner, The Asphalt Jungle (1950) as Dix Handley, during the filming of which he suffered acute alcohol and mental problems, Journey Into Light (1951) as John Burrows, Flaming Feather (1951) as Tex McCloud, Flat Top (1952) as Dan Collier, Denver And Rio Grande (1952) as McCabe, Take Me To Town (1953) as Will Hall, Fighter Attack (1953) as Steve, Naked Alibi (1954) as Chief Joe Conroy, Arrow In The Dust (1954) as Bart Laish, Crime Wave (1954) as Detective Lieutenant Sims, Prince Valiant (1954) as Sir Gawain, Johnny Guitar (1954) as Johnny Guitar, Battle Taxi (1955) as Captain Russ Edwards, Crime Of Passion (1957) as Bill Doyle, Valerie (1957) as John Garth, Zero Hour (1957) as Treleaven, Terror In A Texas Town (1958) as George Hansen, Dr Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1964) as General Jack D. Ripper, Deadly Strangers (1974) as Malcolm Robarts, 1900 (1976) as Leo Dalco, Nine To Five (1980) as Russell Tinsworthy and Venom (1982) as Howard Anderson. When the McCarthy witch hunts came along Hayden avoided being blacklisted by betraying his former friends and colleagues, along with Lloyd Bridges, Lee J. Cobb, Elia Kazan, Marc Lawrence, Isobel Lennart, Clifford Odets, Larry Parks, Budd Schulberg, Jerome Robbins and Frank Tuttle. Hayden played the part of Police Chief McCluskey in The Godfather (1972). In one scene he is shot in the neck by Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) and grabs his neck, but in the next shot he is bleeding from the forehead. In another gaff, one scene in The Godfather is set in 1945, yet you can see a US flag with 50 stars; in 1945 there were only 48 States of the Union. Hayden retired in 1958, only returning to acting when the pay cheque demanded it. He was married three times: to Madeleine Carroll (February 14, 1942–May 8, 1946); Betty Ann Noon (April 25, 1947–April 23, 1953) by whom he had three sons and a daughter and Catherine Devine McConell (March 1960 until his death) by whom he had another son.

  CAUSE: He died in Sausalito, California, aged 70, of cancer.

  Allison Hayes

  (MARY JANE HAYNES)

  Born March 6, 1930

  Died February 27, 1977

  B-movie goddess. Born in Charleston, West Virginia, 37-23-36 Hayes was Miss Washington, DC, in the 1949 Miss America beauty contest. She began appearing regularly on television and this lead to her film début in So This Is Paris (1954) as Carmen. She worked regularly but never really made the transition to A pictures. Her movies included Francis Joins The WACS (1954) as Lieutenant Dickson, Count Three And Pray (1955) as Georgina Decrais, Sign Of The Pagan (1955) as Iloico, Mohawk (1956), Zombies Of Mora Tau (1957) as Mona Harrison, The Unearthly (1957) as Grace Thomas, The Undead (1957) as Livia, The Disembodied (1957) as Tonda Metz, Hong Kong Confidential (1958) as Elene Martine, Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman (1958) as Nancy Fowler Archer, Wolf Dog (1958) as Ellen Hughes, Pier 5 Havana (1959) as Monica Gray, A Lust To Kill (1959) as Sherry, Who’s Been Sleeping In My Bed? (1963) and Tickle Me (1965) as Mabel.

  CAUSE: She died of blood poisoning in La Jolla, California, aged 46.

  Gabby Hayes

  Born May 7, 1885

  Died February 9, 1969

  Perennial sidekick. Born in Wellsville, New York, thousands of miles from the Wild West, George Francis Hayes nonetheless carved out a career as arguably the most popular and recognisable ‘pardner’ of all time. He was known for his whiskers, his toothless smile and his phrases, such as “Yer durn tootin’ buckaroo”. In around 200 films he worked alongside Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy and many, many more. His films included his début Smiling Irish Eyes (1922) as a taxi driver, Freighters Of Destiny (1931) as Jim, Klondike (1932) as Tom Ross, Dragnet Patrol (1932), Without Honor (1932), Love Me Tonight (1932), Texas Buddies (1932) as Cy, Trailing North (1933) as Flash Ryan, Riders Of Destiny (1933) as Denton, In Old Santa Fe (1934) as Cactus, The Return Of Casey Jones (1934), West Of The Divide (1934) as Dusty Rhodes, Randy Rides Alone (1934) as Marvin Black aka Mat the Mute, Tombstone Terror (1935) as Soupy Baxter, The Lost City (1935) as Butterfield, Cecil B. DeMille’s The Plainsman (1936), as Breezy, Mr Deeds Goes To Town (1936), I Married A Doctor (1936) as Windy Halliday, Hearts In Bondage (1936) as Ezra, Valiant Is The Word For Carrie (1936), The Bells Of Rosarita (1945) as Gabby Whittaker, Albuquerque (1948) as Juke and, his last film, The Cariboo Trail (1950) as Grizzly.

  CAUSE: He died from heart problems aged 83 in Burbank, California.

  Helen Hayes

  (HELEN BROWN)

  Born October 10, 1900

  Died March 17, 1993

  ‘The First Lady of the American Theatre’. Born in Washington, DC, Helen Hayes’ heart belonged to the stage and that was where she did her best work. She made a few films and television appearances, including The Weavers Of Life (1917) as Peggy, Arrowsmith (1931) as Leora Tozer Arrowsmith, What Every Woman Knows (1934) as Maggie Wylie, My Son John (1952) as Lucille Jefferson, Anastasia (1956) as the Dowager Empress, Airport (1970) as Ada Quonsett, Herbie Rides Again (1974) as Mrs Steinmetz, One Of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1976) as Hettie and Candleshoe (1977) as Lady St. Edmund. She also played Miss (Jane) Marple in the television movies A Caribbean Mystery (1983) and Murder With Mirrors (1985) and was Ernesta Snoop in The Snoop Sisters. Comedian Beatrice Lillie one day visited Blackwell’s Island on New York’s East River with Helen Hayes and her husband the playwright Charles MacArthur (the adoptive parents of Hawaii Five-O actor James ‘Danno’ MacArthur). One thing had escaped the minds of the theatrical threesome. Blackwell’s Island was home to high-security mental institutions. A guard refused them admission to the East 79th Street Pier Ferry without documentation. Lillie decided to announce herself. “I am Beatrice Lillie and this lady is Helen Hayes and we both have performances to give tonight.” Unfortunately, the guard was obviously not a theatre-goer, and this made little impression. Lillie tried again. “I am Lady Peel. Miss Hayes is the First Lady of the American Theatre and this gentleman is the distinguished playwright Mr Charles MacArthur.” The guard replied, “Look, lady. We already have more than our fair share of Lillies and First Ladies. Probably some MacArthurs too. Either you show me a pass or you get back to tea with Greta Garbo and Lady Astor!”

  CAUSE: She died in Nyack, New York, from congestive heart failure, aged 92.

  Will Hays

  Born November 5, 1879

  Died March 7, 1954

  Puritanical censor. Following the arrest of Fatty Arbuckle for a rape a
nd manslaughter he didn’t commit, 12 Hollywood moguls got together and decided they would appoint a censor themselves rather than waiting for the government to foist one on them. On December 8, 1921, they wrote to Postmaster General Will Hays, offering him the job. He was offered a renewable three-year contract with a salary of $115,000 a year, a $2-million life insurance policy and unlimited expenses. He accepted the position on January 14, 1922, taking office exactly two months later. In 1930 he created the Motion Picture Production Code, the aim of which was to “govern the Making of Talking, Synchronised and Silent Motion Pictures”. Many in the industry were outraged by the appointment of the Republican Hays. Born in Sullivan, Indiana (population 2,166), William Harrison Hays (he never used his full name) was proud to declare himself “100% American,” conveniently forgetting about his English and Dutch heritage. John T. Hays, Hays’ father, himself a Republican lawyer, instilled strict puritanical views into his sons including not borrowing and abstaining from alcohol. On leaving university, he joined his father in the law firm Hays & Hays. Will Hays, a devout Presbyterian, became a mason and quickly moved up the Republican ladder until President Warren G. Harding appointed him Postmaster General on March 5, 1921. Despite two decades in Republican politics, Hays actually only held elective office once – he was Sullivan’s lawyer. Hays resigned as head of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Inc. (MPPDA) in September 1945. He was twice married. His first trip up the aisle, with Helen Louise Thomas, (in 1902) ended in divorce and in 1930 he married Jessie Heron Stutsman.