Early life Hawtrey was born in
Hounslow,
Middlesex, England, in 1914, to William John Hartree (1885–1952) and his wife Alice (née Crow) (1880–1965), of 217 Cromwell Road, as George Frederick Joffre Hartree. He took his stage name from the theatrical knight
Sir Charles Hawtrey, and encouraged the suggestion that he was Hawtrey's son (though his father was actually a London car mechanic). Following study at the
Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London, he embarked on a career in the theatre as both actor and director.
1920s and 1930s Hawtrey made his first appearance on the stage in
Boscombe, a suburb of
Bournemouth, as early as 1925. At the age of 11 he played a 'street Arab' in Frederick Bowyer's fairy play
The Windmill Man. His London stage debut followed a couple of years later when, aged 13, he appeared in another 'fairy extravaganza', this time at the
Scala Theatre, singing the role of the White Cat and Bootblack in the juvenile opera
Bluebell in Fairyland. The music for this popular show had been written by
Walter Slaughter in 1901, with a book by
Seymour Hicks that provided part of the inspiration for
J. M. Barrie's
Peter Pan. In
Peter Pan itself, at the
London Palladium in 1931, Hawtrey played the First Twin, with leading parts taken by
Jean Forbes-Robertson and
George Curzon. This played in several regional theatres, including
His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen. In 1936 Hawtrey acted in a revival of the play, this time taking the larger role of Slightly alongside the husband-and-wife partnership of
Elsa Lanchester and
Charles Laughton, playing Peter and Hook. A review in
The Daily Telegraph commended Hawtrey for having "a comedy sense not unworthy of his famous name". Hawtrey played Jerry Morton in
Bats in the Belfry, a farce written by
Diana Morgan and Robert MacDermott, which opened at the
Ambassadors Theatre,
Shaftesbury Avenue, on 11 March 1937. The cast included Dame
Lilian Braithwaite and
Henry Kendall, as well as
Vivien Leigh as Jerry's sister Jessica. The play ran for 178 performances at the Ambassadors Theatre before moving to the
Golders Green Hippodrome on 16 August 1937. Hawtrey acted in films from an early age, first appearing while still a child, and as an adult his youthful appearance and wit made him a foil to
Will Hay's blundering old fool in the comedy films
Good Morning, Boys (1937) and ''
Where's That Fire?'' (1939). In all he appeared in more than 70 films including, from this period,
Alfred Hitchcock's
Sabotage (1936). Hawtrey had another stage success in 1939, when he was cast in the role of Gremio in
Tyrone Guthrie's production of
The Taming of the Shrew at the
Old Vic, in which
Roger Livesey starred as Petruchio and his wife,
Ursula Jeans, as Katherine. Hawtrey was also an accomplished musician. He recorded as a
boy soprano and was billed as 'The Angel-Voiced Choirboy' even at the age of 15. In 1930 he recorded several duets with the girl soprano Evelyn Griffiths (aged 11) for the Regal label. He was a semi-professional pianist for the armed forces during the
Second World War. believed lost, a musical mystery written by the English author George Cooper and starring
George Moon; and
Dumb Dora Discovers Tobacco (1946), featuring
Flora Robson. In 1948, Hawtrey appeared at the
Windmill Theatre,
Soho, in comedy sketches presented as part of
Revudeville. In the same year, he was incorrectly credited as 'Major Markham' in
The Story of Shirley Yorke, (but see 'Filmography', and Edit Note), using two pseudonyms. In 1949 he appeared as the bar-hand/piano player in the
Ealing comedy Passport to Pimlico.
1950s In 1956, Hawtrey appeared alongside his future
Carry On co-star
Hattie Jacques in the comedian
Digby Wolfe's ATV series
Wolfe at the Door, a 12-week sketch show. Not screened in London, it ran in the Midlands from 18 June to 10 September. In this series Wolfe explored the comic situations that could be found by passing through doorways, into a theatrical dressing room, for example. The programmes were written by Tony Hawes and
Richard Waring. In the same year Hawtrey made a brief appearance in
Tess and Tim (BBC) under the Saturday Comedy Hour banner. This short-run series starred the
music hall comedians
Tessie O'Shea and
Jimmy Wheeler. In 1957, Hawtrey appeared in a one-off episode of
Laughter in Store (BBC), this time working with
Charlie Drake and
Irene Handl. Hawtrey's television career gained a major boost with
The Army Game, in which he played the part of Private 'Professor' Hatchett. Loosely based on the film ''
Private's Progress'' (1956), the series followed the fortunes of a mixed bag of
army National Service conscripts in residence at Hut 29 of the Surplus Ordnance Depot at Nether Hopping in remote
Staffordshire.
I Only Arsked! (1958) was a feature film spin-off. Hawtrey left the series in 1958.
1960s In
Our House (1960–62) Hawtrey played a council official, Simon Willow. The series was created by
Norman Hudis, the screenwriter for the first six
Carry On films.
Hattie Jacques and
Joan Sims also starred. The series initially ran for 13 episodes from September to December 1960, returning the following year with
Bernard Bresslaw and
Hylda Baker added to the cast. Of the 39 episodes transmitted, only three survive.
Best of Friends (ITV, 1963) had essentially the same writers and production team as
Our House. Hawtrey again acted alongside Hylda Baker but this time playing the role of Charles, a clerk in an insurance office, next door to a café run by Baker. She accompanied him on insurance assignments and protected him when he was feeling put upon by his Uncle Sidney, who wished to but could not, dismiss his nephew. The series ran to thirteen episodes (all lost) and was the last television series in which Hawtrey had a regular role. By this time Hawtrey had become a regular in the
Carry On films series. He was in the first,
Carry On Sergeant (1958), and more than twenty others. His characters ranged from the wimpish through the effete to the effeminate and would always, regardless of the historical setting, be seen wearing Hawtrey's signature round glasses. In her autobiography,
Barbara Windsor wrote about Hawtrey's alcoholism and his outrageous flirting with the footballer
George Best. While filming
Carry On Spying (1964), in which they played secret agents, Windsor thought that Hawtrey had fainted with fright over a dramatic scene on a conveyor belt. In fact, he had passed out because he was drunk. When he came on set with a crate of
R. White's lemonade everyone knew that he had been on another binge. He smoked
Woodbines and played cards between takes with
Sid James and other members of the cast. In 1965, Hawtrey's mother Alice died; Hawtrey was grief-stricken and started drinking more. Apparently, Hawtrey could often be heard talking to his mother in his dressing room, even though she had died.
Gerald Thomas, the director of the
Carry On films, explained in 1966 that "In the beginning Charles's shock entrance was an accident, but realising the potential I set out deliberately to shock and now his first appearance is carefully planned.... Apart from the comedy value of the unlikely role he plays, I'm careful to arrange the right timing for his actual appearance, so that the two factors combined surprise the audience into instant risibility." In the mid-1960s, Hawtrey performed in the British regional tour of the stage musical
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which also included his
Carry On co-star
Kenneth Connor.
Later life and career Although the
Carry On films made a handsome return for their producer,
Peter Rogers, the cast were not well remunerated, commonly receiving a standard fee of £5,000 per film. Hawtrey used public transport to get to and from work, and was once given a lift to Pinewood Studios by
Laurence Olivier. Requested to embrace Barbara Windsor at a meeting with the press, Hawtrey hurriedly left the room, requesting a man in her place. Hawtrey moved in 1968 to
Deal, in Kent, reputedly because of the sailors at the local naval base. He lived at 117 Middle Street, Deal, where he remained until his death. There is a small commemorative blue plaque on the front exterior wall of this property to identify his former residence. Hawtrey cut an eccentric figure in the small town, becoming well known for promenading along the seafront in extravagant attire, waving cheerfully to the fishermen and for frequenting establishments patronised by students of the
Royal Marines School of Music. Hawtrey's alcohol consumption had noticeably increased since
Carry On Cowboy (1965), which was released in the year his mother died. Without steady film work, Hawtrey performed in
pantomime and summer seasons in the regions, playing heavily on his
Carry On persona in such shows as
Carry On Holiday Show-time and
Snow White at the Gaiety Theatre,
Rhyl (summer 1970),
Stop it Nurse at the
Pavilion Theatre,
Torquay (1972), and
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs again at the
Theatre Royal, Nottingham (April 1974). His last pantomime season was Christmas 1979. These were ''Burglar's Bargains
(1979), A Right Royal Rip-off
(1982) and The Bigger They Are'' (1985).
Personal life Little is known about Hawtrey's early years or later private life. He guarded his relationships very carefully as male homosexuality was illegal and punishable by a prison sentence, until it was eventually decriminalised by the
Sexual Offences Act 1967. His outrageous drunken promiscuity did not attract sympathy, nor did his general peevish demeanour and increasing eccentricity earn him many close friends; Hawtrey would often swear at and rip up the paper of fans who asked for an autograph. and how Hawtrey would take home all leftover sandwiches from buffets held for the
Carry On team. Hawtrey spent most of his life living with his mother, who suffered
Alzheimer's disease in later years; he would often bring her onto the set of his current film and then lock her in his dressing room when he was required for a scene. Hawtrey told the press that "The smell of smoke woke me up and there were flames coming up the stairway. I've lost a lot of valuable antiques and sentimental keepsakes but I am all right. It was all very frightening".
Death Hawtrey suffered a heart attack in June 1981, after which his health deteriorated. In late September 1988 Hawtrey was admitted to the Buckland Hospital in
Dover, where it was discovered he suffered from
peripheral artery disease, a condition brought on by a lifetime of heavy smoking. Hawtrey was told that to save his life, his legs would have to be
amputated. He refused the operation, allegedly saying that he preferred
'to die with his boots on' and died at 3:30 am on 27 October 1988, at Windthorpe Lodge Nursing Home in
Walmer, near Deal. It was claimed that on his deathbed he threw a vase at his nurse who asked for an autograph. On 2 November 1988, he was cremated and his ashes were scattered in
Mortlake Crematorium, close to
Chiswick in London. Nine mourners attended; no friends or family were there. ==Legacy==