Actor
 |
Best Film | Carry On Don't Lose Your Head |
| Best Character | Dr Stoppidge in Carry On Again Doctor | |
| Silliest name | Tonka in Carry On Up the Jungle | |
| Films | 24 - Sergeant, Nurse, Teacher, Constable, Regardless, Cabby, Jack, Spying, Cleo, Cowboy, Screaming, Don't Lose Your Head, Follow The Camel, Doctor, Up the Khyber, Again Doctor, Camping, Up the Jungle, Loving, Henry, At Your Convenience, Abroad, Matron, That's | |
| Best Line | In Carry On Don't Lose Your Head, a message arrives just before his be-heading to which the Duc replies "Put it in the basket, I'll read it later". But his best 'line" is definitely his many looks to camera. |
 If you had asked Charles Hawtrey what his family history was, he would have told you that
he was the son of the celebrated Sir Charles Hawtrey, the light comedy actor-manager and
he would have regaled anecdotes about him. This was not true. Charles Hawtrey’s youth
is a little known subject.
What we do know of him, though, is he first trod the boards in 1925 and this makes him the Carry Oner with the longest showbiz record. When he came to the Carry On stable with Carry On Sergeant, he had already made a name for himself in revues, pantomimes, stage and most notably, in films in the Will Hay comedies. He was born in 13th November 1914 in Hounslow, London and his early years were spent in Italia Conti acting school and he was soon appearing in junior roles. One of his earliest film roles goes back to the 1930’s when he appeared in the silent film Marry Me, but his first London roles on the stage including Bluebell In Fairyland and Where the Rainbow Ends.In the 30’s and 40’s he
appeared on stage in classic pl Throughout the Carry Ons, he has played virtually the same role as a bespectacled, weedy, eager beaver who skips through life with a child-like unawareness. In Nurse, we see him in bed, locked into his earphones conducting to the music, laughing loudly at a comedy or weeping into his pillow, totally oblivious to the world around him. In Constable, he is a trainee policeman in virtually the same character. Cabby sees his role increased but not altered, playing the aptly named Pint Pot. Camping see him epitomise his Carry On persona as Charlie
Muggins, a lone camper who inadvertently pitches his tent on an army firing range only to have it blown away, to which he comments, "I know I shouldn’t have eaten those
radishes!" This sums
Hawtrey could never by confused
as a sex symbol with his camped up voice and just when you think he’s going to embark
on a love affair, the script flips him over and he is fact sharing a night watching
television or having a game of cards. He does sometimes escape the typecasting and he is
put into an unlikely role as the lecherous Sir Roger De Lodgerly, or the Great Tonka but
that is still not really changin Out of all the drag roles that have been played in the Carry Ons he seemed most at ease and the one with whom it seemed to work best. On 24 October 1988, Hawtrey collapsed outside The Royal Hotel in Deal, shattering his femur, and was rushed to Hospital. He was discovered to be suffering from peripheral vascular disease, a condition of the arteries 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 3 days later, aged 73, in a 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. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in Mortlake Crematorium, close to Chiswick in London. Just nine mourners attended; no friends or family were there. |
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