George Frederick Joffre Hartree (30 November 1914 – 27 October 1988), known professionally as Charles Hawtrey, was an English actor, comedian, singer, pianist and theatre director.

He began at an early age as a boy soprano, in which role he made several records, before moving on to radio. His later career encompassed the theatre (as both actor and director), the cinema (where he regularly appeared supporting Will Hay in the 1930s and 1940s in films such as The Ghost of St. Michael's), through the Carry On films, and television.

Life and career

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.

1940s Hawtrey continued in music revue, starring in Eric Maschwitz's New Faces (1940) at the Comedy Theatre in London, and was praised for his "chic and finished study of an alluring woman spy". New Faces included the premiere of the song "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square", which quickly became a wartime favourite.

During and after the Second World War, Hawtrey also appeared in the West End in such shows as Scoop, Old Chelsea, Merrie England, Frou-Frou and Husbands Don't Count. Hawtrey also directed 19 plays, including Dumb Dora Discovers Tobacco at the Q Theatre in Richmond and, in 1945, Oflag 3, a war drama co-written with Douglas Bader.

By the 1940s, Hawtrey was appearing on radio during Children's Hour in the series Norman and Henry Bones, the Boy Detectives (first broadcast in 1943) alongside the actress Patricia Hayes. Later, he provided the voice of snooty Hubert Lane, the nemesis of William in the series Just William. His catchphrase was "How's yer mother off for dripping?"

Hawtrey's film career continued, but The Ghost of St. Michael's (1941) and The Goose Steps Out (1942) were his last films with Will Hay. After the latter film he asked Hay to give him bigger roles, but Hay refused.

Hawtrey directed two films: What Do We Do Now? (1946), 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 MidlandsObituary: Digby Wolfe, The Daily Telegraph, 24 June 2012 from 18 June to 10 September.The series is entirely lost, see "Missing or Incomplete Episodes for Programme Wolfe at the Door" , lostshows.com. Retrieved 19 May 2015 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 (1960–1962) 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.Best of Friends, BFI Film & TV database 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."Missing or Incomplete Episodes for Programme Best of Friends" , lostshows.com. Retrieved 19 May 2015

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.Windsor, Barbara. All of Me: My Extraordinary Life, 2000 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.Ross, Robert. The Carry On Story, 2005 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."Richard Webber Fifty Years Of Carry On, London: Arrow Books, 2009, p.34 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.Tom Dewe Matthews "Life as a Bit of a Carry On", Evening Standard, 4 December 2001

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.

In 1970, he appeared with Sid James in the South African film Stop Exchange. He made an appearance in Grasshopper Island (ITV 1971), a children's programme, alongside Patricia Hayes, Julian Orchard, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Frank Muir. Filmed in Wales and Corsica, this adventure series featured three small brothers nicknamed Toughy, Smarty and Mouse, who run away to find an uninhabited island.