codfanglers
Dedicated Member
For those Geoffrey Hughes fans out there, I am pasting a write up by the lady in charge of British Programming for Maryland Public Television.
Also, in the states, one television station shows a special New Year's program honoring those famous that have passed that year. I want to write to them and encourage them to include Geoffrey Hughes. It is appropriate since KUA is quite big in the states.
Unfortunately, the photos didn't paste.
Week of August 6, 2012:
Geoffrey Hughes, 1944-2012
Geoffrey Hughes.
Condolences have been pouring in since our announcement last week on the passing of actor Geoffrey Hughes, whose cheeky gap-toothed grin as Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances has been brightening up our afternoons for so many years.
Hughes, who was born February 2 1944 in Wallasey, Cheshire, across the Mersey from Liverpool, was the eldest of two sons to a Scottish mother and a Welsh dock-working father. He attended high school in the Norris Green area of Liverpool and on leaving school worked as a salesman during the day, while performing with an amateur theatrical group, the Merseyside Unity Theatre, at night.
It was actor Tom Bell who was responsible for Hughes taking up acting professionally, when he was taken by his friend screenwriter Alun Owen to see a play Owen had written being performed by the left wing Unity. Bell was so impressed by the young Hughes that he told him to pack his bags and return to London with him where he'd get him an agent.
In Coronation Street.
It took Hughes six months before he decided to accept Bell's offer, during which time he quit his job and started working in repertory at the Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent. When he did make the move to London, Bell was as good as his word, and less than a year later Hughes was making his West End debut in Lionel Bart and Alun Owen's musical Maggie May. Before long, Hughes was also appearing in many of England's most popular television series, such as Z Cars, Dad's Army and The Likely Lads.
Hughes' agent also got him roles in several films, including Smashing Time (1967), The Bofors Gun (1968), The Virgin Soldiers (1969) and Carry On At Your Convenience (1971), but the film Hughes would be remembered for most was one in which he was heard but not seen; the 1968 animated Beatles film, Yellow Submarine, in which Hughes provided the voice for Paul McCartney.
In 1974, Hughes shot to fame on the small screen playing the role of dustbin man Eddie in Britain's popular soap opera Coronation Street. It was a role he'd play for nine years, until 1983, when he left the show because he feared he was being typecast. Also, the weekly trek to tape the show at Granada television studios in Manchester was keeping Hughes away from his 240-acre sheep farm in Northamptonshire where he lived with his wife Sue, who he'd first met in a pub owned by his Coronation Street cast mate Pat Phoenix.
With wife, Sue.
As well as keeping sheep, the Hughes' had renovated many of the old buildings on the farm, turning one of them into a craft center which his wife ran. Hughes loved living in the countryside and especially enjoyed the old-time traditions, such as Morris Dancing. In 1990 though he was thankfully enticed back to television to play lovable ruffian Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances, which ran for five years.
It was while working on Keeping Up Appearances that Hughes was first diagnosed with prostate cancer for which he underwent surgery in 1996. When learning that he had cancer, Hughes said: "If I died tomorrow I could not complain about my life", And just six weeks after surgery, Hughes was living life to the fullest touring Australia in the Alan Ayckbourn play Bedroom Farce.
With produce from Wood End Enterprises.
He seemed to have made a full recovery and in 2003 he and his wife moved to the Isle of Wight; an ideal setting for Hughes to combine his love of countryside and boating. For years, Hughes had attended Cowes International Yacht Races. Living on the island meant that as well as yachting Hughes was also able to develop other interests, such as the numerous local charities and organizations he supported and patronized, such as the Red Squirrel Trust and the Earl Mountbatten Hospice
Along with his wife and two others, Hughes also helped run Wood End Enterprises; a wood chip supply business that he founded with his wife and two others. Based out of their home, near Newport, the aim of it was to regenerate the couple's 23 acres of woodland and harvest the otherwise useless timber as fuel for eco-friendly biomass boilers. For years Hughes had been known as a "tree lover" and vocal supporter of green energy, and his eco-house was built using timber from his woodland.
With Prince Charles at the Royal
Berkshire shooting school in Pangbourne.
Hughes' active involvement in his new community lead to his appointment in 2009 as Deputy Lord Lieutenant of the island, which meant that on special occasions Hughes was the official link between the island and the Royal Family. A year after his appointment, in 2010 Hughes was attending a charity event when he collapsed from extreme back pains. The prostate cancer had returned. He was immediately rushed into hospital where he underwent intense radiotherapy. Soon after he would suffer a stroke and lose mobility. His remaining days were spent confined to a wheelchair and on July 27, doctors reported that Hughes had "died peacefully in his sleep" at the Earl Mountbatten Hospice.
On learning about her on-screen brother-in-law's death, 83 year old Patricia Routledge who played Hyacinth Bucket said she "felt very, very sad. He was a most lovable man, just delightful and great fun to work with. He was just wonderful to have around. He never made a fuss and just got on with the work. He was a true professional."
As Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances,
with Judy Cornwall as Daisy.
While Hughes' wife Sue was understandably too devastated to comment on the death of her husband of 37 years, his on screen wife Judy Cornwall, who played Daisy, recently shared some personal reminiscences.
"The first time we did a recording in front of an audience at the BBC, we both climbed into bed and it collapsed on us. Both our legs went flying up in the air and it took the BBC ages to calm the audience down because everyone was laughing so much. They built the bed up again but that's how our relationship started and continued – with a lot of laughs."
"Geoffrey later developed a habit of waiting until the countdown for the cameras to start...ten, nine, eight...and just before the end he would then pinch my bottom under the covers to make me yelp."
Rest in peace, Geoffrey.
To contact Heather:
E-mail: heather@mpt.org
Address: Afternoon Tea
Maryland Public Television
11767 Owings Mills Blvd.
Owings Mills, MD 21117
Also, in the states, one television station shows a special New Year's program honoring those famous that have passed that year. I want to write to them and encourage them to include Geoffrey Hughes. It is appropriate since KUA is quite big in the states.
Unfortunately, the photos didn't paste.
Week of August 6, 2012:
Geoffrey Hughes, 1944-2012
Geoffrey Hughes.
Condolences have been pouring in since our announcement last week on the passing of actor Geoffrey Hughes, whose cheeky gap-toothed grin as Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances has been brightening up our afternoons for so many years.
Hughes, who was born February 2 1944 in Wallasey, Cheshire, across the Mersey from Liverpool, was the eldest of two sons to a Scottish mother and a Welsh dock-working father. He attended high school in the Norris Green area of Liverpool and on leaving school worked as a salesman during the day, while performing with an amateur theatrical group, the Merseyside Unity Theatre, at night.
It was actor Tom Bell who was responsible for Hughes taking up acting professionally, when he was taken by his friend screenwriter Alun Owen to see a play Owen had written being performed by the left wing Unity. Bell was so impressed by the young Hughes that he told him to pack his bags and return to London with him where he'd get him an agent.
In Coronation Street.
It took Hughes six months before he decided to accept Bell's offer, during which time he quit his job and started working in repertory at the Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent. When he did make the move to London, Bell was as good as his word, and less than a year later Hughes was making his West End debut in Lionel Bart and Alun Owen's musical Maggie May. Before long, Hughes was also appearing in many of England's most popular television series, such as Z Cars, Dad's Army and The Likely Lads.
Hughes' agent also got him roles in several films, including Smashing Time (1967), The Bofors Gun (1968), The Virgin Soldiers (1969) and Carry On At Your Convenience (1971), but the film Hughes would be remembered for most was one in which he was heard but not seen; the 1968 animated Beatles film, Yellow Submarine, in which Hughes provided the voice for Paul McCartney.
In 1974, Hughes shot to fame on the small screen playing the role of dustbin man Eddie in Britain's popular soap opera Coronation Street. It was a role he'd play for nine years, until 1983, when he left the show because he feared he was being typecast. Also, the weekly trek to tape the show at Granada television studios in Manchester was keeping Hughes away from his 240-acre sheep farm in Northamptonshire where he lived with his wife Sue, who he'd first met in a pub owned by his Coronation Street cast mate Pat Phoenix.
With wife, Sue.
As well as keeping sheep, the Hughes' had renovated many of the old buildings on the farm, turning one of them into a craft center which his wife ran. Hughes loved living in the countryside and especially enjoyed the old-time traditions, such as Morris Dancing. In 1990 though he was thankfully enticed back to television to play lovable ruffian Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances, which ran for five years.
It was while working on Keeping Up Appearances that Hughes was first diagnosed with prostate cancer for which he underwent surgery in 1996. When learning that he had cancer, Hughes said: "If I died tomorrow I could not complain about my life", And just six weeks after surgery, Hughes was living life to the fullest touring Australia in the Alan Ayckbourn play Bedroom Farce.
With produce from Wood End Enterprises.
He seemed to have made a full recovery and in 2003 he and his wife moved to the Isle of Wight; an ideal setting for Hughes to combine his love of countryside and boating. For years, Hughes had attended Cowes International Yacht Races. Living on the island meant that as well as yachting Hughes was also able to develop other interests, such as the numerous local charities and organizations he supported and patronized, such as the Red Squirrel Trust and the Earl Mountbatten Hospice
Along with his wife and two others, Hughes also helped run Wood End Enterprises; a wood chip supply business that he founded with his wife and two others. Based out of their home, near Newport, the aim of it was to regenerate the couple's 23 acres of woodland and harvest the otherwise useless timber as fuel for eco-friendly biomass boilers. For years Hughes had been known as a "tree lover" and vocal supporter of green energy, and his eco-house was built using timber from his woodland.
With Prince Charles at the Royal
Berkshire shooting school in Pangbourne.
Hughes' active involvement in his new community lead to his appointment in 2009 as Deputy Lord Lieutenant of the island, which meant that on special occasions Hughes was the official link between the island and the Royal Family. A year after his appointment, in 2010 Hughes was attending a charity event when he collapsed from extreme back pains. The prostate cancer had returned. He was immediately rushed into hospital where he underwent intense radiotherapy. Soon after he would suffer a stroke and lose mobility. His remaining days were spent confined to a wheelchair and on July 27, doctors reported that Hughes had "died peacefully in his sleep" at the Earl Mountbatten Hospice.
On learning about her on-screen brother-in-law's death, 83 year old Patricia Routledge who played Hyacinth Bucket said she "felt very, very sad. He was a most lovable man, just delightful and great fun to work with. He was just wonderful to have around. He never made a fuss and just got on with the work. He was a true professional."
As Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances,
with Judy Cornwall as Daisy.
While Hughes' wife Sue was understandably too devastated to comment on the death of her husband of 37 years, his on screen wife Judy Cornwall, who played Daisy, recently shared some personal reminiscences.
"The first time we did a recording in front of an audience at the BBC, we both climbed into bed and it collapsed on us. Both our legs went flying up in the air and it took the BBC ages to calm the audience down because everyone was laughing so much. They built the bed up again but that's how our relationship started and continued – with a lot of laughs."
"Geoffrey later developed a habit of waiting until the countdown for the cameras to start...ten, nine, eight...and just before the end he would then pinch my bottom under the covers to make me yelp."
Rest in peace, Geoffrey.
To contact Heather:
E-mail: heather@mpt.org
Address: Afternoon Tea
Maryland Public Television
11767 Owings Mills Blvd.
Owings Mills, MD 21117