Death of ‘Hi-De-Hi' actor

Press, 10 January 1987, Page 15

Death of ‘Hi-De-Hi' actor

Leslie Dwyer, one of that dependable breed of British character actors whose face, usually registering salt-of-earth Cockney good humour, was more familiar than his name, has died at the age of 80. Late in his life, however, he achieved the fame that only a popular television series can bestow as the mordantly crapulous Punch and Judy man in the holiday camp comedy show “Hi-De-Hi.” ; Dwyer, invariably cast as a lower rank, appeared in the films “The Way Ahead” and Noel Coward’s "In Which We Serve” and played Sergeant “Dusty” Miller in Terence Ratigan’s “Flare

Path” for two years at the Apollo Theatre during the 1939-45 war. From a theatrical

family — his great-uncle was the “Cosmopolitan actor” J. B. Howe — he trained for the stage at the Italia Conti School and made his debut in the West End as one of the wolves in “Peter Pan” at the old St James’s. His first film was “The Fifth Form of St Dominick” and among his numerous later pictures were “The Hour of 13” and “Kindle Wakes.” Before “Hi-De-Hi,” Dwyer’s most memorable television role was as Grandad, a martyr to audible wind, in Dennis Potter’s adaptation of Angus Wilson’s novel “Late Call.” He was also a regular in the 8.8. C. radio series “Waggoner’s Walk.”