Jeremy Hawk (20 May 1918 – 15 January 2002) was a character actor with a long career in music halls and on London's West End stage.

Early life

Hawk was born Cedric Joseph Lange in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

; his father was a matinee idol who used the name Douglas Drew, and his mother, June, of Irish origin, was of the third generation of an acting family. After his parents' divorce and his mother's subsequent marriage to a wealthy Yorkshire wool merchant, he was educated at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

. Already nicknamed "Hawk" because of the shape of his nose, Lange began using the name Jeremy Hawk on entering

RADA The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

. By his first wife, Tuli, he had a daughter, Berenice Hawk; he married secondly actress

Joan Heal Joan Heal (17 October 1922 – 12 April 1998) was an English actress and singer, known for her appearances in revue in the 1940s and 1950s. Life and career Heal was born in Vobster, Somerset, and educated at Bath High School and later the Old ...

, with whom he had another daughter, the actress

Belinda Lang Belinda Lucy Lange (born 23 December 1953), known professionally as Belinda Lang, is an English actress. She is known for playing Liza in the ITV sitcom '' Second Thoughts'' (1991–94), and Bill Porter in the BBC sitcom '' 2point4 Children'' ...

Career

Hawk appeared on television as straight man to

Benny Hill Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor, singer and writer. He is remembered for his television programme ''The Benny Hill Show'', an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque and double ente ...

Arthur Askey Arthur Bowden Askey, (6 June 1900 – 16 November 1982) was an English comedian and actor. Askey was known for his short stature (5' 2", 1.58 m) and distinctive horn-rimmed glasses, and his playful humour incorporating improvisation ...

Norman Wisdom Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, (4 February 1915 – 4 October 2010) was an English actor, comedian, musician and singer best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring a hapless onscreen character often called Norman ...

and

Sid Caesar Isaac Sidney Caesar (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2014) was an American comic actor, comedian and writer. With a career spanning 60 years, he was best known for two pioneering 1950s live television series: ''Your Show of Shows'' (1950� ...

as well as hosting the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

programme ''

Criss Cross Quiz ''Tic-Tac-Dough'' is an American television game show based on the paper-and-pencil game of tic-tac-toe. Contestants answer questions in various categories to put up their respective symbol, ''X'' or ''O'', on the board. Three versions were produc ...

'' and the junior version for children's television from 1957 to 1962. He later presented the improvisation comedy show ''

Impromptu An impromptu (, , loosely meaning "offhand") is a free-form musical composition with the character of an ''ex tempore'' improvisation as if prompted by the spirit of the moment, usually for a solo instrument, such as piano. According to ''Allgeme ...

''. He also appeared in several films, including ''

Lucky Jim ''Lucky Jim'' is a novel by Kingsley Amis, first published in 1954 by Victor Gollancz. It was Amis's first novel and won the 1955 Somerset Maugham Award for fiction. The novel follows the exploits of the eponymous James (Jim) Dixon, a reluctant ...

'' (1957). He found little other work though is remembered for a long running famous

Cadbury's Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after M ...

chocolate tropical style advert in the 1970s: "Nuts, who-le ha-zelnuts. Cadbury's take 'em and they cover 'em in chocolate". He died, aged 83, in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...

, survived by his third wife, Lisa.

Filmography

* ''

The Goose Steps Out ''The Goose Steps Out'' is a British film released in 1942, starring Will Hay, who also co-directed with Basil Dearden. It is a comedy of mistaken identity, with Hay acting as a German spy and also an Englishman who is his double. It was the fil ...

'' (1942) - A.D.C. * ''

The Peterville Diamond ''The Peterville Diamond'' is a 1942 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Anne Crawford, Donald Stewart and Renee Houston. It is also known by the alternative title ''Jewel Robbery''. - from the 1931 play of the same title; ...

'' (1942) - Pierre * '' Face the Music'' (1954) - Recording Technician * '' A Stranger Came Home'' (1954) - Sgt. Johnson * ''

Mask of Dust ''Mask of Dust'' (later named 'Race for Life' ) is a 1954 British motor racing drama film directed by Terence Fisher and starring Richard Conte, Mari Aldon and Peter Illing. The film was based on the 1953 novel ''The Last Race'' by Jon Manchip ...

'' (1954) - Martin - racer * '' Who Done It?'' (1956) - Himself * ''

'' (1957) - Bill Atkinson * '' The 39 Steps'' (1959) - Theatre Compere (uncredited) * ''

Left Right and Centre ''Left Right and Centre'' is a 1959 British satirical comedy film directed by Sidney Gilliat and starring Ian Carmichael, Patricia Bredin, Richard Wattis, Eric Barker and Alastair Sim. It was produced by Frank Launder. A political comedy, it fo ...

'' (1959) - T.V. Interviewer * ''

Dentist in the Chair ''Dentist in the Chair'' is a 1960 British comedy film, directed by Don Chaffey and starring Bob Monkhouse, Ronnie Stevens, Eric Barker and Vincent Ball. The screenplay was written by Val Guest, and based on a novel by Matthew Finch. Additiona ...

'' (1960) - Dental Instructor * ''

Dentist on the Job ''Dentist on the Job'' is a 1961 British comedy film directed by C. M. Pennington-Richards, the sequel to ''Dentist in the Chair'' (1960). It was released in the US with the title ''Get On with It!''. The film was co-written by Hugh Woodhouse a ...

'' (1961) - Professor Lovitt * ''

Panic Panic is a sudden sensation of fear, which is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking, replacing it with overwhelming feelings of anxiety and frantic agitation consistent with an animalistic fight-or-flight reactio ...

'' (1963) - Spike * '' Mystery Submarine'' (1963) - Adm. Saintsbury * Boy with a Flute (1964) Narrator. * ''

The Trygon Factor ''The Trygon Factor'' is a 1966 British-West German crime film directed by Cyril Frankel and starring Stewart Granger, Susan Hampshire and Robert Morley. It is one of the films based on works by Edgar Wallace of the 1960s and its German titl ...

'' (1966) - Bank Manager * '' Eskimo Nell'' (1975) - Vernon Peabody * ''

Stealing Heaven ''Stealing Heaven'' is a 1988 film directed by Clive Donner and starring Derek de Lint, Kim Thomson and Denholm Elliott. It is a costume drama based on the French 12th-century medieval romance (a true story) of Peter Abelard and Héloïse and o ...

'' (1988) - Ancient Priest * ''

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

'' (1998) - Bishop #2 (final film role)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawk, Jeremy 1918 births 2002 deaths People educated at Harrow School Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art English male comedians English male film actors English game show hosts English male television actors People from Johannesburg People from Reading, Berkshire 20th-century English comedians South African emigrants to the United Kingdom