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Thomas Daniel Hicks Eytle (16 July 1926 – 19 June 2007)Wilmer, Val
"Tommy Eytle" (obituary)
''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 27 July 2007. Retrieved 3 March 2017. was a Guyanese calypso musician and actor. Although born in Guyana, Eytle's career was based in the United Kingdom, where he lived after emigrating in 1951. Eytle's career began in the 1950s. He initially found success playing African and Caribbean music with his calypso band. He continued to perform musically until the mid-1990s. He had many roles on television, radio, film and stage, but he was most famous for playing the role of Jules Tavernier in the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
soap opera ''
EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...
'' from 1990 to 1997."Tommy Eytle" (obituary)
''The Scotsman'', 9 July 2007.


Early life

Eytle was born in
Georgetown, Guyana Georgetown is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Guyana. It is situated in Demerara-Mahaica, region 4, on the Atlantic Ocean coast, at the mouth of the Demerara River. It is nicknamed the "Garden City of the Caribbean." It is t ...
(then
British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...
), to James, a gold miner, and Gertrude Eytle. Eytle attended St Philip's Primary School, Central High School and Queen's College in Georgetown. After finishing his education he worked as a gold and diamond miner with his father for a year, before joining the
Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
and qualifying as a land surveyor. Bourne, Stephen,
"Obituary: Tommy Eytle"
, ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', 29 June 2007. Retrieved 30 June 2007. His parents separated in 1951 and his mother and siblings moved to London.Tommy Eytle: Calypso musician who found fame in EastEnders
, ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
''. Retrieved 30 June 2007. Eytle joined them, arriving for a holiday on
Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...
Day, and decided to stay in the UK. He worked first as a
surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...
and
draughtsman A draughtsman (British spelling) or draftsman (American spelling) may refer to: * An architectural drafter, who produced architectural drawings until the late 20th century * An artist who produces drawings that rival or surpass their other types ...
before turning to music and working as a bandleader at some of
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
's top
hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...
s.


Career


Musical career

Eytle was a self-taught
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
ist and in the early 1950s he formed Tommy Eytle's Calypso Band in response to the surge of interest in African and Caribbean music at the time. The band performed a mix of Afro-Caribbean music and modern jazz and in addition to playing the jazz guitar, Eytle provided the band's vocals. They performed in many jazz venues and nightclubs around the country, including the Sunset Club,
the Bag O'Nails The Bag O'Nails was a live music club and meeting place for musicians in the 1960s and situated at 9 Kingly Street, Soho, London, England. Bands and other musicians who played and socialised there included Georgie Fame, Jimi Hendrix, Bobby ...
, Club Basie, Pigalle and
Al Burnett Al Burnett (1906–1973) was a British impresario, known as the "nightclub king". He ran the Stork Club in Swallow Street in London's West End. Early life He was born Aaron Isaacs in Mile End, London. Career Burnett was master of ceremonies (MC ...
's Stork Club. Tommy Eytle's Calypso Band were featured in many BBC plays and were most notable for performing "Narrative Calypso" in the film ''
The Tommy Steele Story ''The Tommy Steele Story'' is a 1957 British film directed by Gerard Bryant and starring Tommy Steele, dramatising Steele's rise to fame as a teen idol. Along with ''Rock You Sinners'', it was one of the first British films to feature rock and ro ...
'' (1957), in which Eytle sang and played the guitar.Newley, Patrick
"Tommy Eytle" (obituary)
''
The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
'', 3 July 2007. Retrieved 15 August 2017. Eytle worked as a professional musician until the late 1980s, but he was forced to give up playing the guitar due to early onset
arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...
in his hands. However, he continued to sing jazz and calypsos into the mid-1990s and was given occasional acoustic solos in BBC's ''EastEnders'', which he sang – in-character – during scenes in the soap's pub,
The Queen Vic The Queen Victoria (more often referred to as The Queen Vic or The Vic) is the Victorian public house in the BBC soap opera, '' EastEnders''. It has the fictional address of 46 Albert Square, Walford, London E20. Appearance and developme ...
.


Acting career

During the 1950s he was introduced to acting when he auditioned for a few
radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
plays Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...
. Throughout his career he appeared in many BBC radio plays (mostly by black dramatists), which included ''The Barren One'' (1958) with
Cleo Laine Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth (born Clementine Dinah Bullock; 28 October 1927)Sylvia Wynter ''The Honourable'' Sylvia Wynter, O.J. (Holguín, Cuba, 11 May 1928) is a Jamaican novelist, /sup> dramatist, /sup> critic, philosopher, and essayist. /sup> Her work combines insights from the natural sciences, the humanities, art, and anti-co ...
;
Jan Carew Jan Rynveld Carew (24 September 1920 – 6 December 2012) was a Guyana-born novelist, playwright, poet and educator, who lived at various times in The Netherlands, Mexico, England, France, Spain, Ghana, Jamaica, Canada and the United States. ...
's ''The Riverman'' (1968) and ''Milk in the Coffee'' (1975). Other radio plays included ''Carnival in Trinidad'' (1975) and ''God in the Water'' (1983). Eytle was also a veteran stage actor. He appeared with
Norman Beaton Norman Lugard Beaton (31 October 1934 – 13 December 1994) was a Guyanese actor long resident in the United Kingdom. He became best known for his role as Desmond Ambrose in the Channel Four television comedy series ''Desmond's''. The writer S ...
,
Mona Hammond Mona Hammond (born Mavis Chin; 1 January 1931 – 4 July 2022) was a Jamaican-British actress and co-founder of the Talawa Theatre Company. Born in Tweedside, Jamaica,
and
Rudolph Walker Rudolph Malcolm Walker (born 28 September 1939) is a Trinidadian-British actor, known for his sitcom roles as Bill Reynolds in ''Love Thy Neighbour'' (1972–76) and Constable Frank Gladstone in '' The Thin Blue Line'' (1995–96). Since 2001, ...
at the
Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, Englan ...
in Mustapha Matura's acclaimed 1974 ''Play Mas'', which Eytle also performed in the radio adaptation in 1975. In 1981 he appeared in ''
Measure for Measure ''Measure for Measure'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604 and first performed in 1604, according to available records. It was published in the ''First Folio'' of 1623. The play's plot features its ...
'' at the National Theatre, being one of several actors in the all-black cast. Eytle appeared in films such as ''
Naked Fury ''Naked Fury'' is a 1959 British crime thriller directed by Charles Saunders. In the United States, it was re-titled ''The Pleasure Lovers''. Synopsis Four criminals attack a night watchman while robbing a warehouse. After kidnapping the daug ...
'' (1959), '' The Criminal'' (1960) and ''
The Hi-Jackers ''The Hi-Jackers'' is a 1963 British crime thriller film written and directed by Jim O'Connolly. It stars Anthony Booth and Jacqueline Ellis. It was shot in black and white. Plot Long-distance independent lorry driver Terry (Anthony Booth) meet ...
'' (1963) and on television in programmes such as ''The Big Pride'' (
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 ...
, 1961), a psychological drama about a prison breakout in Guyana written by Jan Carew and Sylvia Wynter. Other credits included ''
Danger Man ''Danger Man'' (retitled ''Secret Agent'' in the United States for the revived series, and ''Destination Danger'' and ''John Drake'' in other overseas markets) is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again b ...
'' (1965); ''The Spies'' (1966); ''
Adam Adamant Lives! ''Adam Adamant Lives!'' is a British adventure television series that ran from 1966 to 1967 on BBC 1, starring Gerald Harper in the title role. The series was created and produced by several alumni from ''Doctor Who''. Proposing that an adventur ...
'' (1966); ''
The Saint The Saint may refer to: Fiction * Simon Templar, also known as "The Saint", the protagonist of a book series by Leslie Charteris and subsequent adaptations: ** ''The Saint'' (film series) (1938–43), starring Louis Hayward, George Sanders an ...
'' (1967); ''
The Troubleshooters ''The Troubleshooters'' (titled ''Mogul'' for the first series) is a British television series made by the BBC between 1965 and 1972, created by John Elliot. It recounted events in an international oil company – the "Mogul" of the title. Th ...
'' (1970); '' Never Say Die'' (1970); ''
Special Branch Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...
'' (1974); ''
Quiller Quiller is a fictional character created by English novelist Elleston Trevor. Quiller, whose one-word name is a pseudonym, works as a spy, and he is the hero of a series of 19 Cold War thrillers written under the pseudonym Adam Hall, and beca ...
'' (1975); ''
Rumpole of the Bailey ''Rumpole of the Bailey'' is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, a middle-aged London barrister who defended a broad variety of clients, o ...
'' (1983); ''Johnny Jarvis'' (1983) and ''
Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...
'' (1987) and ''Bob's Weekend'' (1996), among others. His most notable role was playing the
Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
ian charmer, Jules Tavernier, in BBC's ''
EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...
'' from 1990 to 1997. The introduction of the Tavernier family heralded the first time that an entire family had joined the programme all at once. Their introduction was also a well-intentioned attempt to portray a wider range of
black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
characters than had previously been achieved on the show. Eytle played the role for seven years, remaining after the departures of all of his on-screen family. Towards the end of his time on the show his character became semi-regular, and his appearances became increasingly sparse due to Eytle's poor-health. He was never given an official exit from the series, but was not featured again after December 1997.


Personal life

Eytle was one of eight children and two of his elder brothers also had successful careers in Britain. Ernest Eytle was a well-known cricket commentator for the BBC and Les Eytle became the first black mayor of the London Borough of
Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...
in 1984. In 1951, Eytle married Avis D'Ornellas, who was also a native from Guyana. They lived in
Kenley Kenley is an area within the London Borough of Croydon. Prior to its incorporation into Greater London in 1965 it was in the historic county of Surrey. It is situated south of Purley, east of Coulsdon, north of Caterham and Whyteleafe and w ...
,
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
. Eytle died of a heart attack aged 80 on 19 June 2007, in
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
,
Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
, survived by his wife.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eytle, Tommy English male soap opera actors English male film actors 1926 births 2007 deaths Guyanese emigrants to England People from Kenley People from Georgetown, Guyana Alumni of Queen's College, Guyana Black British male actors 20th-century Guyanese male actors Guyanese musicians 20th-century Guyanese male singers