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Geoffrey William Hughes DL (2 February 1944 – 27 July 2012) was an English actor. Hughes provided the voice of
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
in the animated film '' Yellow Submarine'' (1968), and rose to fame for portraying bin man Eddie Yeats in the long-running British soap opera ''
Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...
'' from 1974 to 1983, making a return to the show in 1987. He is well known for playing loveable slob Onslow in the British sitcom ''
Keeping Up Appearances ''Keeping Up Appearances'' is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke. It originally aired on BBC1 from 1990 to 1995. The central character is an eccentric and snobbish middle-class social climber, Hyacinth Bucket ( Patricia Ro ...
'' (1990–1995) and "Twiggy" in the sitcom '' The Royle Family'', playing the part from 1998 to 2008. From 2001 to 2005 he played
conman A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibi ...
and rogue businessman Vernon Scripps in the ITV police drama '' Heartbeat'', taking over as the show's main rogue from
Bill Maynard Walter Frederick George Williams (8 October 1928 – 30 March 2018), better known by his stage name Bill Maynard, was an English comedian and actor. He began working in television in the 1950s, notably starring alongside Terry Scott in '' ...
's Claude Greengrass, and returning to the programme briefly in 2007. Hughes was diagnosed with
prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...
in the 1990s and in 2010 he suffered a
relapse In internal medicine, relapse or recidivism is a recurrence of a past (typically medical) condition. For example, multiple sclerosis and malaria often exhibit peaks of activity and sometimes very long periods of dormancy, followed by relapse or r ...
which led him to retire from acting. He died from the illness in 2012 at age 68.


Life and career

Hughes was born in
Wallasey Wallasey () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is at the mouth of the River Mersey, on the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic county bou ...
,
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
, to Ada (née Tulloch) and Bill Hughes. He had one younger brother, Gordon. He was brought up in Liverpool, where he attended Ranworth Square Primary School. He then went to Abbotsford Secondary Modern School in Norris Green, Liverpool. He started his acting career in
repertory A repertory theatre, also called repertory, rep, true rep or stock, which are also called producing theatres, is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom ...
at the Victoria Theatre in
Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...
and soon made his West End debut in the
Lionel Bart Lionel Bart (1 August 1930 – 3 April 1999) was an English writer and composer of pop music and musicals. He wrote Tommy Steele's "Rock with the Caveman" and was the sole creator of the musical ''Oliver!'' (1960). With ''Oliver!'' and his work ...
and Alun Owen musical '' Maggie May''. His other West End productions included the stage version of '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', ''Say Goodnight to Grandma'', ''The Secret Life of Cartoons'' and several series of ''Run For Your Wife''. He later played Pistol in an open-air production of '' Henry V'' at Barnwell Manor. He also toured extensively in Britain and abroad. Hughes' film credits included '' Smashing Time'' (1967), '' The Bofors Gun'' (1968), '' Till Death Us Do Part'' (1969), ''
The Virgin Soldiers ''The Virgin Soldiers'' is a 1966 comic novel by Leslie Thomas, inspired by his own experiences of National Service in the British Army. It was Thomas' debut novel; he had previously published an autobiography. ''The Virgin Soldiers'' sold mill ...
'' (1969), '' The Man Who Had Power Over Women'' (1970), ''
Revenge Revenge is defined as committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Vengeful forms of justice, such as primitive justice or retributive justice, are often differentiated from more fo ...
'' (1971), '' Carry On at Your Convenience'' (1971), '' Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall'' (1973), '' Tiffany Jones'' (1973), '' Confessions of a Driving Instructor'' (1976), '' Nijinsky'' (1980), and '' Flick'' (2008). He was also the voice of
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
in
the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
' 1968 cartoon film '' Yellow Submarine''. In 1974, Hughes was cast as binman Eddie Yeats in the long-running soap opera ''Coronation Street''. Over the next nine years he became, with Stan Ogden (as played by Bernard Youens), a
foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...
for Stan's long-suffering wife Hilda ( Jean Alexander). He left the series in 1983, but made a brief return appearance in 1987 as part of Hilda's departure from the series. Among his many other appearances on television are: ''An Arrow for Little Audrey''; '' The Saint''; '' Shadows of Fear''; ''
Z-Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police and CID detectives in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by ...
''; ''
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) ''Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'' is a British private detective television series, starring Mike Pratt (actor), Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope respectively as the private detectives Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk. The series was created by Denn ...
''; ''Flying Lady''; ''
Making Out Making out is a term of American English, American origin dating back to at least 1949, and is used to refer to kissing, including extended French kissing or ''necking'' (heavy kissing of the neck, and above), or to acts of non-penetrative s ...
''; ''Coasting''; ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
''; ''Spender''; and '' Boon''. He played Trinculo in a version of ''
The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...
'' for the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
and Squire Clodpoll in ''Good Friday 1663'', one of Channel Four's new
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
operas. His comedy appearances on TV include '' The Likely Lads'', '' Please Sir!'', ''
Dad's Army ''Dad's Army'' is a British television British sitcom, sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard (United Kingdom), Home Guard during the World War II, Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft (TV producer), David Crof ...
'', '' Curry and Chips'', '' No, Honestly'', and '' The Upper Hand''. Hughes played the character of Onslow in the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
sitcom ''
Keeping Up Appearances ''Keeping Up Appearances'' is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke. It originally aired on BBC1 from 1990 to 1995. The central character is an eccentric and snobbish middle-class social climber, Hyacinth Bucket ( Patricia Ro ...
'' (1990–1995), appearing in all 44 episodes over five series. In 1997 he and Judy Cornwell reprised their roles as Onslow and Daisy in a special compilation programme called ''The Memoirs of Hyacinth Bucket'' which was subsequently released on VHS. Hughes reprised his role as Onslow one final time in 2008, for the video ( DVD) release of a further compilation programme, ''Keeping Up Appearances: Life Lessons from Onslow''. He also had a recurring role as Twiggy in '' The Royle Family'' from 1998 until 2008. Hughes usually appeared in
pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...
over the Christmas period. He appeared on '' That Antony Cotton Show'' on 6 September 2007, in which he spoke about his role in a short film called ''Expresso'', which also starred Sir Norman Wisdom. Hughes played the part of a man who visits a coffee shop for a "normal" coffee but is served by a pompous waiter. The film was sold in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. In 2007, he performed the Angel Gabriel in the BBC production ''Liverpool Nativity''. From 2007, he also appeared as uncle Keith in the first three series of the E4 drama '' Skins'.' In 2009 he played Frank in Tim Firth's ''Absolutely Frank'' at the Oldham Coliseum Theatre and at the Harrogate Theatre.


Personal life

Hughes married Susan Mundell in 1975. His off-stage interests included
sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...
,
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
,
golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
,
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
,
rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...
, dendrology (trees), and
beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...
. He was the Honorary Squire of the Dartington Morris Men and made an appearance at the Dartington Morris Ring meeting in September 2008. His musical interests included British folk rock and he compered at
Fairport's Cropredy Convention Fairport's Cropredy Convention (formerly Cropredy Festival) is an annual festival of folk and rock music, headed by British folk-rock band Fairport Convention and held on the edge of the village of Cropredy in Oxfordshire, England. The festi ...
annual music festival several times. He was a supporter of Everton Football Club. On 10 June 2009 he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of the
Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
. This entitled him to the Post Nominal Letters "DL" for Life.


Illness and death

Hughes received a diagnosis of prostate cancer in 1996. In 2010, he collapsed at home with extreme back pain. He was diagnosed with a relapse of prostate cancer, at which point he retired from acting. He died from his illness on 27 July 2012, aged 68. Doctors stated that he died "peacefully in his sleep".


Filmography


References


External links

*
Geoffrey Hughes
at the
British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Geoffrey 1944 births 2012 deaths 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors Deaths from prostate cancer in England Deputy lieutenants of the Isle of Wight English male film actors English male soap opera actors English male stage actors English male television actors English male voice actors Male actors from Liverpool Male actors from Wallasey