Captain Birdseye actor dies at 86

Published Tuesday 18 March 2008 at 10:35 by Patrick Newley

Actor John Hewer, who achieved worldwide fame playing Captain Birdseye in the long running fish finger TV commercials, has died aged 86.

He played the role from 1967 until the late eighties. The jovial naval captain outlasted the Milky Bar Kid and Ronald McDonald to become the longest running ‘brand personality’ since food advertising began.

A poll in 1983 named Captain Birdseye as the most recognised captain in the world after Captain Cook.

Leyton-born Hewer also had a long stage and screen career. He appeared in the original Broadway production of Sandy Wilson’s The Boy Friend, opposite Julie Andrews, and he was in the London production of the Noel Coward musical Sail Away, with Elaine Stritch.

For many years he was a stalwart of the Players Theatre in London and he also went into management presenting music hall shows on Southend Pier in association with the bandleader Henry Hall. His TV credits included The Great Detective and the mini-series Nicholas Nickleby.

He died in Brinsworth House, the actors’ retirement home in Middlesex on March 16. A full obituary will appear in The Stage Newspaper.