I WAS TOLD MY CAREER WOULDN'T LAST!

But It Ain't Half Hot Mum star Melvyn Hayes, who releases his autobiography this month, is still filming comedies aged 90. He looks back at working with David Croft and Cliff Richard

- By Peter Dyke

In Summer Holiday, right, with Sir Cliff Richard, centre

HIS career spans 75 years and includes appearances in films such The Young Ones, Summer Holiday and The Curse of Frankenstein... and Benidorm, EastEnders and SuperTed on television. But It Ain't Half Hot Mum star Melvyn Hayes was once told by an actor early on in his career that he wouldn't be on screen for long.

"Over the years there have been some bad people I've encountered," recalls Melvyn, 90. "I won't name names but I did a TV play and at the end of it, I finished my scene and the whole crew clapped and the whole cast did too.

"And then this one actor came up to me and whispered, 'Enjoy it... it won't last'. Well, that was 60 years ago and I am pleased to say it did last!"

Indeed, Melvyn has been so busy he's only now got round to publishing his autobiography, fittingly called It Ain't Half Late Mum.

So what's taken him so long? With a smile, Melvyn admits it was a chore having to submit the chapters to editors but also lawyers who swooped in to remove certain stories.

"It all had to be passed by a legal team and I am afraid they'd call me and say, 'Take that out'," he chuckles. "I had a story for the book about an actress but she is still alive. My legal team said, 'Take that out!"

Melvyn was born in Wandsworth in South London in 1935 and his first brush with showbiz came in 1950 when he was just 15 years old.

He got a job as an assistant to a conjurer who performed the Indian rope trick for the crowds.

After a few stints in the theatre, he landed film roles in The Curse of Frankenstein and Bottoms Up in the 1950s.

But in 1961 a bigger opportunity knocked when he got a part in Cliff Richard's movie The Young Ones.