Melvyn Hayes

The entertainer talks about It Ain't Half Hot Mum, the controversial sitcom that made him a star

- With Hannah Stephenson

Sprightly actor Melvyn Hayes, best known for his role as Gunner “Gloria” Beaumont in 70s sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum, is still getting job offers more than 75 years after starting his career in entertainment.

"I still think I'm a kid, I'm young," the 91-year-old actor declares, revealing he goes to the gym twice a week and is up doing exercises in his lounge during TV ad breaks.

It has taken him 37 years to complete his autobiography, It Ain't Half Late Mum, in which he charts his humble beginnings as the third of four sons of Isaac and Queenie Hyams, a working-class Jewish couple of Polish and Dutch ancestry. His dad worked on fairgrounds and later owned a shop in south London.

Hayes left school at 15 but his failed attempt to become a jockey was followed by an unexpected theatrical career. The cheerful entertainer, who began his stage and screen journey as a magician’s assistant and has never had an acting lesson, starred with a young Cliff Richard in Summer Holiday as well as countless plays, films and pantos.

He also taught the likes of Lesley Manville, Tracey Ullman and Leslie Ash at the famous Italia Conti drama school during rare resting periods.

What did his parents make of his career?

"My father used to say to people, 'My son's an actor. He's been starving for years'."