# Melvyn Hayes

Melvyn Hayes (né Hyams) is an English actor and voice-over performer. He is best known for playing the effeminate Gunner (later Bombardier) "Gloria" Beaumont in the 1970s BBC sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum, for appearing in the Cliff Richard musical films The Young Ones, Summer Holiday and Wonderful Life as well as Here Come the Double Deckers (1970–1971).

## Professional career
### Early life and stage roles

Born in Wandsworth, South London, Hayes attended Sir Walter St John's Grammar School For Boys, Battersea. As a youth he worked in Fleet Street, carrying advertising print blocks between newspapers. In 1950 he saw an advertisement seeking an assistant for the conjurer The Great Massoni. He got the job and was soon "disappearing twice daily for £4 per week" performing the Indian rope trick in Maskelyne's Mysteries at The Comedy Theatre in London. He was also in a theatrical troupe called Terry's Juveniles, and later appeared in repertory theatres in Surrey, Derbyshire and the Midlands. He returned to the Comedy Theatre in 1952, playing Tommie, opposite Florence Desmond, Anthony Ireland and Geoffrey Kerr, in The Apples of Eve.
He has appeared in pantomimes as dames in Christmas productions of Sleeping Beauty as Nanny Nellie and Aladdin as Widow Twankey.

### Film

His film roles include the young Victor Frankenstein in The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Willem in Operation Amsterdam (1959), Cecil Biggs in Bottoms Up (1960), Jimmy in The Young Ones (1961) with Cliff Richard, Cyril in Summer Holiday (1963), again with Cliff Richard and 'Brother' Willy in Crooks in Cloisters (1964).

### Voice roles

Hayes has performed voices on children's cartoons such as SuperTed, The Dreamstone, Little Dracula, Alfred J. Kwak, Pongwiffy and Budgie the Little Helicopter.

### Television

One of his earliest roles was in the BBC Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School. He played Edek in The Silver Sword (by Ian Serraillier) in 1957, a children's television serial about Polish refugees trying to find their father after World War II. The Human Jungle (1963) Starring Herbert Lom as Dr Richard Corder. Hayes featured in It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974–1981) as Gunner "Gloria" Beaumont for the first two series, then, after Bombardier Solomon left, he was promoted to bombardier.
Other roles include parts in EastEnders as Michael Rawlins. Carry On England, Love Thy Neighbour, The Thin Blue Line, Here Come the Double Deckers, Potter's Picture Palace (1976 & 1978), the final series of Drop the Dead Donkey and Not Going Out (2023). He also provided the voice to characters in the English translation of the cartoon Alfred J. Kwak. In March 2011, Hayes appeared as Mr Pink in the ITV1 comedy TV series Benidorm. He was also in the Doctor Who - The Companion Chronicles audio The Scorchies (2013).
In August 2023 Hayes appeared in the BBC sitcom Not Going Out.

## Personal life

Hayes was at one time the pub landlord of the Stag Inn in the village of Offchurch in Warwickshire, the White Hart Tap in St Albans, Hertfordshire, and The Brantham Bull, Brantham, Suffolk.
Hayes is a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats, and in 2004 was made King Rat.
In 2025 Hayes became a patron of The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America.

## Filmography
### Film

* Adventure in the Hopfields (1953) as Ned Reilly
* Face the Music (1954) as Hotel Bellhop
* The Man Who Loved Redheads (1955) as Sydney
* Fun at St. Fanny's (1956) as Heckling Boy at Concert
* The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) as Young Victor
* Violent Playground (1958) as kid in Johnnie's gang (uncredited
* Operation Amsterdam (1959) as Willem
* No Trees in the Street (1959) as Tommy
* The Flesh and the Fiends (1960) as Daft Jamie
* Bottoms Up (1960) as Cecil Biggs
* The Young Ones (1961) as Jimmy
* The Silent Invasion (1962) as Jean
* Summer Holiday (1963) as Cyril
* Crooks in Cloisters (1964) as Willy
* Wonderful Life (1964) as Jerry
* A Walk with Love and Death (1969) as First Entertainer
* Go for a Take (1972) as Ambulance Man
* Love Thy Neighbour (1973) as Terry
* Man About the House (1974) as Nigel
* Carry On England (1976) as Gunner Shorthouse
* What's Up Superdoc! (1978) as Waiter / Pietro
* A Touch of the Sun (1979) as Ginger Rogers
* The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood (1984) as Father Luther
* Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) as Elf
* King of the Wind (1990) as Twicker

### Television

* Quatermass II (1955) as Frankie
* Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School (1956–57, seasons 3-4) as Harold Skinner
* The Silver Sword (1957) as Edek
* Faces of Jim
* The Human Jungle (1963)
* It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974–1981, seasons 1 & 2) as Gunner "Gloria" Beaumont
* EastEnders as Michael Rawlins
* Love Thy Neighbour
* The Thin Blue Line
* Here Come the Double Deckers (1971)
* Potter's Picture Palace (1976 & 1978)
* Drop the Dead Donkey (1998, final season)
* Benidorm (2011) as Mr Pink
* Doctor Who - The Companion Chronicles audio The Scorchies (2013)
* Not Going Out (2023)
* Alfred J. Kwak as voice roles (English)
* SuperTed as Skeleton
* The Dreamstone as Frizz
* Little Dracula as voice role
* Alfred J. Kwak as Dolf and others
* Pongwiffy as voice role
* Budgie the Little Helicopter as Nosey and others

## Stage

* Mysteries (1950) as Assistant for The Great Massoni at The Comedy Theatre, London
* Terry's Juveniles theatrical troupe
* Sleeping Beauty Christmas pantomime as Nanny Nellie
* Aladdin Christmas pantomime as Widow Twankey