LEYTON: Captain Birds Eye passes away

8:47am Wednesday 19th March 2008

Comments (2)   Have your say »

THE Leyton-born actor who played Captain Birds Eye in adverts for fish fingers for 30 years has died.

John Hewer, who also lived in Epping for about ten years, played the role of the jolly, bearded naval captain from 1967 until the nineties.

He passed away at the actors' retirement home, Brinsworth House, in Middlesex, aged 86.

He lived in Coopersale before moving to Kendal Avenue, Epping.

Former Epping mayor Peter Burns, who remembers Hewer's time in the town, said: "I would see him in the street and used to talk to him. He was well-known especially to the younger people. He was quite a character."

Mr Hewer had a long and distinguished stage and screen career.

He appeared in the original Broadway production of Sandy Wilson's The Boyfriend, opposite Julie Andrews, and also starred in a production of the Noel Coward musical Sail Away.

He became a stalwart of the Players' Theatre in central London and also appeared in a television adaptation of Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby.

A spokesman for Birds Eye said: "We are saddened to hear the news of John Hewer's death.

"As Captain Birds Eye in our ads for nearly 30 years John was very much part of our family and our thoughts are now with his."

Since Mr Hewer's retirement his role in the frozen fish adverts has been played by actor Thomas Pescod.