James Hayter

James Hayter, the British actor known for his roles in film and television, possessed a voice that resonated with sincerity, and it was that voice, rich, velvety and timbre-like, that left a true indelible impression. So much so, that on one particular occasion, when he was in his seventies and travelling by coach to London, the driver, on hearing Hayter talk said, "I know you - you're Mr Kipling, aren't you?"                                            

"Yes”, replied Hayter, “but I have done a few other things in my fifty-two years in the business."

Henry James Goodenough Hayter was born in Lonavala, near Lahore in India, on 23 April 1907, the son of a police commissioner stationed at Simla (now Shimla), he was returned to his parent's native Scotland to receive his education at a private boarding school; Dollar Academy, established in 1818 on a 70-acre site in Clackmannanshire, bordering Stirling, Fife and Perth. "My scholastic qualifications were not great", he would admit, "two medals for gym and one for boxing and after my headmaster saw me in a play (he) suggested I should apply for RADA." This he did, leaving school in 1925.

His first job was a tour with the Elizabeth Blake Company playing Shylock and Gratiano in scenes from The Merchant of Venice. He then toured with many companies and after various seasons in reps - Northampton, Dundee, Shrewsbury, Perth, Birmingham - he formed his own company, James Hayter Players, acting, producing and managing.

His debut in London was playing Andrew Young, a young Scots composer, in The Composite Man at Daly's Theatre (since demolished) which led to his first film, Sensation, at BIP Elstree, followed by Big Fella with Paul Robeson. He then appeared in revues including C.B. Cochran's Lights at the Savoy.

James (or Jimmy as his friends called him) joined the Royal Armoured Corps in November 1940 and was demobbed as a captain in November 1945. The following year he married for the second time (his 1934 marriage to Marjorie Lane having ended in divorce) and with Mary Shaw, over the next 37 years, his family expanded with 8 children of their own (5 girls and 3 boys) and 8 grandchildren. Jimmy made an early impression on television when he starred in the first TV sitcom, Pinwright's Progress, which was first transmitted on the BBC on 29 November 1946.

He continued to appear on television throughout his career, most notably in The Flaxton Boys (1969), as a mad train conductor hell-bent on the assassination of the Prime Minister in a 1967 episode of The Avengers (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Station), and as Captain Webster in The Onedin Line (1971). Dividing his time between television and film (making over 150 combined appearances) as well as the stage, where he took over the role of Alfred Doolittle from Stanley Holloway in the original Drury Lane production of My Fair Lady for a run of 2,415 appearances (performing 8 times a week), James Hayter was the most prolific of actors.

However, it was for his voice that he became most recognised. In 1967, Rank Hovis McDougall launched a new brand of premium cakes under the title Mr. Kipling. With advertising using the phrase "exceedingly good cakes", and television adverts featuring the voice of Hayter, the brand had become the market leader in the United Kingdom by 1976. Hayter’s dulcet tones became so closely associated with the product that he was forced to withdraw from one of the UK’s biggest sitcoms.

When the actor Arthur Brough, who had played Mr Grainger in the first five series of Are You Being Served? died in 1977, the producers looked for a suitable replacement. In came Mr Percival Tebbs, a prominent character assigned to the men's department of the store Grace Brothers. Hayter played the cantankerous Mr. Tebbs for just one series but the advertising agency for Kipling, J Walter Thompson were soon in touch with his agent informing him that Kipling Cakes were concerned with the shadow it might cast on the avuncular and long-established image of Mr Kipling. In order to protect what they saw as the integrity of their product, they paid James Hayter to withdraw from the sitcom. This he did. His co-star in the series, Frank Thornton, would write: "Who can blame an actor in his seventies for accepting money for staying at home? I, now 78, would jump at the chance!"

Hayter retired to Spain and flew back to the UK when work beckoned, but died in his sleep on 27 March 1983 at Villajoyosa at the age of 75.

When James Hayter stepped onto the screen, you knew you were in for something genuine. No pretence, no artifice—just an actor who inhabited his roles with authenticity. His voice carried weight, yet it danced. It had the warmth of a fireside chat and the gravitas of a seasoned storyteller.

Hayter said his only ambition in life was to have a large family and earn enough money to look after his wife and children properly. In that, as well as everything else he did, he was…exceedingly good.