Christopher Hewett
Christopher Hewett | |
---|---|
Born | Christopher Michael Hewett 5 April 1921 Worthing, Sussex, England |
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Cause of death | Complications from diabetes |
Nationality | English |
Occupation | Actor, theatre director |
Years active | 1943–1997 |
Christopher Michael Hewett (5 April 1921[1][2] – 3 August 2001) was an English actor and theatre director best known for his role as Lynn Aloysius Belvedere on the ABC sitcom Mr. Belvedere.
Contents
Career
Hewett was born in Worthing, Sussex, to an army officer father and an Irish mother who was a descendant of Daniel O'Connell.[1] He was educated at Beaumont College, and at aged 7, made his acting debut in Dublin stage production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. At 16, Hewett joined the Royal Air Force, leaving in 1940. Hewett then joined the Oxford Repertory Company and made his West End theatre debut in 1943.[2]
He later appeared on Broadway in the musicals My Fair Lady, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Music Is, and Kean and in the plays Sleuth and The Affair, among others, and directed the 1960 Broadway revue From A to Z and the 1967 Off Broadway revival of the Rodgers and Hart musical By Jupiter. Hewett also directed several stage productions including The Marriage-Go-Round and Beyond the Fringe and Camelot.[3]
Hewett made his film debut in the 1951 crime drama Pool of London, and later appeared in roles on Robert Montgomery Presents and DuPont Show of the Month. He appeared as the grand theatre director Roger DeBris in Mel Brooks's 1968 film comedy The Producers. In 1976, Hewett played the generic bureaucrat Federov in the short-lived sitcom Ivan the Terrible. During the 1979-80 season, he played Captain Hook to Sandy Duncan's Peter Pan on Broadway. From 1983 to 1984, he portrayed Lawrence, Mr. Roarke's (Ricardo Montalbán) sidekick on the final season of the ABC series Fantasy Island.
The following year, Hewett landed his best known role as Lynn Aloysius Belvedere, an English butler who works for a middle class American family in the sitcom Mr. Belvedere. After the series ended its run in 1990, Hewett appeared in a guest spot on an episode of the NBC teen sitcom California Dreams in 1994. His last onscreen role was a cameo appearance on the Fox series Ned & Stacey in 1997.[3]
Personal life and death
A devout Catholic and lifelong bachelor, Hewett served at St. Victor's Church in West Hollywood. During his later years, he suffered from arthritis and diabetes.[1]
Hewett died on 3 August 2001, at his Los Angeles home from complications of diabetes. He was 80 years old. [4]
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1951 | Pool of London | Mike | |
1951 | The Lavender Hill Mob | Inspector Talbot | |
1954 | The Million Pound Note | Irate Investor | Uncredited Alternative title: Man with a Million |
1968 | The Producers | Roger De Bris | |
1986 | Ratboy | Acting Coach |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1955 | Robert Montgomery Presents | Major Sanders | Episode: "The Cage" |
1959 | DuPont Show of the Month | Policeman | Episode: "The Fallen Idol" |
1966 | The Jackie Gleason Show | Mumbling English Pedestrian | Episode: "The Honeymooners In England" |
1976 | Ivan the Terrible | Federov | 5 episodes |
1977 | On Our Own | Episode: "Julia's Big Bust" | |
1979 | ABC Afterschool Special | Butler | Episode: "Seven Wishes of a Rich Kid" |
1982 | The Elephant Man | Ross | Television film |
1982 | Hart to Hart | Jeremy Lane | Episode: "Vintage Harts" |
1982 | Massarati and the Brain | Anatole | Television film |
1983-1984 | Fantasy Island | Lawrence | 10 episodes |
1984 | E/R | Englishman | Episode: "Mr. Fix-It" |
1985-1990 | Mr. Belvedere | Mr. Lynn Aloysius Belvedere | 117 episodes |
1987 | The New Mike Hammer | Hubert "The Umbrella" Wembley | Episode: "Green Blizzard" |
1987 | Murder, She Wrote | Humphrey Defoe | Episode: "It Runs in the Family" |
1990 | A Very Retail Christmas | Ghost of Christmas Past | Television film |
1994 | California Dreams | Mr. Green | Episode: "Follow Your Dreams" |
1997 | Ned & Stacey | Himself | Episode: "Saved by the Belvedere" |
Award nomination
Year | Award | Category | Title of work |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | TV Land Award | Best Broadcast Butler | Mr. Belvedere |
See also
References
External links
- Christopher Hewett at the Internet Broadway DatabaseLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Christopher Hewett at the Internet Movie Database
- Christopher Hewett at Find a Grave
- Use dmy dates from April 2012
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- 1921 births
- 2001 deaths
- 20th-century English male actors
- Deaths from diabetes
- English male stage actors
- English male film actors
- English expatriates in the United States
- English people of Irish descent
- English Roman Catholics
- English male television actors
- English theatre directors
- People from Worthing
- Royal Air Force officers