Introduction
Gordon Fitzgerald Kaye (7 April 1941 – 23 January 2017), known professionally as Gorden Kaye, was a BAFTA-nominated English comic actor, best known for playing René Artois in the British TV comedy series 'Allo 'Allo!
Early life
Kaye was born in Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, an only child; his mother Gracie was 42 when he was born. His father Harold was a lorry driver and in the ARP during the Second World War and at other times worked as an engineer in a tractor factory.
When young, Kaye played rugby league for Moldgreen ARLFC before studying at King James's Grammar School, Almondbury, Huddersfield.
He worked in hospital radio in Huddersfield (interviewing the Beatles in 1965), and was employed in textile mills (including John Crowther), a wine factory, and a tractor factory in West Yorkshire.
Career
Kaye had appeared in a radio play directed by Alan Ayckbourn and also in a television play from Manchester. Ayckbourn suggested that he audition for the Bolton Octagon Theatre; he was offered a contract and his roles there included Pishchik in The Cherry Orchard followed by roles in The Homecoming, The Imaginary Invalid, Luther and a double-bill of Oedipus and Cyclops.
He made his TV debut as a railway guard in the BBC's Yorkshire mill drama Champion House (1968) and played small roles in such films as The Party's Over (1965) starring Oliver Reed. Having been seen by Pat Phoenix in Little Malcolm by David Halliwell at Bolton, he was cast as Bernard Butler, the nephew of Elsie Tanner (Phoenix), in the soap opera Coronation Street in 1969. He later made an impression on producer/writer David Croft following guest roles in It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Come Back Mrs. Noah. He appeared in the 1978 comedy short The Waterloo Bridge Handicap starring Leonard Rossiter, and featured as Dimes in the feature film version of Porridge (1979) alongside Ronnie Barker. He also appeared in the drama series All Creatures Great and Small and in the private detective series Shoestring. In 1981, Kaye appeared as Frank Broadhurst in the children's drama serial Codename Icarus.
Kaye appeared in three episodes of Croft's British department store sitcom Are You Being Served? and was later offered the lead role in a series he had written called Oh Happy Band!, but Kaye was unavailable and the part went to Harry Worth. Oh Happy Band! lasted one series.'
Kaye had a small part in Terry Gilliam's film Brazil as desk clerk M.O.I. Lobby Porter.
He played Dr Grant in a television adaptation of Mansfield Park and Lymoges, Duke of Austria in the 1984 BBC production of King John by Shakespeare. He also toured in the National Theatre production of As You Like It, as Touchstone.
In 1993, Kaye made a guest appearance in a Christmas special of Family Fortunes, in which he served as team captain and placed host Les Dennis on a special "Double Big Money" round for Dennis to score more than one hundred points to double the charity prize money, which he did.
'Allo 'Allo!
In 1982, David Croft sent Kaye the script for the pilot episode of 'Allo 'Allo! inviting him to play the central character of René Artois. He accepted and appeared in all 84 episodes (1982–1992) and 1,200 performances of the stage version.
Kaye was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1986 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the curtain call of the West End stage version of 'Allo 'Allo! at the Prince of Wales Theatre.
Kaye returned as Rene Artois in a 2007 one-off television revival of 'Allo 'Allo! and in a stage show in Brisbane, Australia, at the Twelfth Night Theatre in June and July, alongside Sue Hodge as Mimi Labonq and Guy Siner as Lieutenant Gruber. The other characters were portrayed by Australian actors, including Katy Manning, Steven Tandy, Chloe Dallimore, Jason Gann and Tony Alcock.
Personal life
Kaye was the author of a 1989 autobiography, Rene & Me: A Sort of Autobiography (with Hilary Bonner, ISBN 0-283-99965-9) in which he described his experiences as a shy, gay, overweight, typecast youth. The unusual spelling of the name Gorden (usually spelt "Gordon") was the result of a British Actors' Equity Association typing error.
Kaye suffered serious head injuries in a car accident during the Burns' Day storm on 25 January 1990. Although he could not afterwards remember any details of the incident, he retained a scar on his forehead from a piece of wooden advertising boarding that smashed through the car windscreen. Writing in his memoirs, 'Allo 'Allo! co-writer Jeremy Lloyd said he visited Kaye in hospital, adding "I believe part of his recovery was due to his agent getting a video and showing reruns of 'Allo 'Allo! to remind him who he was."
While recovering in hospital from emergency brain surgery to treat injuries sustained in the accident, Kaye was photographed and interviewed by Sunday Sport journalist Roger Ordish. He sued the Sunday Sport, but the Court of Appeal held, in Kaye v Robertson, that there was no remedy in English law for an invasion of privacy.
He died, in a care home, on 23 January 2017 at the age of 75.