{{Short description|British actor and guitarist (1915–2001)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}} {{Use British English|date=August 2016}} {{more citations needed|date=January 2013}} thumb|right|Cover of E.P., 1959 '''Elton Hayes''' (16 February 1915 – 23 September 2001) was a British actor and guitarist.<ref name="Telegraph">{{cite journal |title=Daily Telegraph obituary |date=29 September 2001 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1357900/Elton-Hayes.html |accessdate=17 March 2017}} </ref>
==Life and career== Elton Hayes was born in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, England.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lXnXDQAAQBAJ&dq=elton+hayes+The+Encyclopedia+of+British+Film%3A+Fourth+edition&pg=PA342|title=The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition|first=Brian|last=McFarlane|date=16 May 2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9781526111975|via=Google Books}}</ref> Both his parents were actors, and he made his first stage appearance aged nine. He also wanted to be an actor and he learned the violin and the ukulele. As a teenager he won a scholarship to the Fay Compton School of Dramatic Arts where he received an extensive theatrical education.<ref name=filmsofthefifties/> His first job was as assistant stage manager with the Old Stagers' Company at the Canterbury Theatre. He sang in his spare time at local social clubs.<ref name="Telegraph"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Whiligig nostalgia |url=http://www.turnipnet.com/whirligig/tv/children/other/eltonhayes.htm |accessdate=17 March 2017 }}</ref>
Hayes took up the guitar shortly before World War II when he accepted one as security from a friend who had borrowed 30 shillings. Guitars brought him fame later, accompanying his old English folk songs and ballads.
In 1939 he volunteered for military service and was commissioned in the Royal West Kent Regiment and posted to India. After the Japanese surrender he hitch-hiked to Bombay where he was appointed Officer Commanding ENSA in Rawalpindi. Despite contracting rheumatic fever, which caused his fingers to stiffen, he continued playing.<ref name="Telegraph"/>
A few days after returning to Britain he visited the BBC, still in uniform, to watch a broadcast of ''Children's Hour'' and was immediately taken on to write and perform musical versions of Edward Lear's ''Nonsense Rhymes''. This was followed in 1946 by a regular slot on the BBC Radio show ''In Town Tonight''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/5bdf46620f524fa087ce4a77464fc796|title=In Town Tonight|date=29 November 1958|issue=1828|pages=54|via=BBC Genome}}</ref> From then on he performed on radio and television frequently in Britain. On an eight-week tour of North America he made 113 appearances. As an actor, he appeared in ''The Beaux' Stratagem'' at the Lyric Theatre for 18 months from 1949.<ref name="Telegraph"/><ref name=filmsofthefifties>{{cite web |title=Films of the Fifties |date=21 February 2015 |url=http://filmsofthefifties.com/elton-hayes/ |accessdate=17 March 2017 }}</ref>
His fame was extended by his appearance as the minstrel Alan-a-Dale in the 1952 Walt Disney film ''The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men'', in which he was afforded a musical number, "Whistle, my Love".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b6b45ba|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116233150/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b6b45ba|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 November 2017|title=The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952)|website=BFI}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/smor.1952-19/|title=THE STORY OF ROBIN HOOD|website=Library of Congress}}</ref> Long afterwards his own "Robin Hood Ballads" were used in another Disney feature; ''Enchanted''.<ref>[http://www.englishmovies.co/people/267483-elton-hayes English Movies Database] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420222840/http://www.englishmovies.co/people/267483-elton-hayes|date=20 April 2016 }}</ref>
His recording of the Victor Hely-Hutchinson setting of Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussycat" also achieved enduring popularity. It was first issued as a 10-inch single by Parlophone in June 1953,<ref>[http://www.globaldogproductions.info/p/parlophone-uk3000.html Parlophone R3692]</ref> and was regularly requested on the BBC radio programme ''Children's Favourites'', as was "The Whistling Gypsy". "The Owl and the Pussycat" was one of six song recordings he made of Edward Lear's nonsense verse following his BBC performances, along with the Dudley Glass settings of "The Duck and the Kangaroo", "The Table and the Chair", "The Broom, the Shovel, the Poker and the Tongs", "The Jumblies" and "The Quangle-Wangle's Hat". These were issued on a Parlophone extended play 45 single in November 1955<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.45cat.com/record/gep8551 |title=Details of the 45 rpm record of Elton Hayes' recordings of Edward Lear songs |publisher=45cat.com |date= |accessdate=2011-10-07}}</ref>
Later he had his own television shows, called "Elton Hayes - He Sings to a Small Guitar", "Close Your Eyes" and "Tinker's Tales".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/73806874dca84ff1a365ea2841f2eeee|title=Elton Hayes|date=1 February 1957|issue=1733|pages=44|via=BBC Genome}}</ref> He obtained a follow-up film role in ''The Black Knight'', 1954, a variation on the King Arthur story produced by Irving Allen and Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli and starring Alan Ladd.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a5503a8|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504235154/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a5503a8|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 May 2019|title=The Black Knight (1954)|website=BFI}}</ref> He can be seen very briefly at the start of the film as a minstrel singing a few bars of "The Whistling Gypsy/The Gypsy Rover".<ref name="Telegraph"/>
Hayes was nervous before live performances and retired from show business in the 1960s. He bought a small, thatched cottage on the Essex-Suffolk border and, after studying at a local agricultural college, became a farmer, breeding pedigree livestock. He took up carriage driving and became a member of the British Driving Society.<ref name="Telegraph"/>
==Personal life== Betty Inman, whom he married in 1942, died in 1982. After a stroke in 1995, Hayes gave up his farm and moved to Bury St Edmunds to live with friends who cared for him until his death in 2001.<ref name="Telegraph"/>
==Filmography== * 1948 ''A Date with a Dream'' as Singer * 1952 ''The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men'' as Allan-a-Dale * 1954 ''The Black Knight'' as The Minstrel * 1968 ''Isabel'' as Eb * 1972 ''Journey'' as Piers, The Farmer * 1992 ''The Dance Goes On'' as Mayor Elton
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{IMDb name|0371007}} * [http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/children/other/eltonhayes.htm Whirlygig TV nostalgia] * {{discogs artist|Elton Hayes}} * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsTJN_P3tWE ''The Owl and the Pussycat''] originally recorded in June 1953 on Parlophone R3692 {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayes, Elton}} Category:1915 births Category:2001 deaths Category:Military personnel from Buckinghamshire Category:English male stage actors Category:English folk guitarists Category:English male guitarists Category:People from Bletchley Category:Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment officers Category:20th-century British guitarists Category:20th-century British male musicians Category:British Army personnel of World War II