Simon Cadell, classically trained English actor who became a sitcom star - born on this day in 1950
His gift for gentle, self-deprecating comedy made him one of British television’s most familiar faces as the academic turned holiday camp manager in the BBC sitcom “Hi-de-Hi!”
Some very talented and acclaimed stage and screen actors have found their careers overshadowed by successfully appearing in a TV sitcom, and thereafter being firmly established in the collective memory for one role. Harry H. Corbett is forever ‘Arold! in ‘Steptoe and Son’, Stephen Lewis was never able to escape Blakey in ‘On The Buses’, Michael Crawford - despite his success on the West End stage - is mainly remembered as Frank Spencer in ‘Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em’. The same can be said for Simon Cadell - a revered, Oliver-award winning dramatic actor who today is permanently associated with Jeffrey Fairbrother, the character he played in the classic holiday camp sit-com Hi-Di-Hi!, in which he tried to fend off the amorous advances of Ruth Madoc’s Gladys Pugh for five seasons from 1980-84 (and their perennial repeats). There was more to Simon than Jeffrey, and despite his very premature death preventing the full maturing of his career it’s one that deserves to be remembered.
Simon John Cadell was born on July 19, 1950 in Marylebone, London. He came from a theatrical dynasty stretching back generations. His Father was the agent John Cadell and his grandmother was the Scottish character actress Jean Cadell. His sister, Selina Cadell, also became a well-known actress, and his cousin was the actor Guy Siner (of ‘Allo ‘Allo fame). He was educated at The Hall School in Hampstead and at Bedales School, where he formed a lifelong friendship with the broadcaster and writer Gyles Brandreth. As a teenager he joined the National Youth Theatre, appearing in its 1967 production of “Zigger Zagger,” before training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
He spent the 1970s building a reputation in repertory theatre, and his early screen credits included lending his voice to the rabbit Blackberry in the animated film “Watership Down” (1978), and playing a chilling German officer in the wartime drama series about the German occupation of Guernsey “Enemy at the Door” (ITV, 1978-80).
It was his casting in 1980 as Jeffrey Fairbrother that made him a household name. He played a former Professor of Archaeology at King’s College, Cambridge who had left academia to run the entertainment staff at the fictional seaside holiday camp ‘Maplins’ in “Hi-de-Hi!” (BBC One).
Simon played the role for the show’s first five series, with a fussy, faintly bewildered charm that became the show’s comic anchor before he left the cast in 1984.
He went on to other television roles, including the scheming civil servant Dundridge in the TV adaptation of Tom Sharpe’s “Blott on the Landscape,” (BBC Two, 1985), and he starred with Carol Royle in the sitcom “Life Without George” (BBC One, 1987-1989). He later joined the cast of the comedy series “Singles” (ITV, 1990) replacing Roger Rees. On radio, he voiced the elven lord Celeborn in the BBC’s adaptation of “The Lord of the Rings” (BBC Radio 4), and he was a prolific voice-over performer, narrating the children’s series “Bump” and lending his distinctive tones to numerous commercials. His stage work, which he regarded as his first calling, culminated in an Olivier Award in 1993 for his performance in the theatrical adaptation of Graham Greene’s “Travels With My Aunt.”
He married the actress Rebecca Croft in 1986. She was the daughter of David Croft, who had co-created “Hi-de-Hi!” as well as “Dad’s Army,” making his father-in-law also one of his professional collaborators. The couple had two sons.
By his own account and those of friends, Simon Cadell was a heavy smoker for much of his adult life, and his health declined sharply in the early 1990s. After a heart attack in January 1993, he returned to work within months, only to receive a lymphoma diagnosis later that year while being treated for pneumonia. He continued to work intermittently through his illness.
Simon Cadell was a performer of unusual range who is often unfairly defined in the public imagination by a single comic role, even as his body of work spanned Shakespeare, wartime drama, farce, and radio.
He died on March 6th 1996 from complications from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at his home in London. He was 45. He is buried in the churchyard of All Saints in Honington, Suffolk, near the Croft family home.
SIMON CADELL
Born: 19 July 1950 - Marylebone, London
Died: 6 March 1996 - Marylebone, London
For further reading I recommend Brian Slade’s excellent ‘Simon Cadell: The Authorised Biography’ (2018, Fonthill Media)
Thanks Jeremy,
Fascinating article. I’d no idea that Simon Cadell was such a versatile actor. Nor that he’d died so young.
I recall that I vaguely knew of him as a "serious" thespian,how I don't know,so it was a kind of surprise how well he did the hi-de-hi role. I think a more comedic cheeky kind of actor wouldn't have pulled it off.