The Government is doing horrible issues to pensioners… I voted Green! Actor Melvyn Hayes on cash

Veteran actor Melvyn Hayes is best-known for appearing in three films starring Cliff Richard in the 1960s, and the TV series Here Come The Double Deckers and It Ain’t Half Hot Mum in the 1970s. 

One of his early films, No Trees In The Street, has recently been released on DVD and Blu-ray by Studiocanal. 

Since the death of his third wife Jayne two years ago, father of six Melvyn, 89, has been living with their daughter in London.

What did your parents teach you about money?

That it doesn’t grow on trees, that nobody gives you anything in life – you’ve got to work for it, and if you’re lucky the harder you work the luckier you get. 

I come from a working class family. At one point my father worked on fairgrounds, and the guy on the stall next to him said: ‘I’ve got an idea for places where people can all holiday together under one roof. Would you be interested?’ 

‘No, I’m going to buy a little shop,’ Dad said to… Billy Butlin. Dad’s shop was a gents’ outfitters, and when jeans came into fashion he said: ‘No way am I buying those, they won’t last.’

What was your first pay packet?

It was two pounds 15 shillings a week, as a 15-year-old messenger carrying parcels in Fleet Street. 

My first stage work was doing the Indian Rope Trick at London’s Comedy Theatre – I disappeared twice daily for £5 a week!

Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?

As a teenager I’d been in a few things on TV when I signed on at Brixton Labour Exchange. 

I said: ‘I think you’ve made a mistake with my money,’ and I was told in a loud voice: ‘Nobody makes mistakes here, son. Just because you’re on the telly…’ 

I replied: ‘Well, you have made a mistake, you’ve given me a pound too much.’ You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife.

Did you ever turn down a job that you regretted?

Yes, I’d done the 1961 film The Young Ones, and when, two years later, I was offered another Cliff Richard film, Summer Holiday. I asked for billing alongside others such as Richard O’Sullivan and was told no – so I turned it down. 

Later I went to them on bended knee and begged for the part and they said yes. 

At the West End premiere, I asked the associate producer if he’d have come back to me if I’d held out, and he replied: ‘Of course, we needed you, but we weren’t going to be dictated to by actors.’

Have you ever been paid silly money?

Yes. In 1957 I was paid £5 a day to do the film Woman In A Dressing Gown and my part, which involved delivering a newspaper to a building, was over by the time the opening credits ended.

What’s been the best year of your financial life?

None of them! There hasn’t been a big year, but because I was doing a lot of television and radio, pantos and summer seasons, the 60s and 70s were good.

Are you a spender or saver?

A bit of both. I try to save. I’m careful with shopping. I play the National Lottery every week. I occasionally go to a casino and spend up to £300, and I usually break even. 

I place my roulette bets on No.17 and my lottery numbers are my kids’ birthdays. I can’t say they’re my lucky numbers because if they were lucky, I’d have won a fortune.

What’s the most expensive thing you bought for fun?

In 2004, to raise money for the Grand Order Of Water Rats [an entertainment industry charitable organisation], I paid £3,000 for a signed picture of Dan Leno, best known for his pantomime dame roles.

He died at 43 in 1904 and apparently his ghost is seen at Drury Lane.

Of all the productions you have starred in, which was the biggest financial success?

Summer Holiday, which was made on quite a small budget but is still popular today.

Do you still get royalties from shows like It Ain’t Half Hot Mum?

I don’t get a penny from Summer Holiday. It Ain’t Half Hot Mum has unfairly been considered politically incorrect, so that has hardly been repeated.

Do you have a pension?

I’ve got a state pension and a small dwindling private pension with Legal & General.

Do you own any property?

No. My late wife used to do the buying and selling of houses. She was good at that. When she died, I sold our house on the Isle of Wight, divided the money up and gave it to the kids.

Do you donate money to charity?

Yes, to many, including the RNLI and Great Ormond Street Hospital. When I was a four-year-old evacuee in Dawlish, Devon, a nice person from The Salvation Army offered me a cup of tea, so I’ve always donated to them. 

In 2004, when I was the Grand Order Of Water Rats’ King Rat, we raised a lot of money for charity.

What would you have done if acting hadn’t worked out?

Starved, I suppose. I don’t know anything else.

You and your wife Jayne used to foster children, how did it affect you financially?

We fostered about 50 children over the years. Some would come for years, others just for a night. 

We didn’t make any money out of it, but it was rewarding to give many of those kids a chance in life. Two boys we fostered, aged one and three, we legally adopted.

If you were Chancellor, what would you do?

I’d sack the Prime Minister. He’s doing terrible things to pensioners. I voted for the Greens.

What is your top indulgence?

My indulgence is smoked salmon. On Sundays, my father used to go to Petticoat Lane in London’s East End to see his family, and he’d buy smoked salmon from a man there. 

Dad would ask him to add some skin, explaining to me that was ‘so when I get home I can cut another slice off that’. When I buy it, I think of him.

What is your number one financial priority?

Not to be broke, to never have to sign on at a Labour Exchange again, and to make sure that the children are OK.

This December is your 75th anniversary in showbusiness – would you rather start today?

Oh no. I started out in rep on £10 a week. But those days were the best with live television, and when you said somebody was a celebrity you’d heard of them. 

I was once introduced by a fellow on TV’s Countdown as ‘a man who needs no introduction, an icon, the one and only…. Mervyn Hughes!’