The government is doing terrible things to pensioners… I voted Green! Actor Melvyn Hayes on money

Veteran actor Melvyn Hayes is best known for appearing in three films with 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, was recently 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 lived in London with their daughter.

What did your parents learn? you about money?

That it doesn’t grow on trees, that no one gives you anything in life – you have 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 was working at fairs and the man next to him on the stall said, ‘I have an idea for places where people can vacation together under one roof. Would you be interested?’

“No, I’m going to buy a shop,” Dad said to…Billy Butlin. Dad’s store was a men’s clothing store, and when jeans came into fashion, he said, “There’s no way I’m going to buy those, they won’t last long.”

What was your first paycheck?

It was two pounds and fifteen 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 Theater – I disappeared twice a day for £5 a week!

Have you ever had any trouble make ends meet?

As a teenager I had experienced a number of things on TV when I signed up for Brixton Labor Exchange.

I said, ‘I think you made a mistake with my money,’ and in a loud voice I was told, ‘No one makes mistakes here, boy. Just because you’re on TV…

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

Have you ever turned down a job that you regretted?

Yes, I had done the 1961 film The Young Ones, and then two years later I was offered another Cliff Richard film, Summer Holiday. I asked for joint billing with others like Richard O’Sullivan and was told no – so I turned it down.

Later I went to them on my knees and begged for the part and they said yes.

At the West End premiere I asked the associate producer if he would have come back to me if I had stuck with it, and he replied: ‘Of course we needed you, but we wouldn’t let actors dictate us.’

Have you ever been paid stupid money?

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

What was 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 TV and radio, pantos and summer seasons, the 60s and 70s were good.

Are you a spender? or saver?

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

I place my roulette bets on number 17 and my lottery numbers are my children’s birthdays. I can’t say they are my lucky numbers because if they were lucky I would 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 charity), I paid £3,000 for a signed photo of Dan Leno, best known for his pantomime lady roles.

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

Of all the productions you’ve been in, what was the biggest financial success?

Summer Holiday, made on a fairly small budget, but still popular.

Do you still get royalties from shows like It Ain’t? Semi hot mom?

I don’t get a cent from the summer holidays. It Ain’t Half Hot Mum is wrongly considered politically incorrect, so that’s hardly been repeated.

Have you a pension?

I have a state pension and a small shrinking private pension with Legal & General.

Are you an owner? any property?

No. My late wife used to buy and sell houses. She was good at that. When she died I sold our house on the Isle of Wight, divided the money and gave it to the children.

You donate money to charity?

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

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

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

Starving, I think. I don’t know anything else.

You and your wife Jayne used to have children. What financial consequences did this have for you?

Over the years we have cared for approximately 50 children. Some came for years, others just for a night.

We didn’t make any money from it, but it was worth it to give many of those children a chance in life. We legally adopted two boys in our care, aged one and three.

If you were chancellor, what would you do?

I would fire the Prime Minister. He does terrible things to retirees. I voted for the Greens.

What’s your top mildness?

My indulgence is smoked salmon. On Sundays my father went to Petticoat Lane in London’s East End to visit his family, and there he bought smoked salmon from a man.

My father asked him to add some skin, explaining to me that this was ‘so that when I get home I can cut off another piece of it’. When I buy it, I think of him.

What is your number one financial priority?

To not be broke, to never have to register with a Labor Exchange again and to be sure that the children are doing well.

You’ll be celebrating your 75th anniversary in show business in December – would you rather start today?

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

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