Don Estelle

Don Estelle (22 May 1933 – 2 August 2003) was an English actor and singer, best known as Gunner "Lofty" Sugden in It Ain't Half Hot Mum. In 1975, he recorded "Whispering Grass" with co-star Windsor Davies, which spent three weeks at number one in the UK.^[1]

Don Estelle
Estelle as Lofty in It Ain't Half Hot Mum
Born	Ronald Edwards (1933-05-22)22 May 1933 Crumpsall, Manchester, Lancashire, England
Died	2 August 2003(2003-08-02) (aged 70) Rochdale, Greater Manchester England
Resting place	Rochdale Cemetery, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England
Other names	Rolly
Occupations	Actor, singer
Years active	1954–2001
Television	It Ain't Half Hot Mum Dad's Army
Height	145 cm (4 ft 9 in)
Spouses	Mary Heywood ​ ​ (m. 1955; div. 1972)​ Elizabeth Amy Brent ​ ​ (m. 1974)​

Early life

Born Ronald Edwards^[2] in Crumpsall, Manchester, he was brought up in a house on Russell Street in the area.^[3] During the Second World War, at the age of eight, he was evacuated to Darwen, Lancashire to escape the Manchester Blitz.^[4] It was there he found his voice as a boy soprano at the local Holy Trinity Parish Church, and on returning home after the war, he continued singing at St Mary's Church, Crumpsall.^[5] He later joined a charity group, the Manchester Kentucky Minstrels, and with them, performed "Granada" in the 1954 talent show What Makes a Star? at BBC Radio's northern studios in Manchester.

Estelle worked at a soft furniture shop before his career in acting took off.^[6] In the day he worked at the shop and by night was singing in clubs around Northern England.^[6]

Career

Early career

Estelle, whose real name was Ronald Edwards, chose his stage name by combining the name of a Levenshulme ladies fashion shop "Estelle Modes" with advice from a co-worker that "Don" sounded better than "Ron" and became Don Estelle, and work start finding work as an extra on many shows taped at the Granada Studios.^[6]

Estelle gained experience by singing one song 12 times a week in the show The Backyard Kids at the Hulme Hippodrome in Manchester. In the early 1960s he appeared as an extra on many episodes of Coronation Street, sat inside the Rovers Return Inn or walking up and down the street.^[6] His time on the Coronation Street set and his club singing interfered with his job at the furniture shop and was eventually fired.^[6] Estelle then softened out and according to him: "I drank a lot, had a moustache, wore a medallion around my neck, I was crazy, romantic".^[6]

He met the actor Windsor Davies in 1962 at the Garrick Theatre in London and the two men formed an act which toured theatres and clubs for four years.^[4] Estelle had small roles in Dad's Army (playing a Pickfords removals man in one 1969, episode and an ARP warden called Gerald in three more in 1970).

It Ain't Half Hot Mum

He eventually gained the role of Gunner "Lofty" Sugden in the sitcom It Ain't Half Hot, Mum, which was first broadcast in January 1974 and ran until September 1981, reuniting him with Davies,^[4] whose sergeant major character often mocked Lofty in the storylines. The character was given the ironic nickname of Lofty because of Estelle's 4 ft 9 in (145 cm) stature.

Estelle (second from right) in the lineup of the It Ain't Half Hot Mum theme song, 1974

Don's powerful tenor operatic singing voice was featured in It Ain't Half Hot, Mum, and became a staple in Lofty's character. In 1975, he asked Estelle if he wanted to restart their double act, however this time in character as SJM Williams and Gunner Lofty. Realising that double acts had to sing in addition to comedy,^[7] Estelle went through his record collection and found the single "Whispering Grass", a song by The Ink Spots he had bought for a sixpence many years ago,^[7] and recorded the song; as Davies could not sing, he instead provided spoken word and backing vocals in his distinctive baritone voice; their semi-comic version of "Whispering Grass" went to number one in the UK in June 1975, spending three weeks at the top of the charts and selling half a million copies.^[7][8] This was followed by a cover of "Paper Doll" which reached number 41, their second and last single to chart, and a top ten LP, Sing Lofty (1976), all three recorded with Windsor Davies.^[9] Estelle's solo album (not featuring Davies), "Lofty" Sings, peaked at number ten in the album charts.^[10]

Later career

After It Ain't Half Hot Mum ended in 1981, Estelle found it hard to find auditions. He was offered the occasional one-off gig at a night club and was asked to film a few adverts, however he hated filming them as they apparently took too long to shoot and Don felt that the producers were paying him less than what he should have and they relied too much on the "Lofty" look.^[6]

Estelle also acted in the films Not Now, Comrade (1976) and A Private Function (1984), in addition to Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) alongside Melvyn Hayes, who also appeared in It Ain't Half Hot Mum. In the first series of The League of Gentlemen, he made brief appearances in two episodes as Little Don, the keeper of the Roundabout Zoo, a zoo on a traffic island. In 2001, he appeared in an episode of Linda Smith's A Brief History of Timewasting as Little Don of the East End Art Mafia.^[11]

In his autobiography, Sing, Lofty: Thoughts Of A Gemini (1999), Estelle was extremely bitter about modern-day entertainment producers, describing them as being "tight-crutched, white-trousered morons".^[4] According to his obituary in The Independent, "in recent years Estelle cut a slightly sorry figure, dressed in his 'Lofty' outfit, setting out a stall of his tapes and singing to passers-by in shopping centres." He appeared as a "dirty old man" in the promotional video for The Sun Page Three Girl Jo Hicks's single "Yakety Sax" in 2001 (based on the theme from The Benny Hill Show).^[5] Estelle produced a duo recording with Sir Cyril Smith, by then the former MP for Rochdale. The six-track CD, which included "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine", was available by mail order in 1999.^[4]

Personal life

Estelle briefly moved to Christchurch, New Zealand, where he spent countless hours working with jazz/blues pianist Malcolm Bishop. According to Bishop, "Lofty was clearly looking for someone to pass the figurative baton on to. He was extremely generous with time, his resources, and a shortbread that he loved made for him by a local friend. On the evening before Don returned to the UK I sat with him in his living room until after 4 am as he so passionately encouraged and advised me in my own career. Even though we had discussed business for after his return to New Zealand, part way through the evening I realised this would be the last time I would see my friend."

Death

Beyond reuniting with family and friends, the reasons for Estelle's UK visit were twofold. The BBC was filming a documentary on the history of British comedy and had requested interviews. He also needed a liver transplant, but he became too weak for doctors to operate. Estelle returned to the UK weeks before his death. He died in Rochdale Infirmary on 2 August 2003, and was buried in Rochdale with the oversized pith helmet he wore as Gunner "Lofty" Sugden.^[12] He was survived by his second wife, Elizabeth.^[13]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	Playhouse	Short football hooligan	Uncredited[14]
1969–1970	Dad's Army[15]	Gerald/2nd ARP warden/Pickfords man	Four episodes[14]
1974–1981	It Ain't Half Hot Mum[15]	Gunner "Lofty" Sugden	Fixty-six episodes[14]
1975	The Benny Hill Show[15]	Various characters	One episode[14]
	Seaside Special	Himself	One episode[14]
	The Basil Brush Show
	The Saturday Special: All This and Ronnie Corbett Too
	Crackerjack!
	Top of the Pops	Gunner "Lofty" Sugden (performer)	Five episodes[14]
	The Good Old Days	Himself	One episode[14]
1975—1999	This Is Your Life		Four episodes (for Michael Bates, Windsor Davies, David Croft and George Layton)[14]
1976	Not Now, Comrade[15]	Bobby Hargreaves	Film[14]
1976—1980	Multi-Coloured Swap Shop	Himself	Four episodes[14]
1977	Your Move	role unknown	One episode[14]
	Saturday Night at the Mill	Himself
	Stars on Sunday
1978	Look Who's Talking
1978—1981	Star Turn		Four episodes[14]
1978—1980	The Generation Game		Two episodes[14]
1981	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Starveling	TV Movie[14]
1982—1984	3-2-1	Himself / Ernie Bond 003	Two episodes[14]
1983	The Beggar's Opera[15]	Crook fingered Jack	TV Moie[14]
1984	On Safari	Himself	One episode[14]
	A Private Function[15]	Barraclough	Film[14]
1985	Wogan	Himself	One episode[14]
	Blankety Blank
	Santa Claus: The Movie[15]	Groot	Film[14]
1986	Sunday, Sunday	Himself	One episode[14]
1989	Sky Star Search	Himself / Show judge
1992	Don't Tell Father	Mr. Ridley
1995	Omnibus	Himself
1997	Tellystack
1999	The League of Gentlemen[15]	Little Don	Two episodes[14]
2000	Top Ten	Himself	One episode[14]
	After They Were Famous
2001	Never Mind the Buzzcocks

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	UK	Notes	Sources
1975	Sing Lofty	X	With Windsor Davies	[16]
1976	"Lofty" Sings	10		[1][16][17]
1977	Beautiful Dreamer	X		[16]
1978	Bless You For Being An Angel	X	With Windsor Davies	[16]
	Do I Worry	X		[16]
1979	Sing Songs For Christmas	X		[16]
	Time After Time	X		[16]
1984	With A Song In My Heart	X		[16]
1985	Lonely Wine	X		[16]

EP's

• 1999 — The Trail of The Lonesome Piles — with Cyril Smith — The Trail of the Lonesome Pine / The Crazy Years / Love Hurts / I Write the Song / Devil Woman / One for My Baby

Singles

Year	A-side	B-side	UK	Notes	Sources
1975	"I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire"	"I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire"	X	With Windsor Davies	[18]
	"Whispering Grass"	"I Should Have Known"	1		[18][1]
	"Paper Doll"	"When I Learn To Love Again"	41		[18][1]
1976	"I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire"	"What a Wonderful World"	X		[18]
	"If You'd Really Cared"	"Not Now"	X		[18]
	"Nagasaki"	"Anything Is Possible"	X	With Windsor Davies	[18]
1977	"Only You"	"It Matters To Me"	X	With Harry Robinson and The Mike Sammes Singers	[18]
1979	"Cool Water"	"Muck Spreadin' Charlie"	X	With Windsor Davies	[18]
	"Pretend"	"Restless Wind"	X		[18]
1980	"The Green Cross Code Song"	"Is It True"	X	With David Prowse and The Green Cross Code	[18]
	"Walk On By"	"Blue Bayou"	X		[18]
1981	"Beautiful Dreamer"	"Rose-Marie"	X		[18]
	"Little Donkey"	"Auld Lang Syne"	X	With The Mold Green Folk Group Choir	[18]
1982	"Rule, Britannia!"	"Goodbye"	X	With Jack Douglas	[18]
1983	"Ecoutez Ma Chanson"	"I Have An Empty Space Within My Heart"	X		[18]
1989	"Not So Much Waste"	"It Still Hurts"	X		[18]