Showbiz
Gorden (previously Gordon) Fitzgerald Kaye was born in Huddersfield in 1941. He went on to become one of the greatest TV comedy actors of the '80s and as the sexually active, calamity-prone café proprietor René François Artois in 'Allo 'Allo!, he earns his place in the DS Icon hall of fame. Given the part by David Croft after he was forced to pull out of the short-lived comedy Oh, Happy Band!, it was a role that fitted Kaye like a glove. His bumbling antics in the World War II farce provide as many titters today as they did way back in 1982.
While the mild xenophobia and questionable attitude to women (who could forget René's "You stupid woman!" and "Silly old bat!" catchphrases?) might not have aged so well over the years, there is something about watching Kaye caught between romping Vicki Michelle (Yvette Carte-Blanche), bumbling British airmen, the Resistance and the Germans that never grows old - no matter how many times the BBC repeats it on Sunday afternoons. His other major TV roles may have been limited, but we can easily forgive him for every time he whips off yet another smutty one-liner about the size of his baguette or the 'The Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies'. Gorden, we salute you!
Click along our gallery below to see some classic snaps of Gorden Kaye:
While the mild xenophobia and questionable attitude to women (who could forget René's "You stupid woman!" and "Silly old bat!" catchphrases?) might not have aged so well over the years, there is something about watching Kaye caught between romping Vicki Michelle (Yvette Carte-Blanche), bumbling British airmen, the Resistance and the Germans that never grows old - no matter how many times the BBC repeats it on Sunday afternoons. His other major TV roles may have been limited, but we can easily forgive him for every time he whips off yet another smutty one-liner about the size of his baguette or the 'The Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies'. Gorden, we salute you!
Click along our gallery below to see some classic snaps of Gorden Kaye:
Copyright: Rex Features
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