Donald Hewlett

Donald Marland Hewlett (30 August 1920 – 4 June 2011) was a British actor who was best known for his sitcom roles as Colonel Charles Reynolds in It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Lord Meldrum in You Rang, M'Lord?, both written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft. He also had other roles in British film and television productions. Early life Hewlett was born into a wealthy family; his father Thomas Hewlett was Conservative MP for Manchester Exchange from 1940 to 1945 and owned the Anchor Chemical Company based in Clayton, Manchester (now a subsidiary of Air Products and Chemicals). He was the brother of Thomas Hewlett, Baron Hewlett. Hewlett was educated at Clifton College in Bristol followed by St John's College, Cambridge, where he studied geography and meteorology and was part of the Footlights Revue, but volunteered for the RNVR early in World War II. He served in the Royal Navy as a lieutenant and meteorologist. and was stationed for several years in Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands where he was a founder member of the Kirkwall Arts Club. He later served in the North Atlantic aboard the light cruisers Malaya and Galatea. He rose to the rank of lieutenant. He was subsequently posted to Singapore, in charge of Japanese POWs and as entertainment officer. Career Following his demob, rather than return to Cambridge University, Hewlett trained at RADA and gained his first professional acting job in repertory theatre at the Oxford Playhouse where he suggested the management should cast Ronnie Barker in his first, small, role. His first film acting role was the part of Lincoln Green in Orders are Orders (1954).