Christopher Hewett

Christopher George Hewett (5 April 1922 – 3 August 2001) was an English actor and theatre director best known for his role as Lynn Aloysius Belvedere on the ABC sitcom Mr. Belvedere.

Career Hewett was born in Worthing, Sussex in 1922 to Christopher Fitzsimon Hewett (an army officer and a descendant of Daniel O'Connell), and his wife Eleanor Joyce Watts (an actress whose professional name was Rhoda Cleighton). He was educated at such Jesuit schools as Beaumont College and at Wimbledon College. At the age of seven, he made his acting debut in a Dublin stage production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. At the age of sixteen, Hewett joined the Royal Air Force, leaving in 1940. He joined the Oxford Repertory Company and made his West End theatre debut in 1943.

He later appeared on Broadway in the musicals My Fair Lady, First Impressions, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Music Is and Kean and in the plays Sleuth and The Affair, among others, and directed the 1960 Broadway revue From A to Z and the 1967 Off Broadway revival of the Rodgers and Hart musical By Jupiter. Hewett also directed several stage productions including The Marriage-Go-Round and Beyond the Fringe and Camelot.

Hewett made his film debut in the crime drama Pool of London (1951), and later appeared in roles on Robert Montgomery Presents and DuPont Show of the Month. He appeared as the grandiose and camp theatre director Roger DeBris in Mel Brooks's comedy The Producers (1967). In 1976, Hewett played the generic bureaucrat Federov in the short-lived sitcom Ivan the Terrible. During the 1979-80 season he played Captain Hook to Sandy Duncan's Peter Pan on Broadway. From 1983 to 1984 he portrayed Lawrence, Mr. Roarke's (Ricardo Montalbán) sidekick on the final season of the ABC series Fantasy Island.

The following year, Hewett landed his best-known role as Lynn Aloysius Belvedere, an English butler who works for a middle class American family in the sitcom Mr. Belvedere. After the series ended its run in 1990 Hewett appeared in a guest spot on an episode of the NBC teen sitcom California Dreams in 1994. His last on-screen role was a cameo appearance on the Fox series Ned and Stacey in 1997. His memorial service was held at St. Victor's Church in West Hollywood on 10 August 2001.

Filmography + Film Year Title Role Notes 1951 Pool of London Mike 1951 The Lavender Hill Mob Inspector Talbot 1954 The Million Pound Note Irate Investor UncreditedAlternative title: Man with a Million 1967 The Producers Roger De Bris 1986 Ratboy Acting Coach

+ Television Year Title Role Notes 1955 Robert Montgomery Presents Major Sanders Episode: "The Cage" 1959 DuPont Show of the Month Policeman Episode: "The Fallen Idol" 1966 The Jackie Gleason Show Mumbling English Pedestrian Episode: "The Honeymooners In England" 1976 Ivan the Terrible Federov 5 episodes 1977 On Our Own Episode: "Julia's Big Bust" 1979 ABC Afterschool Special Butler Episode: "Seven Wishes of a Rich Kid" 1982 The Elephant Man Ross Television film 1982 Hart to Hart Jeremy Lane Episode: "Vintage Harts" 1982 Massarati and the Brain Anatole Television film 1983-1984 Fantasy Island Lawrence Main role, 10 episodes 1984 E/R Englishman Episode: "Mr. Fix-It" 1985-1990 Mr. Belvedere Mr. Lynn Aloysius Belvedere Lead role, 117 episodes 1987 The New Mike Hammer Hubert "The Umbrella" Wembley Episode: "Green Blizzard" 1987 Murder, She Wrote Humphrey Defoe Episode: "It Runs in the Family" 1989 Mario Ice Capades King Koopa Special on ABC. 1990 A Very Retail Christmas Ghost of Christmas Past Television film 1993 Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? Himself Episode: "The Glacier Erasure" 1994 California Dreams Mr. Green Episode: "Follow Your Dreams" 1997 Ned and Stacey Himself Episode: "Saved by the Belvedere", (final appearance)

Award nomination