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.

Early life Born Ronald Edwards in Crumpsall, Manchester, he was brought up in a house on Russell Street in the area. During the Second World War, at the age of eight, he was evacuated to Darwen, Lancashire to escape the Manchester Blitz. 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. 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. In the day he worked at the shop and by night was singing in clubs around Northern England. 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, 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 Davies. Estelle's solo album (not featuring Davies), "Lofty" Sings, peaked at number ten in the album charts.

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 Estelle felt that the producers were paying him less than what he should have and they relied too much on the "Lofty" look.

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". He was survived by his second wife, Elizabeth.

Filmography