- Tommy Eytle
Infobox actor
name = Tommy Eytle
imagesize = 200px
caption = Eytle playing Jules Tavernier in "EastEnders".
birthdate =16 July ,1927
location = flagicon|Guyana Georgetown,Guyana
height =
deathdate =19 June ,2007 aged age|1927|07|16|2007|06|19
deathplace =Reading, Berkshire ,England
birthname = Thomas Daniel Hicks Eytle
othername =
homepage =
notable role = Jules Tavernier in "EastEnders "Tommy Eytle (
16 July 1927 –19 June 2007 )" [http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/obituaries/feature.php/17322/tommy-eytle Obituary: Tommy Eytle] ", "The Stage". URL last accessed on2007-07-03 .] was a Guyanese musician andactor . Although born in Guyana, Eylte's career was based in theUnited Kingdom , where he lived after emigrating in 1951.Eytle's career began in the 1950s. He initially found success playing African and Caribbean music with his calypso band. He continued to perform musically until the mid 1990s. He had many roles on television, radio, film and stage, but he was most famous for playing the role of Jules Tavernier in the
BBC soap opera "EastEnders " from 1990-1997. He died in June 2007, less than a month before his 80th birthday.Early life
Eytle was born in
Georgetown, Guyana (then British Guiana), to James—a gold miner— and Gertrude Eytle. Eytle attended St Philip's Primary School, Central High School and Queen's College of Guyana. After finishing his education he worked as a gold and diamond miner with his father for a year, before joining the Civil Service and qualifying as a land surveyor." [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2720049.ece Obituary: Tommy Eytle] ", "The Independent ". URL last accessed on2007-06-30 .]His parents separated in 1951 and his mother and siblings moved to London." [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2007457.ece Tommy Eytle: Calypso musician who found fame in EastEnders] ", "
The Times ". URL last accessed on2007-06-30 .] Eytle joined them—arriving for a holiday on Festival of Britain day—and decided to stay in the UK. He worked firstly as a surveyor and draughtsman before turning to music and working as a bandleader at some ofLondon 's tophotel s.cite book |last= Kingsley|first= Hilary|title= The EastEnders Handbook |year=1990|publisher=BBC books|id=ISBN 0-563-206010-563-36292-8-2]Career
Musical career
Eytle was a self-taught
guitar ist and in the early 1950s he formed Tommy Eytle's Calypso Band in response to the surge of interest in African and Caribbean music at the time. The band performed a mix of Afro-Caribbean music and modern jazz and in addition to playing the jazz guitar, Eytle provided the band's vocals. They performed in many jazz venues and nightclubs around the country, including the Sunset Club, the Bag O’Nails, Club Basie, Pigalle and Al Burnett’s Stork Club.Tommy Eytle's Calypso Band were featured in many BBC plays and were most notable for performing "Narrative Calypso" in the film "The Tommy Steele Story" (1957), in which Eytle sang and played the guitar.
Eytle worked as a professional musician until the late 1980s, but he was forced to give up playing the guitar due to early onset
arthritis in his hands. However he continued to sing jazz and calypsos into the mid-1990s and was given occasional acoutic solos in BBC's "EastEnders", which he sang—in character—during scenes in the soap's pub,The Queen Vic .Acting career
During the 1950s he was introduced to acting when he auditioned for a few
radio plays. He appeared in many BBC radio plays throughout his career (mostly by black dramatists), which included "The Barren One" (1958) withCleo Laine ; "Lorca's Yerma" bySylvia Wynter ;Jan Carew 's "The Riverman" (1968) and "Milk in the Coffee" (1975). Other radio plays included "Carnival in Trinidad" (1975) and "God in the Water" (1983).Eytle was also a veteran stage actor. He appeared with
Norman Beaton ,Mona Hammond andRudolph Walker inMustapha Matura 's acclaimed 1974 "Play Mas" at the Royal Court theatre, which he also performed in the radio adaptation in 1975. In 1981 Eytle appeared in "Measure for Measure " at the National Theatre, being one of several actors in the all-black cast.Eytle appeared in films such as "Naked Fury" (1959), "The Criminal" (1960) and "The Hi-Jackers" (1963) and on television in programmes such as "The Big Pride" (
ITV , 1961), a psychological drama about a prison breakout in Guyana written by Jan Carew and Sylvia Wynter. Other credits included "Danger Man " (1965); "The Spies" (1966); "Adam Adamant Lives! " (1966); "The Saint" (1967); "The Troubleshooters " (1970); "Never Say Die " (1970); "Quiller " (1975); "Rumpole of the Bailey " (1983); "Johnny Jarvis" (1983) and "Casualty" (1987) and "Bob's Weekend" (1996), among others.His most notable role was playing the
Trinidad ian charmer, Jules Tavernier, in BBC's "EastEnders " from 1990-1997. The introduction of the Tavernier family heralded the first time that an entire family had joined the programme all at once. Their introduction was also a well-intentioned attempt to portray a wider range of black characters than had previously been achieved on the show.cite book |last=Brake|first= Colin|authorlink= Colin Brake|title= |year=1995|publisher=BBC Books|id=ISBN 0-563-37057-2] Eytle played the role for seven years, remaining after the departures of all of his on-screen family. Towards the end of his time on the show his character became semi-regular, and his appearances became increasingly sparse due to Eytle's poor-health. He was never given an official exit from the series, but was not featured again after December 1997.Personal life
Eytle was one of eight children and two of his elder brothers also had successful careers in Britain. Ernest Eytle was a well-known cricket commentator for the BBC and Les Eytle became the first black mayor of the London Borough of
Lewisham in 1984.In the early 1950s, Eytle married Avis D'Ornellas, who was also a native from Guyana. They lived in
Kenley ,Surrey . Eytle died aged 79 on19 June 2007 , inReading, Berkshire .References
External links
*imdb name|id=0264283|name=Tommy Eytle
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