Henry McGee was a British actor, best known as straight man to Benny Hill for many years.
Background
Born as Henry Marris-McGee in South Kensington, London, and educated at Stonyhurst College, McGee hoped to become a doctor, but the death of his father when he was 17 put financial strains on the family that ended his plans. Having enjoyed acting as a boy, McGee decided to follow his mother"s side of the family, which could trace its involvement in acting back to Kitty Clive.
Career
McGee was also often the announcer on Hill"s television programme, delivering the upbeat intro "Yes! lieutenant"s The Benny Hill Show!". He was also known to thousands of British children throughout the 70s as "mummy" in the Sugar Puffs commercials as in "Tell them about the honey Mummy". He went on to play supporting roles in films and television series and dramas, including, The Saint and The Avengers, but it is for comedy roles that he is best remembered, primarily and most famously for his straight man interviewer in the Benny Hill Show.
He was also remembered by some as the "mummy" of Honey Monster, a large, yellow, furry creature in advertisements for the breakfast cereal Sugar Puffs.
McGee played Two-Ton Ted in the video of Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West). Other comedy roles included the holiday centre manager in the 1973 film Holiday on the Buses, officious policemen in and, the television presenter Harold Hump in, opposite Charlie Drake in the ATV/ Independent Television situation comedy The Worker (1965–1978), and There Was An Englishman, An Irishman and a Scotsman, a British Broadcasting Corporation Scotland comedy series written by Lew Schwarz.
McGee was the Englishman, with Harry Towb as the Irishman and Roy Kinnear as the Scot. The show ran for 1 season in 1972.
He also appeared in an episode of Rising Damp as a conman, Seymour.
In 2003, he appeared in the episode The Miraculous Curing of Old Goff Helliwell, in Last of the Summer Wine. He had a long and successful theatre career, during which he tackled a wide range of roles, receiving plaudits for deadpan delivery in farces such as Plunder. McGee had one daughter, Stephanie (born 1963).
He spent his last six months in a nursing home, suffering from Alzheimer"s disease.
He is buried at Brompton Cemetery, London.