Gorden Kaye, the actor who entertained millions of TV viewers around the world as Rene in the TV series ‘Allo ‘Allo! has passed away.
Kaye passed away in an aged care home in Britain, he was 75 years old. The actor suffered a serious head injury during wild storms in 1990, but recovered and went on to film two more series of the popular show.
In his autobiography Rene and Me, Kaye described himself in his youth as a “shy, gay and overweight boy.” He said he got into acting to help him with his confidence. Kaye confirmed his sexuality with the publication of the book, Tabloid newspaper had run an expose on his private life in the late 1980s.
‘Allo ‘Allo! first appeared on TV screens in 1982 and ran for eight seasons. The first six series of the show were written by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd, the writing team behind the sit-com Are You Being Served?.
Kaye played the central character cafe owner Rene, who juggled running a cafe in occupied France during the second world war. He contents with the French resistance, German officers, hidden British officers and making sure his wife does not find out about his love affairs with the cafe’s waitresses.
Kaye portrayed Rene in over 80 episodes of the TV show and portrayed the role on stage more than 1000 times. He was unable to take part in one tour of Australia in the early ’90s due to his brain injury. The part was played by Australian actor Max Gillies.
Aside from his famous role in ‘Allo Allo! Kaye also appeared in the film Porridge alongside Ronny Barker, and made TV appearances in Shoestring, All Creatures Great and Small and Are You being Served? He had a small part in Terry Gilliam’s movie Brazil.
OIP Staff
