Harvey bows out - Takes his final curtain at 100 years old

Harvey Kay, a veteran panto actor, who has trodden the boards since the 1930s, has decided to take his final curtain call after reaching one hundred!

Great, great grandfather, Harvey, first took to the stage as a very nervous 8-year-old in the 1930s, at a theatre near his home town of High Green near Sheffield, South Yorkshire.

During the ensuing decades, Harvey played several roles in both pantos and musicals, including the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz, the Star Keeper in Carousel as well as starring in Cinderella, The Sound of Music and Calamity Jane.

Harvey decided to take his final bow at The Eppic Theatre in Sheffield with High Green Musical Theatre Society, where he received a standing ovation from both the audience and the cast. Harvey added he nearly cried after everyone stood up for him at the end of each performance of Cinderella.

The former miner, who worked at Barrow Colliery in the South Yorkshire Coalfield, was promoted to Mine’s Deputy before he took early retirement in his fifties.

Widower, Harvey, who used to play opposite his late wife, Agnes prior to her death in 2008, said he feels “lost” because he now has “nothing to do,” he said, “well, I nearly cried, I nearly cried, but I didn’t, it was tremendous.”

Harvey has been saying each panto was going to be his last for a number of years, but this year he said, “This is definitely my last show, definitely because I can’t see, I can’t hear and I can’t walk so that’s it, that’s me done.”

Harvey, who has seven children, thirteen grandchildren, a lot of great grandchildren, as well as a great, great grandchild, started performing at the age of eight.

It was through Harvey that his granddaughter, Laura Hall, aged forty, also took to the stage thirty years ago. She said she grew up watching him perform so it was natural that she should follow in his footsteps and join the same group as him. Laura, a primary school teacher said, “I remember going to see him around 1992, when we went to watch him in Cinderella. He’s been in a lot.”

For his final performance, Harvey was joined on stage by his son, Alan, granddaughter Laura and great granddaughter Adie.

Can anyone beat Harvey?

Les Smith

NODA North East

Regional Councillor