The actor Brian Jackson, who has died aged 91, enjoyed a career on stage and screen that lasted for nearly six decades. However, he will be best known for a non-speaking role that made him recognisable around the world: as the distinctive Man from Del Monte in a series of memorable television commercials.
A globetrotting fruit taster in search of only the finest examples to go into his products, the Man from Del Monte gave his affirmation – to an ecstatic reception from the nervous growers to whom he was a hallowed visitor – with a simple nod, after which joyous estate workers would proclaim “the Man from Del Monte he say yes!”. Tall, handsome and self-possessed, with a white suit, silver mane and panama hat, Jackson portrayed the businessman in 25 commercials that were shown in more than 30 countries between 1985 and 1991.
Born in Bolton, Lancashire, Brian was the middle child of Gwladys (nee Hughes) and her husband, John, a mechanic. Educated at Thornleigh college in Bolton, he was asked to leave after his part-time job as a wedding photographer began to monopolise his interests. From 1949 he spent five years with the Fleet Air Arm’s photographic service as an aircrew photographer, before engineering a switch into the theatre.
Although he had been a member of amateur theatre groups in Bolton, Jackson arrived in London with no contacts and no formal training. His determination to become a professional actor paid off, and he joined the Old Vic company for their 1958-59 season, appearing in Mary Stuart and Julius Caesar, and was then promoted to the role of Seyton to Michael Hordern’s Macbeth after Edward Hardwicke left the company for a television engagement.
Two years in repertory theatre and a run in Johnny Speight’s The Knacker’s Yard (Arts theatre, 1962) were followed by seasons with the newly formed Royal Shakespeare Company (1962-64), playing small roles in John Barton and Peter Hall’s ambitious Wars of the Roses cycle and Peter Brook and Clifford Williams’s production of The Tempest.
A later theatre highlight was starring opposite Ginger Rogers in Mame at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (1969), and more recently he played Pte Godfrey in a 2007-08 touring production of Dad’s Army.
His television parts got bigger after his 1958 debut in an episode of The Adventures of Ben Gunn, and he soon got the occasional lead, notably in Six Men of Dorset, a 1962 BBC Sunday Night Play about the Tolpuddle Martyrs. He was a recurring character in Smuggler’s Bay (1964, based on J Meade Faulkner’s Moonfleet), and played solid guest roles in The Avengers (1961), Z-Cars (1968), The New Avengers (1976), The Tomorrow People (1978), and most recently Doctors (2011) and Casualty (2017). He was injured after a fall while filming in Casualty, requiring medical attention, but insisted on completing his scenes before going to a real hospital.
After his big-screen debut as one of the recruits in 1958’s Carry On Sergeant (the first Carry On film), his movies included Gorgo (1961), Escort Girls (1974), Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) and Shadowchaser (1992, as the US president).
Dogged, business-savvy and entrepreneurial, he kept himself busy when not working as an actor. In the early 1960s he set up a photography studio in west London and by the end of the decade had converted a large Victorian school in Marble Arch into Hampden Gurney Studios, which offered photography services alongside recording and production facilities. He took great pride in the fact that the composer Vangelis recorded his Oscar-winning score for Chariots of Fire (1981) and his music for Blade Runner (1982) and The Bounty (1984) there.
Jackson even tried film production, but his movie Rider (1974) remained unfinished after he found himself – and a cast and crew that included Orson Welles and Oliver Reed – stranded cashless on location in Athens after an international stock market crash.
His bearing, looks, and ability to convey what was required with economy meant that he remained in demand for commercials, including campaigns for Gucci, Mastercard, Mercedes, BMW, Barclays and many more. He was also an experienced presenter and voiceover artist, and an active member of the Royal Navy Photographers Association. A keen sportsman, he played cricket for the Lord’s Taverners and was a longstanding member, and later chairman, of the Stage cricket club.
His marriages to Irene Berry and the James Bond actor Eunice Gayson both ended in divorce. His third wife, Ann (nee Barker), survives him, as do his five children – Karin and David from his first marriage, Kate from his second, Jo from his third, and Brandon, a son from an earlier relationship.
• Osmond Brian Jackson, actor, born 6 April 1931; died 2 July 2022
