Daily Mail diary

August 27, 2003

By EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE

ACTOR Andrew Ray, who died last week aged 64, was noted for his mischievousness. While portraying the future King George VI in the Seventies TV series Edward and Mrs Simpson he played a joke on his co-star Jessie Matthews, then a plump 71. He amended her stationery embossed with, ‘Jessie Matthews OBE’ to read ‘Jessie Matthews, OBESE.’ She was so enraged the culprit had to lock himself in the men’s lavatory.

November 1, 2004

WICKED WHISPERS

WHY did David Hemmings and fellow actor Andrew Ray repeatedly say ‘Snap, Crackle, Pop!’ to director Michael Winner on the set of 1964 film The System?

Recalls Hemmings in his posthumously published memoirs:’We were snooping around Winner’s hotel room and were forced to hide in a cupboard when he bustled in and tried to seduce a girl. When it was obvious that she wasn’t going to remove her underwear voluntarily, he consoled himself by saying:”Oh well, I think I’ll have a bowl of Rice Krispies before we go back down.”‘