1. Thomas Daniel Hicks Eytle was a Guyanese calypso musician and actor.
17 Facts About Tommy Eytle
1. 2.
Tommy Eytle initially found success playing African and Caribbean music with his calypso band.
3.
Tommy Eytle had many roles on television, radio, film and stage, but he was most famous for playing the role of Jules Tavernier in the BBC soap opera EastEnders from 1990 to 1997.
4.
Tommy Eytle was born in Georgetown, Guyana, to James, a gold miner, and Gertrude Tommy Eytle.
5.
Tommy Eytle attended St Philip's Primary School, Central High School and Queen's College in Georgetown.
6.
Tommy Eytle's parents separated in 1951 and his mother and siblings moved to London.
7.
Tommy Eytle joined them, arriving for a holiday on Festival of Britain Day, and decided to stay in the UK.
8.
Tommy Eytle worked first as a surveyor and draughtsman before turning to music and working as a bandleader at some of London's top hotels.
9.
The band performed a mix of Afro-Caribbean music and modern jazz and in addition to playing the jazz guitar, Tommy Eytle provided the band's vocals.
10.
Tommy Eytle worked as a professional musician until the late 1980s, but he was forced to give up playing the guitar due to early onset arthritis in his hands.
11.
Tommy Eytle appeared with Norman Beaton, Mona Hammond and Rudolph Walker at the Royal Court Theatre in Mustapha Matura's acclaimed 1974 Play Mas, which Eytle performed in the radio adaptation in 1975.
12.
Tommy Eytle played the role for seven years, remaining after the departures of all of his on-screen family.
13.
Tommy Eytle was never given an official exit from the series, but was not featured again after December 1997.
14.
Tommy Eytle was one of eight children and two of his elder brothers had successful careers in Britain.
15.
Ernest Tommy Eytle was a well-known cricket commentator for the BBC and Les Tommy Eytle became the first black mayor of the London Borough of Lewisham in 1984.
16.
In 1951, Tommy Eytle married Avis D'Ornellas, who was a native from Guyana.
17.
Tommy Eytle died of a heart attack aged 80 on 19 June 2007, in Reading, Berkshire, survived by his wife.