Iconic Mainland Cheese ads actor dies aged 84

Procter featured within the well-known Mainland Cheese commercials alongside Kevin Corcoran for greater than a decade, by way of various campaigns, together with “time poor”, “time to check the cheese” and famously, “good things take time”.

His son Charlie Procter confirmed to Stuff he died on Monday night time.

He remembers his father as a hard-working household man, eager beer drinker, and a “good, hard bloke” who was recognized and beloved by his Picton group as “the cheese man”.

“Those ads took them far, but they always gave their money away to people that needed it … they both did a lot for charity, and just wanted better for other people,” Charlie instructed Stuff.

“He was just one of those typical Kiwi blokes working the hard yards – he never thought he’d get to the point where he was in advertisements.”

Before taking the function of southern males patiently ready for cheese to mature, neither Procter nor Corcoran had any performing expertise.

Procter got here into the function by probability – a person who beloved to snigger, he had been out with mates on a fishing journey, and after sinking a number of beers his jokes caught the eye of a expertise scout.

“They were looking for a good sort of southern bloke to do these ads, but he wasn’t too keen at all,” Charlie stated.

“It was my mother that pushed him, and he turned up in a pair of gumboots, a singlet, and a pair of glasses tied around a bit of string.

“He did not actually need for a lot, however they took to him immediately.”

Though Procter and Corcoran hadn’t met before becoming the faces of Mainland cheese together, the two struck up a close friendship that would last for the rest of their lives.

Those adverts followed the pair, who became synonymous with the catchphrase, “Good issues take time” until 2010, when Procter and Corcoran were replaced by a new on-screen partnership – a grandfather and son.

When Corcoran died in Cromwell in 2012, aged 78, his death “broke (Procter’s) coronary heart fairly a bit”, Charlie said.

“In the top, they weren’t actually bothered with the cash. They simply preferred getting collectively, and with the opposite individuals who created these adverts,” Charlie said.

The duo’s legacy was strong across the south, where shop owners loved to take photos with Procter when he paid a visit.

Charlie once found himself in a pub sitting across from a photo of his father plastered on the wall.

His father’s resilience, passion, and words of wisdom will always stay with Charlie.

“I’m adopted into my household, and that is the form of particular person he was – there aren’t many males that’ll tackle another person’s child. He was the sort that was at all times there,” Charlie said.

“He at all times stated to me, ‘Don’t let life devour you an excessive amount of, simply get pleasure from what you possibly can truly dangle onto’. I’ve by no means forgotten that.”