Iconic Mainland Cheese ads actor Terry Procter has died, age 84

Procter featured within the well-known Mainland Cheese commercials alongside Kevin Corcoran for greater than a decade, by means of numerous campaigns, together with “time poor”, “time to examine the cheese” and famously, “good issues 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, exhausting bloke” who was identified and cherished by his Picton group as “the cheese man”.

“These adverts took them far, however they at all times gave their cash away to those who wanted it … they each did loads for charity, and simply needed higher for different individuals,” Charlie instructed Stuff.

“He was simply a type of typical Kiwi blokes working the exhausting yards – he by no means thought he’d get to the purpose the place he was in commercials.”

Earlier than 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 cherished to chortle, he had been out with buddies on a fishing journey, and after sinking just a few beers his jokes caught the eye of a expertise scout.

“They have been searching for an excellent type of southern bloke to do these adverts, however he wasn’t too eager in any respect,” Charlie mentioned.

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

“He did not really need for a lot, however they took to him right away.”

Although Procter and Corcoran hadn’t met earlier than turning into the faces of Mainland cheese collectively, the 2 struck up an in depth friendship that will final for the remainder of their lives.

These adverts adopted the pair, who turned synonymous with the catchphrase, “Good issues take time” till 2010, when Procter and Corcoran have been changed by a brand new on-screen partnership – a grandfather and son.

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

“Ultimately, they weren’t actually bothered with the cash. They simply favored getting collectively, and with the opposite individuals who created these adverts,” Charlie mentioned.

The duo’s legacy was robust throughout the south, the place store house owners cherished to take pictures with Procter when he paid a go to.

Charlie as soon as discovered himself in a pub sitting throughout from a photograph of his father plastered on the wall.

His father’s resilience, ardour, and phrases of knowledge will at all times stick with Charlie.

“I am adopted into my household, and that is the type of individual he was – there aren’t many males that’ll tackle another person’s child. He was the kind that was at all times there,” Charlie mentioned.

“He at all times mentioned to me, ‘Do not let life eat you an excessive amount of, simply get pleasure from what you possibly can truly cling onto’. I’ve by no means forgotten that.”