Moment David Jason meets long lost daughter he never knew existed trends now
Sir David Jason was today pictured meeting his long lost daughter - after she wrote to him asking for a paternity test when friends noticed they have a similar nose.
The actor, 83, who previously believed he only had one 22-year-old daughter, has 'welcomed' Abi Harris and his grandson Charlie, ten, into the Jason family - and they spent their first Christmas together last year.
Ms Harris, who was born in 1970, is seen in a newly released photo smiling alongside her father as they chatted together following the joyous news.She is the daughter of actress Jennifer Hill - who starred in Octopussy and had a brief relationship with Sir David in a stage production of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood, also starring Hi-de-Hi's Ruth Madoc and Windsor Davies from It Ain't Half Hot Mum, at the May Fair Theatre in London.
Abi is also an actress who appeared in a revival performance of Under Milk Wood in 2008 in which Sir David and her mother also took part.
Friends who saw the legendary actor and Abi standing next to each other remarked on their similar facial profiles, especially her nose, and as the years went past, she worked up the courage to find out the truth.
Sir David Jason has 'welcomed' Abi Harris and his grandson Charlie, ten, into the Jason family
Jennifer Hill and David Jason (circled) with the cast of Under Milk Wood at London's May Fair Theatre in 1970, including Windsor Davies, from It Ain't Half Hot Mum (top left)
The legendary actor (left in The Darling Buds of May) discovered actress Abi Harris (pictured) was his daughter after taking a paternity test - after her friends noticed how similar their profiles were, especially their noses
Ms Harris wrote to Sir David asking him if he would take a paternity test, and the comedy legend agreed, given his relationship with her mother, and it confirmed she was his daughter. He said: 'To say it was a surprise to find out I had a daughter from years ago is an understatement. I am delighted that I am now able to get to know Abi and so we meet up when we can.'
Until last year, Sir David had believed that he had become a father for the first time aged 61. But actually he was 30 when his first child was born. Abi, now a casting director, had believed that her father was the actor Geoffrey Davion, who appeared in Miss Marple and The Stars Look Down and died in 1996. A source close to Abi said: 'Things just didn’t seem to add up.'
The news came as a shock to Sir David, as well as his wife Gill Hinchcliffe and daughter Sophie Mae, but the family say they have since welcomed Abi and Charlie with open arms.
Abi's mother is 86 and lives in Brighton.
Sir David married Lady Gill in 2005, four years after the birth of their child. Previously Sir David was in a long relationship with Myfanwy Talog, a Welsh actress who died from breast cancer in 1997.
Speaking to the Mirror, he said: 'My wife, Gill, and daughter, Sophie, have been very supportive and understanding and have embraced Abi and welcomed her and her young son into her now wider family.'
Abi's belief she was related to
