Tom Bell (actor)
Encyclopedia
Tom Bell was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 actor on stage, film and television. He was dark-haired, lean, and in his later years often played characters having a sinister side to their nature.

Biography

Thomas George Bell was born on 2 August 1933 in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, England. Evacuated as a child during the Second World War, he lived with three different families in Morecambe
Morecambe
Morecambe is a resort town and civil parish within the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England. As of 2001 it has a resident population of 38,917. It faces into Morecambe Bay...

, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

. In 1948, at age 15, Bell began to act in his first school plays and though he never dominated the performances he nonetheless demonstrated an obvious acting ability.

On leaving school he trained under the renowned Esme Church
Esme Church
Esme Church was a British actress and theatre director. In a long career she acted with the Old Vic Company, The Royal Shakespeare Company and on Broadway...

 at the Bradford Civic Theatre
The Priestley
Bradford Playhouse is a 290 seat proscenium arch theatre with circle and stall seating based in Little Germany, in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England...

; fellow pupils included Billie Whitelaw
Billie Whitelaw
Billie Honor Whitelaw, CBE is an English actress. She worked in close collaboration with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett for 25 years and is regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of his works...

 and Robert Stephens
Robert Stephens
Sir Robert Stephens was a leading English actor in the early years of England's Royal National Theatre.-Early life and career:...

. He later worked in repertory in Liverpool and Dublin.

Bell made his first film appearances in the 1960s in so-called "kitchen sink dramas", including The Kitchen
The Kitchen (film)
The Kitchen is a 1961 British drama film directed by James Hill and starring Carl Möhner, Mary Yeomans, Brian Phelan, Tom Bell, Eric Pohlmann and James Bolam. The film follows an ensemble of the staff in a cafe's kitchen during the course of one busy morning...

and The L-Shaped Room
The L-Shaped Room
The L-Shaped Room is a 1962 British drama film, directed by Bryan Forbes, which tells the story of a young French woman, unmarried and pregnant, who moves into a London boarding house, befriending a young man in the building...

(opposite Leslie Caron
Leslie Caron
Leslie Claire Margaret Caron is a French film actress and dancer, who appeared in 45 films between 1951 and 2003. In 2006, her performance in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit won her an Emmy for guest actress in a drama series...

).

As a young actor, he had a rebellious streak and gained somewhat of a reputation for being a hellraiser who liked a drink. At an important awards ceremony, and well-lubricated, he interrupted a long speech by the guest of honour, Prince Philip
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....

, by yelling "Tell us a funny story" – to the obvious embarrassment of table companions, Richard Attenborough
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...

 and Bryan Forbes
Bryan Forbes
Bryan Forbes, CBE is an English film director, actor and writer.-Career:Bryan Forbes was born John Theobald Clarke on 22 July 1926 in Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, West Ham, Essex , and grew up at 43 Cranmer Road, Forest Gate, West Ham, Essex .Forbes trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of...

. Although (it is said) the Prince took the heckle in good humour with his retort "If you want a funny story, I suggest you engage a professional comic", the incident didn't do Bell's career any favours at the time.

In 1978 he came to worldwide attention portraying Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Otto Eichmann was a German Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust...

 in the Emmy-winning tv-series Holocaust
Holocaust (miniseries)
Holocaust was a television miniseries broadcast in four parts in 1978 on the NBC television network. The series tells the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of the Weiss family of German Jews and that of a rising member of the SS, who gradually becomes a merciless war criminal...

, and he received a BAFTA nomination for the series Out
Out (miniseries)
Out is a British television crime drama written by Trevor Preston. It was produced by Thames Television in 1978.In the weeks prior to its broadcast on Monday evenings, brief clips of the programme were shown to arouse viewer interest in which a character provided only the cryptic information that...

, in which he played convicted armed robber, Frank Ross.

In the 1980s and 1990s he appeared in several British movies including Wish You Were Here
Wish You Were Here (1987 film)
Wish You Were Here is a 1987 British drama/comedy film starring Emily Lloyd and Tom Bell. The film was written and directed by David Leland. The original music score was composed by Stanley Myers.-Plot:...

, Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway, CBE is a British film director. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular...

's Prospero's Books
Prospero's Books
Prospero's Books , written and directed by Peter Greenaway, is a cinematic adaptation of The Tempest, by William Shakespeare. John Gielgud is Prospero, the protagonist who provides the off-screen narration and the voices to the other story characters...

, Swing and the 1990 film The Krays
The Krays (film)
The Krays is a 1990 film based on the lives and crimes of the British gangsters Ronald and Reginald Kray, twins who are often referred to as The Krays...

, where he played the part of Jack "The Hat" McVitie, one of the Kray twins
Kray twins
Reginald "Reggie" Kray and his twin brother Ronald "Ronnie" Kray were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in London's East End during the 1950s and 1960s...

' murder victims.

He even tried his hand at TV sitcom, playing the dour owner of a run-down seaside waxworks museum in the Thames-tv series Hope It Rains, written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey
Esmonde and Larbey
John Gilbert Esmonde and Bob Larbey were a British television comedy scriptwriting duo from the 1960s to the 1990s, creating popular situation comedies such as Please Sir! and The Good Life.-Larbey's life:Larbey was born in Clapham, South London in 1934 and made his writing debut for...

 and directed by John Howard Davies
John Howard Davies
John Howard Davies was an English television director and producer and former child actor.Davies was born in Paddington, London, the son of the scriptwriter Jack Davies...

. There were two series (thirteen episodes in all) aired in 1991-92.

Although he tended to eschew live performance, his few stage appearances included a rôle in the 1979 UK première of Bent
Bent (play)
Bent is a 1979 play by Martin Sherman. It revolves around the persecution of gays in Nazi Germany, and takes place during and after the Night of the Long Knives....

, Martin Sherman
Martin Sherman
Martin Sherman is an American dramatist and screenwriter, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-nominated play Bent , which explores the persecution of homosexuals during the Holocaust...

's play about homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...

, staged at the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...

. He played the character Horst opposite Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...

's Max. The play's setting of homosexuals and love in a Nazi death camp was shocking for many theatregoers at the time and uncovered a previously little-examined area of Nazi brutality.

Bell played sexist police officer, Detective Sergeant Bill Otley opposite Dame Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...

 in the first and third series of the critically acclaimed ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 series Prime Suspect. In 1993, in the third season, he received his second BAFTA nomination. One of his final screen appearances was a supporting role in 2006 in the seventh: Prime Suspect: The Final Act. Viewers could see that he was ill throughout the programme.

Tom had enjoyed working with TV director Danny Hiller and when his great friend and adviser, showbiz accountant Jose Goumal (also a close friend and adviser to Danny) asked Tom he agreed to appear in Danny's first feature film Love Me Still. It was evident throughout filming that Tom was not well, but he soldiered on and completed filming only a few days before the end of his life.

Tom Bell died in hospital in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

 on 4 October 2006, aged 73, following a short illness. He is survived by his partner Frances Tempest, a son (from an earlier marriage to the actress Lois Daine), a daughter and a stepdaughter.

Film

  • The Criminal
    The Criminal
    The Criminal is a 1960 British drama film produced by Nat Cohen and directed by Joseph Losey, starring Stanley Baker, Sam Wanamaker and Jill Bennett. Baker plays an ex-con who takes part in the robbery of a racetrack and is caught and sent back to prison...

    (1960) - Flynn
  • The Kitchen
    The Kitchen (film)
    The Kitchen is a 1961 British drama film directed by James Hill and starring Carl Möhner, Mary Yeomans, Brian Phelan, Tom Bell, Eric Pohlmann and James Bolam. The film follows an ensemble of the staff in a cafe's kitchen during the course of one busy morning...

    (1960) - Paul
  • Payroll
    Payroll (film)
    Payroll is a 1961 British crime thriller starring Michael Craig, and based on the novel by Derek Bickerton. The story is about a gang of villains that stage a wages robbery, which turns into a disaster. Most of the film was shot on location in and around Gateshead and Newcastle upon Tyne...

    (1961) - Blackie
  • Echo of Barbara (1961) - Ben
  • H.M.S. Defiant (1962) - Evans
  • A Prize of Arms
    A Prize of Arms
    A Prize of Arms is a 1962 British crime film directed by Cliff Owen and starring Stanley Baker, Helmut Schmid, Patrick Magee and Tom Bell with early appearances by several actors including Fulton Mackay, Tom Adams and Rodney Bewes...

    (1962) - Fenner
  • The L-Shaped Room
    The L-Shaped Room
    The L-Shaped Room is a 1962 British drama film, directed by Bryan Forbes, which tells the story of a young French woman, unmarried and pregnant, who moves into a London boarding house, befriending a young man in the building...

    (1962) - Toby
  • Blues for Lovers (1964) - Steve Collins
  • He Who Rides a Tiger
    He Who Rides a Tiger
    He Who Rides a Tiger is a 1965 British crime drama directed by Charles Crichton, and starring Tom Bell and Judi Dench.-Cast:* Tom Bell as Peter Rayston* Judi Dench as Joanne* Paul Rogers as Superintendent Taylor* Kay Walsh as Mrs...

    (1965) - Peter Rayston
  • Sands of Beersheba (1966) - Dan
  • The Violent Enemy (1968) - Sean Rogan
  • The Long Day's Dying
    The Long Day's Dying
    The Long Day's Dying is a 1968 war film directed by Peter Collinson and starring David Hemmings. It was listed to compete at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, but the festival was cancelled due to the events of May 1968 in France.-Cast:...

    (1968) - Tom Cooper
  • In Enemy Country (1968) - Ian
  • Lock Up Your Daughters! (1969) - Shaftoe
  • All the Right Noises
    All the Right Noises
    All the Right Noises is a 1971 British drama film directed by Gerry O'Hara and starring Tom Bell, Olivia Hussey, Judy Carne and John Standing.-Cast:* Tom Bell - Len Lewin* Olivia Hussey - Val* Judy Carne - Joy Lewin* John Standing - Bernie...

    (1971) - Len Lewin
  • Quest for Love (1971) - Colin Trafford
  • Straight on Till Morning (1972) - Jimmy Lindsay
  • Royal Flash
    Royal Flash (film)
    Royal Flash is a 1975 film based on George MacDonald Fraser's second Flashman novel, Royal Flash. It starred Malcolm McDowell as Flashman. Oliver Reed appeared in the role of Otto von Bismarck, Alan Bates as Rudi von Sternberg, and Florinda Bolkan played Lola Montez...

    (1975) - De Gautet
  • The Sailor's Return
    The Sailor's Return (film)
    The Sailor's Return is a 1978 British drama film directed by Jack Gold and starring Tom Bell, Shope Shodeinde and Elton Charles. It is based on the 1925 novel The Sailor's Return by David Garnett. A sailor returns to his hometown to open a pub bringing with him his new black wife. Very quickly they...

    (1978) - William Targett
  • Summer Lightning
    Summer Lightning (film)
    Summer Lightning is a 1933 British comedy film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring Ralph Lynn, Winifred Shotter, Chili Bouchier and Horace Hodges. It is based on the novel Summer Lightning by P.G...

    (1984) - Mr Clark
  • The Innocent
    The Innocent (1985 film)
    The Innocent is a 1985 John Mackenzie film, starring Andrew Hawley, Liam Neeson and Miranda Richardson, and is set in the Yorkshire Dales just after World War I....

    (1985) -'Frank Dobson
  • The Magic Toyshop
    The Magic Toyshop
    The Magic Toyshop is a British novel by Angela Carter. It follows the development of the heroine, Melanie, as she becomes aware of herself, her environment, and her own sexuality.- Plot Summary :...

    (1987) - Uncle Philip

  • Wish You Were Here
    Wish You Were Here (1987 film)
    Wish You Were Here is a 1987 British drama/comedy film starring Emily Lloyd and Tom Bell. The film was written and directed by David Leland. The original music score was composed by Stanley Myers.-Plot:...

    (1987) - Eric
  • Resurrected
    Resurrected (film)
    Resurrected is a 1989 drama film starring David Thewlis based on the story of the British soldier Philip Williams, who is presumed dead and left behind in the Falklands but is accused of desertion when he reappears seven weeks after the Falklands War ends. The film was written by Martin Allen and...

    (1989) - Mr. Deakin
  • The Krays
    The Krays (film)
    The Krays is a 1990 film based on the lives and crimes of the British gangsters Ronald and Reginald Kray, twins who are often referred to as The Krays...

    (1990) - Jack 'The Hat' McVitie
  • Let Him Have It
    Let Him Have It
    Let Him Have It is a 1991 British film, which was based on the true story of the case against Derek Bentley, who was hanged for murder under controversial circumstances on 28 January 1953. While Bentley did not directly play a role in the murder of PC Sidney Miles, he received the greater...

    (1991) - Fairfax
  • Prospero's Books
    Prospero's Books
    Prospero's Books , written and directed by Peter Greenaway, is a cinematic adaptation of The Tempest, by William Shakespeare. John Gielgud is Prospero, the protagonist who provides the off-screen narration and the voices to the other story characters...

    (1991) - Antonio
  • Angels (1992) - Michael
  • Seconds Out (1993) - Jack
  • Feast of July
    Feast of July
    Feast of July is a 1995 UK film produced by Merchant Ivory Productions, based on the novel by H. E. Bates, starring Embeth Davidtz and Ben Chaplin.-Plot:...

    (1995) - Ben Wainwright
  • Preaching to the Perverted
    Preaching to the Perverted
    Preaching to the Perverted is a 1997 British comedy film written and directed by Stuart Urban.The film stars Guinevere Turner as Tanya Cheex, a New York dominatrix. Tom Bell plays Henry Harding MP and Christien Anholt plays Peter Emery...

    (1997) - Henry Harding MP
  • Swept from the Sea
    Swept from the Sea
    Swept from the Sea is a 1997 American drama film based on a 1903 short story, "Amy Foster" by Joseph Conrad. It stars Vincent Perez, Rachel Weisz, Ian McKellen, Joss Ackland, Kathy Bates, Zoë Wanamaker and Tom Bell and was directed by Beeban Kidron....

    (1997) - Isaac Foster
  • The Boxer
    The Boxer (film)
    The Boxer is a 1997 film by Irish director Jim Sheridan. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Emily Watson, the film centers on the life of a boxer and former Provisional IRA Volunteer, Danny Flynn, played by Day-Lewis, who is trying to "go straight" after his release from prison...

    (1997) - cameo
  • Tube Tales
    Tube Tales
    Tube Tales is a collection of nine short films based on the true-life experiences of London Underground passengers as submitted to Time Out magazine. The stories were scripted and filmed independently of each other...

    (1999) - Old Gent in 'Horny'
  • Swing (1999) - Sid Luxford
  • The Last Minute
    The Last Minute
    The Last Minute, is a British urban gothic film, written and directed by Stephen Norrington, darkly lampooning success, failure, and the show business....

    (2001) - Grimshanks
  • My Kingdom
    My Kingdom (film)
    My Kingdom is a 2001 British crime film directed by Don Boyd and starring Richard Harris, Lynn Redgrave and Jimi Mistry.It premiered at the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival but failed to make an impression The following year My Kingdom grossed $2,607 on its opening weekend in Los Angeles...

    (2001) - Quick
  • Long Time Dead
    Long Time Dead
    Long Time Dead is a 2002 thriller horror film set in the United Kingdom in which a group of college students experiment with an Ouija board and inadvertently summon a djinn - an Arabic spirit of fire. The film stars Joe Absolom, Lukas Haas and Tom Bell. It was the directorial debut of Swindon-born...

    (2002) - Becker
  • Lava (2002) - Eric
  • Try Seventeen (2002) - Bartender
  • Oh Marbella! (2003) - Ronnie, Ackerman
  • Devil's Gate
    Devil's Gate (film)
    Devil's Gate is a 2003 British film directed by Stuart St. Paul.Upon learning of her father's illness the protagonist Rachael decides to travel home - despite having previously had no intent to ever visit the town again. Her feelings for the town derive from her mistreatment by her mother...

    (2003) - Jake
  • Dead Man's Cards
    Dead Man's Cards
    Dead Man's Cards is a 2006 British underworld drama starring Paul Barber and James McMartin. When Tom suffers a bad eye injury his boxing career comes to an end, and his marriage begins to suffer...

    (2005) - Billy The Cowboy
  • Friends and Enemies (2006)


Television (selected)

  • 1958: Armchair Theatre
    Armchair Theatre
    Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series, which ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television after 1968....

  •          No Trams to Lime Street
    No Trams to Lime Street
    No Trams to Lime Street is a 1959 British television play, written by the Welsh playwright Alun Owen for the Armchair Theatre anthology series. Produced by the Associated British Corporation for transmission on the ITV network, the play was broadcast on 18 October 1959...

  • 1972: Hedda Gabler
    Hedda Gabler
    Hedda Gabler is a play first published in 1890 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play premiered in 1891 in Germany to negative reviews, but has subsequently gained recognition as a classic of realism, nineteenth century theatre, and world drama...

    as Eilert Lovborg
  • 1974: The Protectors
    The Protectors
    The Protectors is a British television series, an action thriller created by Gerry Anderson. It is Anderson's second TV series using live actors as opposed to electronic marionettes, and also his second to be firmly set in the present day...

  • 1978: Holocaust
    Holocaust (miniseries)
    Holocaust was a television miniseries broadcast in four parts in 1978 on the NBC television network. The series tells the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of the Weiss family of German Jews and that of a rising member of the SS, who gradually becomes a merciless war criminal...

    (US mini-series) as Adolf Eichmann
    Adolf Eichmann
    Adolf Otto Eichmann was a German Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust...

  • 1978: Out
    Out (miniseries)
    Out is a British television crime drama written by Trevor Preston. It was produced by Thames Television in 1978.In the weeks prior to its broadcast on Monday evenings, brief clips of the programme were shown to arouse viewer interest in which a character provided only the cryptic information that...

    (UK series) as Frank Ross
  • 1981: Sons and Lovers
    Sons and Lovers (1981 TV serial)
    Sons and Lovers is a 1981 BBC television serial based on the D. H. Lawrence book Sons and Lovers. It starred Eileen Atkins, Tom Bell, Karl Johnson and Lynn Dearth. It was adapted by Trevor Griffiths and directed by Stuart Burge. It aired in the US as part of the PBS's Masterpiece Theatre program...

    as Walter Morel
  • 1983: Reilly: Ace of Spies
  • 1990: Chancer
    Chancer
    Chancer is a British television serial produced by Central Television for ITV. It tells the story of a likable conman and rogue at the end of the yuppie eighties...

  • 1991-92: Hope It Rains (UK sitcom series) as Harry Nash
  • 1993: Prime Suspect
    Prime Suspect
    Prime Suspect is a British police procedural television drama series directed by Christopher Menaul and starring Helen Mirren and made by Granada Television for the ITV network in the 1990s and 2000s...

    as D.S. Bill Otley
  • 1993: The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
    The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
    The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 4, 1992, to July 24, 1993. The series explores the childhood and youth of the fictional character Indiana Jones and primarily stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Corey Carrier as the title character, with...

  •          Young Indiana Jones and the Phantom Train of Doom --Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck
    Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck
    Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck was a general in the Imperial German Army and the commander of the German East Africa campaign. For four years, with a force that never exceeded about 14,000 , he held in check a much larger force of 300,000 British, Belgian, and Portuguese troops...

  • 1999 Dalziel and Pascoe ("Recalled to Life")
  • 2006: Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire
    Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire
    Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire is a 2006 BBC One docudrama series, with each episode looking at a different key turning point in the history of the Roman Empire.-Production:...

  •          Revolution as Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio
    Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio
    Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio , the son of Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum and his wife Cornelia Africana Major, was a member of the gens Cornelia and a politician of the ancient Roman Republic. He was consul in 138 BC.He was also a member of the gens Cornelia, a family of...

  • 2006: Blue Murder
    Blue Murder (UK TV series)
    Blue Murder was a British crime drama television series based in Manchester. Shown on ITV from 2003 until 2009 when it was axed by the Network, it starred Caroline Quentin as DCI Janine Lewis.-Outline:...

    as Vinny McAteer (broadcast 3/11/2006 on ITV
    ITV
    ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

    )
  • 2006: Prime Suspect 7 : The Final Act
    Prime Suspect
    Prime Suspect is a British police procedural television drama series directed by Christopher Menaul and starring Helen Mirren and made by Granada Television for the ITV network in the 1990s and 2000s...

    as D.S. Bill Otley

External links

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