 A character actor with stage experience, good at police inspectors, Soviet agents and other assorted heavies, and, latterly, literary characters in TV adaptations (e.g, Our Mutual Friend, BBC, 1998). With heavy jaw and small deep-set eyes, he has a face you remember, and his bulky frame can suggest menace, as well as solid dependability. He made his film debut in 1959 remaining in small parts, except for starring as a quirky insurance investigator in the 'B' movie Smokescreen (d. Jim O'Connolly, 1964). Usually cast as villains, he had some good supporting roles in late '60s, including a German thug in A Twist of Sand (d. Don Chaffey, 1968) and Sgt. Walker in The Bofors Gun (d. Jack Gold, 1968), heavies in The Man Outside (d. Samuel Gallu, 1967) and The Naked Runner (d. Sidney J.Furie, 1967), and, in different mode, Anthony Hopkins's father in The Remains of the Day (d. James Ivory, 1993). His first wife (of two) was Billie Whitelaw. Roger Philip Mellor, Encyclopedia of British Film
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FILM & TV CREDITS
