George Murcell
Born: 1925-10-30 in Naples, Campania, Italy
Died: 1998-12-03
Known For: Acting
Biography
Arthur George Murcell (30 October 1925 – 3 December 1998) was a British character actor. Born in Italy, he made his film debut in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Battle of the River Plate (1956), Murcell went on to develop a career playing snarling villains in both film and television. These could either be stupid, brutish henchmen, as in Hell Drivers and Campbell's Kingdom (both 1957), or sophisticated rogues, such as Needle in "You Have Just Been Murdered", an episode of The Avengers. He specialised in playing foreign characters, including Germans, Russians and South Americans. A number of these roles were in ITC adventure TV series of the 1960s and 1970s, such as Danger Man, The Baron, The Saint, The Champions (Reply Box No.666 episode, 1967) Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Persuaders! and Jason King. His film roles included Sea of Sand (1958), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), The Heroes of Telemark (1965), Kaleidoscope (1966), The Fixer (1968), A Dandy in Aspic (1968), The Assassination Bureau (1969), A Walk with Love and Death (1969), Penny Gold (1973), Special Branch (1974), Inside the Third Reich (1982, as Hermann Göring), Year of the Gun (1991), and Cutthroat Island (1995). He enjoyed a long stage career, which involved working with Tyrone Guthrie and Peter Brook, and was active in the Royal Shakespeare Company.In the 1970s, he acquired a Victorian church in North London, which he converted into an Elizabethan-style theatre in collaboration with director Adrian Brown. In 1973, he opened it as "St George's Theatre", intending that it present little-seen classical plays. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he continued to work at St George's Theatre as both an actor and a director, often with his wife, Elvi Hale.
Filmography
2022
- Presented in Supercolorisation as Professor Rudolph Popkiss / Black Morgan (voice)
1996
1995
- Cutthroat Island as Mordachai Fingers
1991
- Year of the Gun as Pierre Bernier
1988
- Pascali's Island as Herr Gesing
1986
1982
- Inside the Third Reich as Herman Goering
1981
- Smuggler as Silas Kemble
1977
- The Professionals as Yashinkov
- 1990 as Tiny
1975
1974
- The Prison as Maître Rabut
- Armchair Cinema as Maître Rabut
1973
- Penny Gold as Doctor Merrick
- Mafia Junction
1971
- The Persuaders! as Zorakin
- The Horsemen as Mizrar
- The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes as Inspector Vandeleur
- Jason King
1970
- Manhunt as Franco
- A Sound from the Sea as George
1969
- The Assassination Bureau as Zeppelin pilot
- A Walk with Love and Death as The Captain
- The Possessed as Liputin
1968
- The Champions as Nikko
- A Dandy in Aspic
- The Year of the Sex Olympics as Grels
- Rogues' Gallery as Sir Esmond Bellasize
1967
- You Only Live Twice as Russian Diplomat (uncredited)
- The Naked Runner
1966
- Kaleidoscope as Johnny
- The Informer as Willie Cluff
1965
- Gideon's Way as Kautsky
- The Heroes of Telemark as Sturmfuhrer
1964
- Theatre 625 as Delamarche
- The Fall of the Roman Empire as Victorinus
1962
- The Saint as Vogler
- Suspense
- In Search of the Castaways as Ayerton's Assistant
- The Cherry Orchard as Yermolai Alexeyevich Lopahin
1961
- The Avengers as Needle
- Supercar
- The Pursuers as Freddy
1960
- The Angry Silence as Jones
- There Was a Crooked Man as Receptionist at 'The McKillup Arms'
- Crossroads to Crime as Diamond
1959
- No Hiding Place
- Don't Panic Chaps! as Meister
1958
- Sea Fury as Loudon
- Blood of the Vampire as First Guard
- Sea of Sand as Cpl. Simms
1957
- Hell Drivers as Tub
- Campbell's Kingdom as Max, a worker
1956
- The Battle of the River Plate as Chief Officer, Newton Beach
- The Adventures of Sir Lancelot as Jaggyd
1955
- The Adventures of Robin Hood as Sheriff's Guard
- The Merry Christmas as Mr. Fezziwig
1950
- Sunday Night Theatre as M. Lafarge