Tom Bell Biography

British actor (1933–2006)

For the later comedy actor, see Tom Bell (comedy actor).

Thomas George Bell (2 August 1933 – 4 October 2006) was an English actor on stage, film and television. He often played "menacing or seedy roles, perhaps most memorably playing sexist Detective Sergeant Bill Otley, antagonist to Helen Mirren's DCI Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect.

Early life

Bell was born on 2 August 1933, in Liverpool, Lancashire. His family was large, and he had little contact with his father, a merchant seaman. Evacuated as a child during the Second World War, he lived with three different families in Morecambe, Lancashire. In 1948, at age 15, Bell began to act in school plays. His younger brother Keith also became an actor.

On leaving school he trained under Esme Church at the Bradford Civic Theatre; fellow pupils included Billie Whitelaw and Robert Stephens. He later worked in repertory in Liverpool and Dublin.

Career

Michael Coveney described Bell as a "naturally gifted and unusually reserved leading actor", with a "quiet, mesmeric brand of acting". On television he had the role of Albert Stokes in Harold Pinter's first success in the medium, A Night Out (1960), while in the same year his first film appearance came in Joseph Losey's The Criminal. He continued to appear in the British New Wave films of the early 60s including The Kitchen (1961) and The L-Shaped Room (1962) with Leslie Caron. At an awards ceremony for the latter, he drunkenly interrupted a speech by Prince Philip, yelling "Tell us a funny story", to the obvious embarr*ment of table companions Richard Attenborough and Bryan Forbes. While the Duke of Edinburgh apparently took the heckle in good humour, retorting "If you want a funny story, I suggest you engage a professional comic", the incident added to Bell's reputation as a hellraiser, and "did little to further career". His other notable films of the decade included H.M.S. Defiant (1962), A Prize of Arms (1962), Ballad in Blue (1965), He Who Rides a Tiger (1965), and The Long Day's Dying (1968), followed by All the Right Noises in 1971.

In 1978, Bell received a BAFTA nomination for his portrayal of convicted armed robber Frank Ross in the crime-drama Out. Produced by Thames TV, this critically-acclaimed six-part 'mini-series' drew an audience of 10 million viewers per episode. That same year he portrayed Adolf Eichmann in the Emmy-winning tv-series Holocaust.

Declared bankrupt in 1982 for Inland Revenue debts of over £20,000, Bell bounced back with a later career renaissance, appearing in several British films including Wish You Were Here, Peter Greenaway's Prospero's Books, Swing and the 1990 film The Krays, where he played the part of Jack "The Hat" McVitie, one of the Kray twins' murder victims. In 1991, he played the dour owner of a run-down seaside waxworks museum in the Thames TV sitcom Hope It Rains, written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey and directed by John Howard Davies. It ran for two series comprising thirteen episodes.

Although he tended to eschew live performance, Bell's few stage appearances included a role in the 1979 UK première of Bent, Martin Sherman's play about *sexuality, staged at the Royal Court Theatre. He played the character Horst, opposite Ian McKellen's Max. The play's examination of *sexual love, set in a National Socialist German Workers' Party death camp, was shocking for many theatregoers at the time and uncovered a previously little-examined area of National Socialist German Workers' Party brutality.

In the ITV series Prime Suspect, Bell played Detective Sergeant Bill Otley opposite Helen Mirren in the first (1991), third (1993) and final series (2006), the latter being one of his last on-screen appearances. His gripping portrayal of the toxic character secured Bell's second BAFTA nomination, in 1993.

Personal life

Bell was married to the actress Lois Daine from 1960 to 1976. They had one son, Aran, who is also an actor.

His partner from 1976 until his death was the costume designer Frances Tempest, with whom he had a step-daughter, Nellie, and a daughter, Polly.

Death

Bell had enjoyed working with TV director Danny Hiller, and agreed to appear in his first feature film Love Me Still at the suggestion of their mutual friend, showbiz accountant Jose Goumal. While clearly ill, Bell soldiered on and completed filming only a few days before the end of his life. He died in hospital in Brighton on 4 October 2006, aged 73, following a short illness. A few days later, "the poignantly timed broadcast of Prime Suspect - The Final Act" aired, "in which a visibly frail Otley died on screen".

Filmography

Film

  • The Criminal (1960) – Flynn
  • Payroll (1961) – Blackie
  • The Kitchen (1961) – Paul
  • Echo of Barbara (1961) – Ben
  • H.M.S. Defiant (1962) – Evans
  • A Prize of Arms (1962) – Fenner
  • The L-Shaped Room (1962) – Toby
  • Sands of Beersheba (1964) – Dan
  • Ballad in Blue (1965) – Steve Collins
  • He Who Rides a Tiger (1965) – Peter Rayston
  • The Violent Enemy (1968) – Sean Rogan
  • The Long Day's Dying (1968) – Tom Cooper
  • In Enemy Country (1968) – Ian
  • Lock Up Your Daughters! (1969) – Shaftoe
  • All the Right Noises (1971) – Len Lewin
  • Quest for Love (1971) – Colin Trafford
  • The Spy's Wife (1972) – Tom Tyler
  • Straight on Till Morning (1972) – Jimmy Lindsay
  • Royal Flash (1975) – De Gautet
  • The Sailor's Return (1978) – William Targett
  • Summer Lightning (1984) – Mr Clark
  • The Innocent (1985) – Frank Dobson
  • The Magic Toyshop (1987) – Uncle Philip
  • Wish You Were Here (1987) – Eric
  • Resurrected (1989) – Mr. Deakin
  • The Krays (1990) – Jack 'The Hat' McVitie
  • Prospero's Books (1991) – Antonio
  • Let Him Have It (1991) – Fairfax
  • Angels (1992) – Michael
  • Sensatsiya (1993) – American Scientist
  • Seconds Out (1993) – Jack
  • Feast of July (1995) – Ben Wainwright
  • Preaching to the Perverted (1997) – Henry Harding MP
  • Swept from the Sea (1997) – Isaac Foster
  • The Boxer (1997) – Joe MaGuire's father (uncredited)
  • Swing (1999) – Sid Luxford
  • Tube Tales (1999) – Old Gent (segment "*")
  • The Last Minute (2001) – Grimshanks
  • Lava (2001) – Eric
  • My Kingdom (2001) – Quick
  • Long Time Dead (2002) – Becker
  • Oh Marbella! (2003) – Ronnie, Ackerman
  • Devil's Gate (2003) – Jake
  • Dead Man's Cards (2005) – Billy The Cowboy
  • Friends and Enemies (2006)
  • Love Me Still (2008) – Lenny Ronson

Television (selected)

  • 1958: Armchair Theatre: "No Trams to Lime Street"
  • 1960: Armchair Theatre: A Night Out
  • 1967: The Virginian Series 6 Episode 5 – Cpl. Johnny Moon
  • 1970: Play for Today: Angels Are So Few
  • 1972: Hedda Gabler (Play of the Month, BBC) – Eilert Lovborg
  • 1974: The Protectors – Shadbolt
  • 1978
    • Holocaust (US mini-series) – Adolf Eichmann
    • Out (UK series) – Frank Ross
  • 1981: Sons and Lovers – Walter Morel
  • 1983: Reilly, Ace of Spies – Felix Dzerzhinsky
  • 1988: The Rainbow - Old Tom Brangwen
  • 1990: Chancer – Mr. Love, Derek's father
  • 1991: Prime Suspect (series 1) – D.S. Bill Otley
  • 1991–92: Hope It Rains (UK sitcom series) – Harry Nash
  • 1993:
    • Prime Suspect (series 3) – D.S. Bill Otley
    • The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: "Young Indiana Jones and the Phantom Train of Doom" – Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck
  • 1999 Dalziel and Pascoe ("Recalled to Life")
  • 2006
    • Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire: "Revolution" – Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio
    • Blue Murder – Vinny McAteer (broadcast 3 November 2006 on ITV)
    • Prime Suspect: The Final Act (series 7) – D.S. Bill Otley

Notes

    Description above from the Wikipedia article Tom Bell, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

    Tom Bell