Alan Badel

Alan Fernand Badel^[1] ( /bəˈdɛl/;^[2] 11 September 1923 – 19 March 1982) was a distinguished English stage actor who also appeared frequently in the cinema, radio and television and was noted for his richly textured voice which was once described as "the sound of tears".

Early life

Badel was born in Rusholme, Manchester, Lancashire and was educated at Burnage High School and fought with the French Resistance during the Second World War.

Career

He played leading parts, including Romeo and Hamlet, with the Old Vic and Stratford companies.

Badel's most notable early screen role was as John the Baptist in the Rita Hayworth version of Salome (1953), a version in which the story was altered to make Salome a Christian convert who dances for Herod in order to save John rather than have him condemned to death.

Badel portrayed Richard Wagner in Magic Fire (1955), a biopic about the composer, and Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg in the Paramount film Nijinsky (1980).

He also played the role of Karl Denny, the impresario, in the 1963 film Bitter Harvest based on the novel 20,000 Streets Under the Sky by the author and playwright Patrick Hamilton. In the film he engages a young Welsh girl called Jennie Jones who, under his control, becomes a high class prostitute who commits suicide. The film starred Janet Munro in the lead part of Jennie Jones.

The film also starred a number of character actors who went on the make numerous film and television roles, namely, John Stride, William Lucas, Norman Bird, Allan Cuthbertson, Anne Cunningham and Francis Matthews. The landlady of John Stride's character, Joe, was played by Thora Hird who received no opening or closing credit in the film.

Also in 1963 he played opposite Vivienne Merchant in the TV production of Harold Pinter's play 'The Lover'.

He also played the French Interior Minister in The Day of the Jackal (1973), a political thriller about the attempted assassination of President Charles de Gaulle.

Badel also played the villainous sunglasses-wearing Najim Beshraavi in Arabesque (1966) with Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren.

Alan Badel's most famous role was that of the Count of Monte Cristo (by Alexandre Dumas) on BBC television in 1964. It became one of the most popular classical series on television and also starred Michael Gough. Badel's portrayal of Edmond Dantes became definitive and many^[who?] believe that it has never been bettered. He was also in The Moonstone and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.

Personal life

Badel married the actress Yvonne Owen in 1942 and they remained married until his sudden death in Chichester, aged 58. Their daughter Sarah Badel has forged a successful acting career in her own right.

Selected filmography

• The Stranger Left No Card (1952)
• Salome (1953)
• Will Any Gentleman...? (1953)
• Three Cases of Murder (1955)
• Magic Fire (1955)
• This Sporting Life (1963)
• Bitter Harvest (1963)
• Children of the Damned (1964)
• Arabesque (1966)
• Otley (1968)
• Where's Jack? (1969)
• The Adventurers (1970)
• The Day of the Jackal (1973)
• Luther (1973)
• Telefon (1977)
• The Medusa Touch (1978)
• Force 10 from Navarone (1978)
• Agatha (1979)
• The Riddle of the Sands (1979)
• Nijinsky (1980)

References

External links

Biography portal

• Alan Badel at the Internet Movie Database
• Alan Badel at the Internet Broadway Database
• "Alan Badel". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=39469211. Retrieved September 3, 2010.