Anthony Steel

Anthony Maitland Steel (21 May 1920 – 21 March 2001)^[1] was an English actor and singer best known for his appearances in British war films of the 1950s such as The Wooden Horse (1950), and his marriage to Anita Ekberg. He was described as "a glorious throwback to the Golden Age of Empire... the perfect Imperial actor, born out of his time, blue-eyed, square-jawed, clean-cut."^[2]

Biography

Early life

Anthony Steel was born in Chelsea, the son of an Indian army officer, and educated at Alexander House Prep School, Broadstairs, Kent. He servedas an officer in the Grenadier Guards during the Second World War, and was badly wounded on patrol in the Middle East, then again in the Far East. He turned parachutist and made nine operational jumps.^[3]

On demobilisation, Steel decided to become an actor and got some parts on stage, including appearing opposite Margaret Lockwood in 'Roses for Her Pillow'. He was dating a niece of J. Arthur Rank who introduced Steel to her uncle at a party. Rank subsequently signed the actor to a long-term contract with his company.^[4] Steel was trained at Rank's "charm school" and given a slow build up with small parts in several films, starting with Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948). He also appeared in Quartet (1948), The Blue Lamp (1949), Trottie True (1949), Christopher Columbus (1949), and The Chiltern Hundreds (1949).

Stardom

Steel's first big break was being cast as one of three British POWs who escape from a camp in The Wooden Horse (1950). This film, based on a true story, was a large hit and established Steel as a star.^[5] Director Jack Lee said that the actor "was fine to work with just a physical type, a young chap who could do certain things, though he didn't have much acting to do in this."^[4]

Steel followed this performance playing the romantic male lead in The Mudlark (1950) and supported Bette Davis in Another Man's Poison (1951). Hen then starred as a game park warden in Where No Vultures Fly (1951), which was the most popular British movie of its year and the Royal Command Performance Film for 1951, confirming Steel's status as a genuine box office draw.^[6] In 1952 he was voted the fourth most popular British male star.^[7]

Rank tried Steel in a comedy, Something Money Can't Buy (1952), but public response was not enthusiastic, so they put him back in war films such as The Planter's Wife (1952) and The Malta Story (1953), the genre in which the public seemed to enjoy him the most. He rarely carried a movie alone, usually supporting a better known star, such as Claudette Colbert, Errol Flynn, Alec Guiness, Peter Finch or Bette Davis. Nonetheless he was popular and in 1954 he and Dirk Bogarde were the highest paid actors with the Rank Organisation.^[4]

In 1956 Steel married Swedish actress Anita Ekberg and together they moved to Hollywood, with mixed results. He broke his contract with the Rank Organisation, received bad publicity for fighting with Ekberg and attacking paparazzi, and was arrested twice for drink driving.^[8][9] During his time in Hollywood he appeared in one film, the little-seen Valerie (1957).

Career decline

Steel returned to England but was unable to regain his earlier popularity. His most prestigious role was in a film directed by Michael Powell, Honeymoon (1959), but it was one of Powell's least known works. John Davis, head of Rank Organisation was known to be furious for Steel having left the company earlier after the support they had given him, and this was thought to have harmed his chances at reviving his career.^[4]

In 1960 Steel moved to Rome and based himself for the next decade. His roles grew smaller and less prestigious, such as appearing as Sir Stephen in the Just Jaeckin film adaptation of Story of O (1975).

By the 1970s he had returned to England where he appeared in number of TV shows such as Bergerac and Robin of Sherwood and Crossroads. After doing stage tours in the 1980s he rarely worked, and wound up living for a number of years in a tiny flat in Northolt, west London. His then-agent, David Daly, said that:

He was a very private man. He just decided that he would withdraw. He found a place to live and simply went into hiding. In some ways, it was not unlike him; if he decided that things weren't right, he would withdraw into himself and not contact anybody.^[6]

Daly had him moved to Denville Hall, a London retirement home for theatre people, and got him a guest role on the TV series The Broker's Man, not long before he died.^[6]

Singer

In 1954, Steel teamed up with the British vocal ensemble, the 'Radio Revellers', to record "West of Zanzibar". Released on the Polygon Records label, it peaked at No.11 in the UK Singles Chart.^[1]

Personal life

Steel was married three times:

• 1) Juanita Forbes (1949–1954)
• 2) Anita Ekberg (1956–1959)
• 3) Johanna Melcher (1964)

His engagement and marriage to Ekberg was highly publicised at the time.^[10][11]

Steel had an affair with actress Patricia Roc in 1952 while they were co-starring in Something Money Can't Buy, resulting in a son, Michael. At the time Roc was married to André Thomas but they were unable to have children, so Thomas agreed to bring up Michael as his own.^[12]

Death

Anthony Steel died from lung cancer in Northolt, Middlesex in 2001, aged 80.

Selected filmography

Box office popularity

British exhibitors voted Steel among the top ten most popular British stars several times in an annual poll conducted by the Motion Picture Herald:

• 1952 - 4th^[13]
• 1953 - 10th^[14]
• 1954 - 7th^[15]
• 1956 - 6th^[16]

References

External links

• Anthony Steel at the Internet Movie Database
• The Guardian obituary for Anthony Steel