George Baker

George Baker (born 1 April 1931 in Varna, Bulgaria) is an English actor.

Biography

Personal life

Baker's father was an Irish diplomat and he attended Lancing College, Sussex; he then appeared as an actor in repertory theatre and at the Old Vic. His third wife, Louie Ramsay, is his Ruth Rendell Mysteries onscreen wife Dora. In the 1950s he had a brief affair with Brigitte Bardot.^[1]

Career

His first major film role was in the 1950s swashbuckler, The Moonraker. However, he has become better known as a television actor. He was one of the many actors to portray the role of "Number Two" in the series The Prisoner, appearing in the series' first episode. He was also in the first episode of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, playing a company boss interviewing the show's hapless main character. In the 1976 drama serial, I, Claudius, he played the emperor Tiberius Caesar.

In the late 1970s, he starred as Inspector Roderick Alleyn in four adaptations of the mystery novels of Ngaio Marsh with New Zealand settings, in a production for New Zealand television. Since 1988, he has played Inspector Reg Wexford in numerous television adaptations of mysteries by Ruth Rendell. In 1993, following the death of his second wife, he married the actress Louie Ramsay, who plays Mrs Wexford in the same television series.

He also appeared in The Baron, Minder in Series 1's You Gotta Have Friends, Coronation Street (as brewery owner Cecil Newton) and in the Doctor Who story Full Circle.

George Baker also appeared in the British comedy television series The Goodies' episode "Tower of London" as the "Chief Beefeater", as well as in the sitcom No Job for a Lady, and in the James Bond films On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved Me and You Only Live Twice. Ian Fleming considered George Baker to be the ideal candidate to play James Bond in the movies but the role went to Sean Connery. Ironically, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Baker dubbed George Lazenby's voice for the central segment of the film, where Bond is impersonating Sir Hilary Bray (Baker's character in the film), as can clearly be heard.

Filmography

• The Intruder (1953)
• The Woman for Joe (1955)
• The Ship that Died of Shame (1955)
• The Dam Busters (1955)
• The Extra Day (1956)
• The Feminine Touch (1956)
• A Hill in Korea (1956)
• These Dangerous Years (1957)
• No Time for Tears (1957)
• The Moonraker (1958)
• Tread Softly Stranger (1958)
• Lancelot and Guinevere (1963)
• The Finest Hours (1964)
• Curse of the Fly (1965)
• Mister Ten Per Cent (1967)
• Justine (1969)
• Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
• On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
• The Executioner (1970 film) (1970)
• A Warm December (1973)
• Three for All (1975)
• Intimate Games (1975)
• The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
• The Thirty Nine Steps (1978)
• North Sea Hijack (1979)
• Hopscotch (1980)
• Time After Time (1986)
• Out of Order (1987)
• For Queen & Country (1988)
• Back to the Secret Garden (2001)
• Parineeta (2005)

Television

• Rupert of Hentzau (1964)

References

External links

• George Baker at the Internet Movie Database
• Inspector Wexford starring George Baker and Christopher Ravenscroft.