George Sewell

George Sewell (31 August 1924 — 2 April 2007), was an English actor, born in Tottenham, London.

Early life and early career

His father was a Hoxton printer and his mother a florist;^[1] his brother Danny Sewell, a former boxer, also became an actor. George left school at 14 and worked briefly in the printing trade before switching to building work, specifically the repair of bomb-damaged houses. He then trained as a Royal Air Force pilot, though too late to see action during World War II.^[1] After demobilisation, joined the Merchant Navy, serving as a steward for the Cunard Line, on the RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth on their Atlantic crossings to New York. He also worked as a street photographer, assisted a French roller-skating team and was drummer and assistant road manager of a rumba band.^[1] He also travelled Europe as a motor coach courier travelling around Europe for a holiday company.^[2]

Acting career

He had not considered acting until, aged 35,^[1] he met the actor Dudley Sutton by chance in a pub.^[2] Sutton recommended that Sewell audition for a production by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop of Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be. Sewell did so, and made his acting debut as a policeman in the show both at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East and in the West End.^[2] He went on to star in two other Littlewood productions, Sparrers Can't Sing (1962) and as Field Marshall Haig in Oh! What a Lovely War (1963) which later went to Paris and Broadway.^[2] The experience garnered from stage acting led to a long career in both film and television.

For many years Sewell was the gritty face of crime and law enforcement in a huge array of television series. Amongst his early roles, he was the tallyman in Ken Loach's TV play Up The Junction (1965), a criminal who runs off with a teenage girl in Softly, Softly (1966), a hard-nosed building engineer in The Power Game (1965-66), a cowardly informer in Man in a Suitcase (1967), and a seedy private eye in Spindoe (1968). In 1970 he played Colonel Alec Freeman in the first series of Gerry Anderson's live-action science-fiction drama UFO.

In 1973, Euston Films reinvigorated the TV series Special Branch, formerly a videotaped series starring Derren Nesbitt. Sewell was brought in to play the defining character of DCI Alan Craven. The show ran for two seasons with Sewell, and is very fondly remembered - not least as a stylistic fore-runner of crime drama The Sweeney (in which Sewell also appeared - as a villain). Later Sewell was to parody this role as Supt Frank Cottam in the Jasper Carrott / Robert Powell comedy The Detectives.

Later television appearances include Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), in which he played Mendel, and the Doctor Who story Remembrance of the Daleks, (1988), in which he played a fascist called Mr Ratcliffe.

He also appeared frequently in cinema films, notably This Sporting Life (1963), Poor Cow (1967) and Get Carter (1971).

Filmography

Films

• This Sporting Life (1963)
• Sparrows Can't Sing (1963)
• The Informers (1963)
• Kaleidoscope (1966)
• Deadlier Than the Male (1967)
• Robbery (1967)
• Poor Cow (1967)
• The Vengeance of She (1968)
• The Haunted House of Horror (1969)
• Doppelgänger (1969)
• Get Carter (1971)
• Diamonds on Wheels (1974)
• Operation Daybreak (1975)
• Barry Lyndon (1975)
• Running Blind (1979)
• Winterspelt (1979)
• If You Go Down in the Woods Today (1981)
• Let's Stick Together (1998)

Television

• Z Cars (1965-67)
• UFO (1970)
• Special Branch (1973-74)
• Rising Damp (Comedy, Series 1 Episode 5 'The Prowler' 10 Jan 1975)
• Running Blind (1979)
• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979)
• Minder (Comedy, Series 3 Episode 4 'Rembrandt doesn't live here any more' 1981)
• The Detectives (1993-97)

References

External links

• George Sewell at the Internet Movie Database
• UK Telegraph obituary
• Guardian obituary
• The Stage obituary