George Murcell

Birthday: 1925-10-30
Deathday: 1998-12-03
Birthplace: Naples, Campania, Italy
Gender: Male
Owned By: Unowned

Arthur George Murcell (30 October 1925 – 3 December 1998) was a British character actor.

Born in Italy, he made his film debut in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Battle of the River Plate (1956), Murcell went on to develop a career playing snarling villains in both film and television. These could either be stupid, brutish henchmen, as in Hell Drivers and Campbell's Kingdom (both 1957), or sophisticated rogues, such as Needle in "You Have Just Been Murdered", an episode of The Avengers.

He specialised in playing foreign characters, including Germans, Russians and South Americans. A number of these roles were in ITC adventure TV series of the 1960s and 1970s, such as Danger Man, The Baron, The Saint, The Champions (Reply Box No.666 episode, 1967) Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Persuaders! and Jason King. His film roles included Sea of Sand (1958), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), The Heroes of Telemark (1965), Kaleidoscope (1966), The Fixer (1968), A Dandy in Aspic (1968), The Assassination Bureau (1969), A Walk with Love and Death (1969), Penny Gold (1973), Special Branch (1974), Inside the Third Reich (1982, as Hermann Göring), Year of the Gun (1991), and Cutthroat Island (1995).

He enjoyed a long stage career, which involved working with Tyrone Guthrie and Peter Brook, and was active in the Royal Shakespeare Company.In the 1970s, he acquired a Victorian church in North London, which he converted into an Elizabethan-style theatre in collaboration with director Adrian Brown. In 1973, he opened it as "St George's Theatre", intending that it present little-seen classical plays.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he continued to work at St George's Theatre as both an actor and a director, often with his wife, Elvi Hale.

Credits

Year Title Character
1995-12-22 Cutthroat Island Mordachai Fingers
1991-09-10 Year of the Gun Pierre Bernier
1988-07-22 Pascali's Island Herr Gesing
1982-05-09 Inside the Third Reich Herman Goering
1975-06-11 Rime of the Ancient Mariner
1975-05-02 Penelope Pulls It Off Owen
1973-06-22 Penny Gold Doctor Merrick
1973-03-05 Mafia Junction
1971-08-16 The Horsemen Mizrar
1970-08-17 A Sound from the Sea George
1969-10-05 A Walk with Love and Death The Captain
1969-05-02 The Possessed Liputin
1969-03-09 The Assassination Bureau Zeppelin pilot
1968-07-29 The Year of the Sex Olympics Grels
1968-04-02 A Dandy in Aspic
1967-07-19 The Naked Runner
1967-06-13 You Only Live Twice Russian Diplomat (uncredited)
1966-07-01 Kaleidoscope Johnny
1965-11-12 The Heroes of Telemark Sturmfuhrer
1964-03-24 The Fall of the Roman Empire Victorinus
1962-12-01 In Search of the Castaways Ayerton's Assistant
1962-04-17 The Cherry Orchard Yermolai Alexeyevich Lopahin
1961-12-31 The Pursuers Freddy
1960-11-01 Crossroads to Crime Diamond
1960-08-31 There Was a Crooked Man Receptionist at 'The McKillup Arms'
1960-03-10 The Angry Silence Jones
1959-01-01 Don't Panic Chaps! Meister
1958-11-04 Sea of Sand Cpl. Simms
1958-08-26 Sea Fury Loudon
1958-08-25 Blood of the Vampire First Guard
1957-09-03 Campbell's Kingdom Max, a worker
1957-07-23 Hell Drivers Tub
1956-10-30 The Battle of the River Plate Chief Officer, Newton Beach
1955-12-21 The Merry Christmas Mr. Fezziwig