George Murcell
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1925-10-30
Day of Death
1998-12-03 (73 years old)
Place of Birth
Naples, Campania, Italy
George Murcell
Biography
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.
Known For
Acting
(1995)
Cutthroat Island
as Mordachai Fingers
(1991)
Year of the Gun
as Pierre Bernier
(1988)
Pascali's Island
as Herr Gesing
(1982)
Inside the Third Reich
as Herman Goering
(1975)
(1975)
Penelope Pulls It Off
as Owen
(1973)
Penny Gold
as Doctor Merrick
(1973)
(1971)
The Horsemen
as Mizrar
(1970)
A Sound from the Sea
as George
(1969)
The Assassination Bureau
as Zeppelin pilot
(1969)
A Walk with Love and Death
as The Captain
(1969)
The Possessed
as Liputin
(1968)
(1968)
The Year of the Sex Olympics
as Grels
(1967)
You Only Live Twice
as Russian Diplomat (uncredited)
(1967)
(1966)
Kaleidoscope
as Johnny
(1965)
The Heroes of Telemark
as Sturmfuhrer
(1964)
The Fall of the Roman Empire
as Victorinus
(1962)
In Search of the Castaways
as Ayerton's Assistant
(1962)
The Cherry Orchard
as Yermolai Alexeyevich Lopahin
(1961)
The Pursuers
as Freddy
(1960)
The Angry Silence
as Jones
(1960)
There Was a Crooked Man
as Receptionist at 'The McKillup Arms'
(1960)
Crossroads to Crime
as Diamond
(1959)
Don't Panic Chaps!
as Meister
(1958)
Sea of Sand
as Cpl. Simms
(1958)
Blood of the Vampire
as First Guard
(1958)
Sea Fury
as Loudon
(1957)
Hell Drivers
as Tub
(1957)
Campbell's Kingdom
as Max, a worker
(1956)
The Battle of the River Plate
as Chief Officer, Newton Beach
(1955)
The Merry Christmas
as Mr. Fezziwig