Alan Badel

Alan Badel
Born	Alan Fernand Badel (1923-09-11)11 September 1923 Rusholme, Manchester, Lancashire, England, UK
Died	Chichester, Sussex, England, UK
Cause of death	heart attack
Years active	1952–82
Spouse(s)	Yvonne Owen (1942-1982; his death)
Children	Sarah Badel

Alan Fernand Badel (/bəˈdɛl/; 11 September 1923 – 19 March 1982) was an English stage actor who also appeared frequently in the cinema, radio and television and was noted for his richly textured voice which was once described as "the sound of tears".

Early life

Badel was born in Rusholme, Manchester, and educated at Burnage High School. He fought in France and Germany during the Second World War, serving as a paratrooper on D-Day.

Career

In his early career, he played leading parts, including Romeo and Hamlet, with the Old Vic and Stratford companies.

Badel's most notable early screen role was as John the Baptist in the Rita Hayworth version of Salome (1953), a version in which the story was altered to make Salome a Christian convert who dances for Herod in order to save John rather than have him condemned to death.

He portrayed Richard Wagner in Magic Fire (1955), a biopic about the composer. He also played the role of Karl Denny, the impresario, in the film Bitter Harvest (1963). That same year he played opposite Vivien Merchant in the TV production of Harold Pinter's play The Lover.

One of Badel's most noted roles was that of Edmond Dantès in the 1964 BBC television adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, which also starred Michael Gough. He appeared in television adaptations of The Moonstone and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.

Badel also played the villainous sunglasses-wearing Najim Beshraavi in Arabesque (1966) with Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren. He also played the French Interior Minister in The Day of the Jackal (1973), a political thriller about the attempted assassination of President Charles de Gaulle. One of his last roles was that of Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg in the Paramount film Nijinsky (1980).

Personal life

Badel married the actress Yvonne Owen in 1942 and they remained married until his death from a heart attack in Chichester, aged 58. Their daughter Sarah Badel is an actress.

Selected filmography

• The Stranger Left No Card (1952) - Stranger
• Salome (1953) - John the Baptist
• Will Any Gentleman...? (1953) - The Great Mendoza
• Three Cases of Murder (1955) - Owen (segment "Lord Mountdrago") / Mr. X (segment "In the Picture") / Harry (segment "You Killed Elizabeth")
• Magic Fire (1955) - Richard Wagner
• This Sporting Life (1963) - Gerald Weaver
• Bitter Harvest (1963) - Karl Denny
• Children of the Damned (1964) - Dr. David Neville
• Arabesque (1966) - Beshraavi
• Otley (1968) - Sir Alex Hadrian
• Where's Jack? (1969) - The Lord Chancellor
• The Adventurers (1970) - President Rojo
• The Day of the Jackal (1973) - The Minister
• Luther (1973) - Thomas De Vio
• Telefon (1977) - Colonel Malchenko
• The Medusa Touch (1978) - Barrister
• Force 10 from Navarone (1978) - Petrovitch
• Agatha (1979) - Lord Brackenbury
• The Riddle of the Sands (1979) - Dollmann
• Nijinsky (1980) - Baron de Gunzburg
• Shōgun (1980) - Father Dell'Aqua

External links

• Alan Badel at the Internet Movie Database
• Alan Badel at the Internet Broadway Database