Tom Bell (actor)

Tom Bell (actor)
Thomas George Bell (2 August 1933 – 4 October 2006) was an English actor on stage, film and television. He often played "menacing or seedy roles, perhaps most memorably playing sexist Detective Sergeant Bill Otley, antagonist to Helen Mirren's DCI Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect.
Early life
Bell was born on 2 August 1933, in Liverpool, Lancashire. His family was large, and he had little contact with his father, a merchant seaman. Evacuated as a child during the Second World War, he lived with three different families in Morecambe, Lancashire. In 1948, at age 15, Bell began to act in school plays. His younger brother Keith also became an actor.
On leaving school he trained under Esme Church at the Bradford Civic Theatre; fellow pupils included Billie Whitelaw and Robert Stephens. He later worked in repertory in Liverpool and Dublin.
Career
Michael Coveney described Bell as a "naturally gifted and unusually reserved leading actor", with a "quiet, mesmeric brand of acting". On television he had the role of Albert Stokes in Harold Pinter's first success in the medium, A Night Out (1960), while in the same year his first film appearance came in Joseph Losey's The Criminal. He continued to appear in the British New Wave films of the early 60s including The Kitchen (1961) and The L-Shaped Room (1962) with Leslie Caron. At an awards ceremony for the latter, he drunkenly interrupted a speech by Prince Philip, yelling "Tell us a funny story", to the obvious embarrassment of table companions Richard Attenborough and Bryan Forbes. While the Duke of Edinburgh apparently took the heckle in good humour, retorting "If you want a funny story, I suggest you engage a professional comic", the incident added to Bell's reputation as a hellraiser, and "did little to further [his] career". His other notable films of the decade included H.M.S. Defiant (1962), A Prize of Arms (1962), Ballad in Blue (1965), He Who Rides a Tiger (1965), and The Long Day's Dying (1968), followed by All the Right Noises in 1971.
In 1978, Bell received a BAFTA nomination for his portrayal of convicted armed robber Frank Ross in the crime-drama Out. Produced by Thames TV, this critically-acclaimed six-part 'mini-series' drew an audience of 10 million viewers per episode. That same year he portrayed Adolf Eichmann in the Emmy-winning tv-series Holocaust.
Declared bankrupt in 1982 for Inland Revenue debts of over £20,000, Bell bounced back with a later career renaissance, appearing in several British films including Wish You Were Here, Peter Greenaway's Prospero's Books, Swing and the 1990 film The Krays, where he played the part of Jack "The Hat" McVitie, one of the Kray twins' murder victims. In 1991, he played the dour owner of a run-down seaside waxworks museum in the Thames TV sitcom Hope It Rains, written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey and directed by John Howard Davies. It ran for two series comprising thirteen episodes.
Although he tended to eschew live performance, Bell's few stage appearances included a role in the 1979 UK première of Bent, Martin Sherman's play about homosexuality, staged at the Royal Court Theatre. He played the character Horst, opposite Ian McKellen's Max. The play's examination of homosexual love, set in a Nazi death camp, was shocking for many theatregoers at the time and uncovered a previously little-examined area of Nazi brutality.
In the ITV series Prime Suspect, Bell played Detective Sergeant Bill Otley opposite Helen Mirren in the first (1991), third (1993) and final series (2006), the latter being one of his last on-screen appearances. His gripping portrayal of the toxic character secured Bell's second BAFTA nomination, in 1993.
Personal life
Bell was married to the actress Lois Daine from 1960 to 1976. They had one son, Aran, who is also an actor.
His partner from 1976 until his death was the costume designer Frances Tempest, with whom he had a step-daughter, Nellie, and a daughter, Polly.
Death
Bell had enjoyed working with TV director Danny Hiller, and agreed to appear in his first feature film Love Me Still at the suggestion of their mutual friend, showbiz accountant Jose Goumal. While clearly ill, Bell soldiered on and completed filming only a few days before the end of his life. He died in hospital in Brighton on 4 October 2006, aged 73, following a short illness. A few days later, "the poignantly timed broadcast of Prime Suspect - The Final Act" aired, "in which a visibly frail Otley died on screen".
Filmography
Film
The Criminal (1960) – Flynn
Payroll (1961) – Blackie
The Kitchen (1961) – Paul
Echo of Barbara (1961) – Ben
H.M.S. Defiant (1962) – Evans
A Prize of Arms (1962) – Fenner
The L-Shaped Room (1962) – Toby
Sands of Beersheba (1964) – Dan
Ballad in Blue (1965) – Steve Collins
He Who Rides a Tiger (1965) – Peter Rayston
The Violent Enemy (1968) – Sean Rogan
The Long Day's Dying (1968) – Tom Cooper
In Enemy Country (1968) – Ian
Lock Up Your Daughters! (1969) – Shaftoe
All the Right Noises (1971) – Len Lewin
Quest for Love (1971) – Colin Trafford
The Spy's Wife (1972) – Tom Tyler
Straight on Till Morning (1972) – Jimmy Lindsay
Royal Flash (1975) – De Gautet
The Sailor's Return (1978) – William Targett
Summer Lightning (1984) – Mr Clark
The Innocent (1985) – Frank Dobson
The Magic Toyshop (1987) – Uncle Philip
Wish You Were Here (1987) – Eric
Resurrected (1989) – Mr. Deakin
The Krays (1990) – Jack 'The Hat' McVitie
Prospero's Books (1991) – Antonio
Let Him Have It (1991) – Fairfax
Angels (1992) – Michael
Sensatsiya (1993) – American Scientist
Seconds Out (1993) – Jack
Feast of July (1995) – Ben Wainwright
Preaching to the Perverted (1997) – Henry Harding MP
Swept from the Sea (1997) – Isaac Foster
The Boxer (1997) – Joe MaGuire's father (uncredited)
Swing (1999) – Sid Luxford
Tube Tales (1999) – Old Gent (segment "Horny")
The Last Minute (2001) – Grimshanks
Lava (2001) – Eric
My Kingdom (2001) – Quick
Long Time Dead (2002) – Becker
Oh Marbella! (2003) – Ronnie, Ackerman
Devil's Gate (2003) – Jake
Dead Man's Cards (2005) – Billy The Cowboy
Friends and Enemies (2006)
Love Me Still (2008) – Lenny Ronson
Television (selected)
1958: Armchair Theatre: "No Trams to Lime Street"
1960: Armchair Theatre: A Night Out
1967: The Virginian Series 6 Episode 5 – Cpl. Johnny Moon
1970. Angels Are So Few - Play for Today: Dennis Potter, BBC
1972. ‘’The Frighteners,(ep.4‘the minder’).
1972: Hedda Gabler (Play of the Month, BBC) – Eilert Lovborg
1974: The Protectors – Shadbolt
1978
Holocaust (US mini-series) – Adolf Eichmann
Out (UK series) – Frank Ross
1981: Sons and Lovers – Walter Morel
1983: Reilly: Ace of Spies – Felix Dzerzhinsky
1988: The Rainbow - Old Tom Brangwen
1990: Chancer – Mr. Love, Derek's father
1991: Prime Suspect (series 1) – D.S. Bill Otley
1991–92: Hope It Rains (UK sitcom series) – Harry Nash
1993:
Prime Suspect (series 3) – D.S. Bill Otley
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: "Young Indiana Jones and the Phantom Train of Doom" – Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck
1999 Dalziel and Pascoe ("Recalled to Life")
2006
Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire: "Revolution" – Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio
Blue Murder – Vinny McAteer (broadcast 3 November 2006 on ITV)
Prime Suspect: The Final Act (series 7) – D.S. Bill Otley
Notes
20th-century English male actors
1933 births
2006 deaths