Tom Bell was one of the UK's finest actors but he never achieved the star billing or recognition he so richly deserved. His career spanned some 50 years. Time and time again, Bell gave memorable performances. From the able seaman ordered to be flogged by a sadistic officer, played by Dirk Bogarde, in the film, "HMS Defiant" (AKA "Damn the Defiant"...
The Krays, The L-Shaped Room, Wish You Were Here, Preaching to the Perverted, Prospero's Books, Swept from the Sea, The Long Day's Dying, Royal Flash, Quest for Love, Long Time Dead, Feast of July, All the Right Noises, H.M.S. Defiant, He Who Rides a Tiger, Let Him Have It, A Prize of Arms, In Enemy...
TV Shows
Prime Suspect, The Catherine Cookson Anthology: The Cinder Path, Chancer, Reilly, Ace of Spies, Holocaust, Out, No Bananas, Hope It Rains
Star Sign
Leo
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Quote
1
If you act you need to have threat. Without threat, nobody notices you.
In 1962 he was arrested for picking flowers from someone's garden in Hampstead.
4
In 1982 he appeared before a bankruptcy court over trouble with non-payment of income taxes. He was subsequently discharged from bankruptcy.
5
In March of 1961, he and his wife Lois Daine were to star together in a BBC live television play, Cottage For Sale, but she couldn't take part because, two weeks before, she gave birth prematurely to their son, Aran Bell, who weighed just 3lb 13oz.
6
Father of Polly Bell by his partner of 30 years, the costume designer Frances Tempest, with whom he also had a step-daughter, Nellie.
7
The son of a merchant seaman he hardly knew, he was a child evacuee during the war, and lived with three different families in the Morecambe area.
8
His stage career dated back to 1948.
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Scarf
2014/I
Short
Thief
Love Me Still
2008
Lenny Ronson
Blue Murder
2006
TV Series
Vinny McAteer
Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act
2006
TV Mini-Series
Bill Otley
Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire
2006
TV Mini-Series
Nasica
The Battle for Rome
2006
TV Mini-Series
Scipio Nasica
Dead Man's Cards
2006
Billy The Cowboy
Kraft
2005
Short
Devil's Gate
2003
Jake
Oh Marbella!
2003
Ronnie, Ackerman
Waking the Dead
2003
TV Series
Prof. Hugh Cullen / Prof Hugh Cullen
Pollyanna
2003
TV Movie
Old Tom
Long Time Dead
2002
Becker
Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible
2001
TV Series
Chief Inspector Ellis
My Kingdom
2001
Quick
Lava
2001
Eric
The Last Minute
2001
Grimshanks
Taggart
2001
TV Series
Jack Hooper
Four Fathers
1999
TV Series
Frank Yallop
Tube Tales
1999
Old Gent (segment "Horny")
Dalziel and Pascoe
1999
TV Series
Oliver Fisher
Swing
1999
Sid Luxford
The Grand
1998
TV Series
Clive's Dad
The Boxer
1997
Joe MaGuire's father (uncredited)
Swept from the Sea
1997
Isaac Foster
Preaching to the Perverted
1997
Henry Harding MP
Insiders
1997
TV Series
Tom Whitby
Dangerfield
1996
TV Series
John Rust
No Bananas
1996
TV Mini-Series
Thomas Slater
The Great Kandinsky
1995
TV Movie
The Professor
Feast of July
1995
Ben Wainwright
Capital Lives
1994
TV Series
Jimmy
The Cinder Path
1994
TV Mini-Series
Edward MacFell
Spender
1993
TV Series
Tommy Thornton
Spender: The French Collection
1993
TV Movie
Tommy Thornton
Prime Suspect 3
1993
TV Mini-Series
Sgt. Bill Otley
Young Indiana Jones
1993
TV Series
Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck
Sensatsiya
1993
American Scientist
Screen One
1992
TV Series
Jack Travis
Angels
1992
TV Movie
Michael
Hope It Rains
1991-1992
TV Series
Harry Nash
Let Him Have It
1991
Fairfax
Prospero's Books
1991
Antonio
Prime Suspect
1991
TV Mini-Series
DS Bill Otley
Van der Valk
1991
TV Series
Freddie Brugmans
Dark River
1990
TV Movie
Johnny Deacon
Screenplay
1990
TV Series
Grant
The Krays
1990
Jack 'The Hat' McVitie
Red King, White Knight
1989
TV Movie
Tulayev
Resurrected
1989
Mr. Deakin
Screen Two
1986-1989
TV Series
Mr. Seaford-Warwick / Frank Meredith
The Rainbow
1988
TV Mini-Series
Old Tom Brangwen
Wish You Were Here
1987
Eric
The Magic Toyshop
1987
Uncle Philip
Unnatural Causes
1986
TV Series
Harold
If Looks Could Kill-The Power of Behaviour
1986
Video short
The Innocent
1985
Frank Dobson
The Detective
1985
TV Mini-Series
Cdr. Kenneth Crocker
Summer Lightning
1984
Mr Clark
Play for Today
1970-1984
TV Series
Abel Broom / Alan / Colonel Steiner / ...
Reilly: Ace of Spies
1983
TV Mini-Series
Dzerzhinsky
King's Royal
1982-1983
TV Series
Fergus King
Masterpiece Theatre: Sons and Lovers
1981
TV Mini-Series
Walter Morel
Sweet Nothings
1980
TV Series
Tom Fearon
Une maison, une histoire
1980
TV Series
Duke of Wellington
Blue Peter Special Assignment
1979
TV Series
Duke of Wellington
The Sailor's Return
1978
William Targett
Out
1978
TV Series
Frank Ross
Holocaust
1978
TV Mini-Series
Adolf Eichmann
ITV Playhouse
1977
TV Series
Larry
Death of an Informer
1976
TV Movie
The informer
Royal Flash
1975
De Gautet
Armchair Cinema
1974
TV Series
Ray Carter
Late Night Theatre
1974
TV Series
The man
Second City Firsts
1974
TV Series
Sidney
The Protectors
1974
TV Series
Shadbolt
A Man Without Friends
1972
TV Movie
Marcus Wayne
Armchair Theatre
1959-1972
TV Series
Danny Blake
Johnny Harris
Albert Stokes
...
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
1972
TV Series
Vic Crawley
BBC Play of the Month
1972
TV Series
Eilert Lovborg
Straight on Till Morning
1972
Jimmy Lindsay
The Spy's Wife
1972
Short
Tom Tyler
Quest for Love
1971
Colin Trafford
The Ten Commandments
1971
TV Series
Mike Lee
All the Right Noises
1971
Len
Lock Up Your Daughters!
1969
Shaftoe
In Enemy Country
1968
Ian
The Long Day's Dying
1968
Tom Cooper
The Virginian
1967
TV Series
Cpl. Johnny Moon
The Violent Enemy
1967
Sean Rogan
He Who Rides a Tiger
1965
Peter Rayston
Theatre 625
1965
TV Series
Billy Mack
Ballad in Blue
1965
Steve Collins
Sands of Beersheba
1964
Dan
BBC Sunday-Night Play
1960-1963
TV Mini-Series
Joe / Arthur Gaskett / Larry Meath
The Stag
1963
TV Movie
John
The L-Shaped Room
1962
Toby
Drama 61-67
1961-1962
TV Series
Tom Knowles
A Prize of Arms
1962
Fenner
Damn the Defiant!
1962
Evans
Echo of Barbara
1961
Ben
The Kitchen
1961
Paul
I Promised to Pay
1961
Blackie
Concrete Jungle
1960
Flynn
Armchair Mystery Theatre
1960
TV Series
Rod Copley
Friends and Neighbours
1959
scenes deleted
Theatre Night
1959
TV Series
Clifford Small
ITV Television Playhouse
1959
TV Series
Andrew Turtle
Dial 999
1959
TV Series
The Boxer
Christmas in the Market-Place
1956
TV Movie
John and Paddy
1956
TV Movie
The Secrets of the Prairie
1956
TV Mini-Series
John
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Timeshift
2006
TV Series documentary
Colin Trafford
The Krays: Their Empire Behind Bars
2002
TV Mini-Series documentary
Jack 'The Hat' McVitie
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: The Phantom Train of Doom