Alan Badel

Alan Badel
Born Alan Fernand Badel
(1923-09-11)11 September 1923
Rusholme, Manchester, Lancashire, England, UK
Died 19 March 1982(1982-03-19) (aged 58)
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[1] (/bəˈdɛl/;[2] 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.[3]

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

References

  1. ↑ "Alan Badel | BFI". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. 2015-07-02. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  2. ↑ G. M. Miller, BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names (Oxford UP, 1971), p. 9.
  3. ↑ "Alan F Badel". ParaData.org.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-14.

External links


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