Tom Bell Movies
With his lean, tough, chiseled face, sallow complexion, and dark brow, Liverpudlian character actor Tom Bell consistently found himself at the mercy of producers eager to cast him as shady, sinister types - an image he never quite outgrew. Born August 2, 1933 in one of the seedier outlying areas of London, and shuttled north to Morecambe during World War II, Bell participated in drama during secondary school, then received his formal training as a thesp at the Bradford Civic Theatre, alongside Billie Whitelaw (The Omen) and Robert Stephens (The Bonfire of the Vanities). He performed in regional repertory stage productions for a term, then took his initial television bow in 1959, in episodes of Armchair Theatre and on an episode of the popular American series The Virginian.Bell then fell in with the 'kitchen sink' school of filmmakers, such as Bryan Forbes, Tony Richardson and Karel Reisz, who at the time were single-handedly defining the British New Wave with the 'Angry Young Man' movement. Bell appeared in several of the more noteworthy cinematic productions during this time, including The Kitchen (1960), The Concrete Jungle (1960), and The L-Shaped Room (1962). He left a particularly memorable impression in the latter, as Toby, the prospective suitor of Leslie Caron's Jane Fosset -- a man who turns from a sympathetic emotional anchor into a complete bastard when he discovers that Caron's character is pregnant with another fellow's baby. Bell appeared in well over forty-five additional films throughout the sixties, seventies, and eighties. After The L-Shaped Room, his two highest-profiled turns were probably the role of Adolf Eichmann in the 1978 TV miniseries Holocaust, and the Eric in David Leland's Wish You Were Here, a sleazy suitor who gleefully defiles Emily Lloyd's flirtatious sixteen-year-old Lynda.
Bell teamed up with former schoolmate Whitelaw in Peter Medak's The Krays (1990), as a low-level gangster knifed to death at the hands of thug Reginald Kray (Ronald Kemp). A year later, he portrayed Antonio in Peter Greenaway's revisionist Shakespeare outing Prospero's Books. He played Henry Harding, an MP of Parliament who hires a computer hacker to break into London's S&M underground, in Stuart Urban's Preaching to the Perverted (1997).
Tom Bell died on October 5, 2006, in Brighton, East Sussex, England, of unspecified causes, just two months after his seventy-third birthday. His ex-wife was actress Lois Dane, with whom he had a son. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
First time writer-director James Marquand's feature debut, the steel-tough crime thriller Dead Man's Cards, marks one of the venerable British actor Tom Bell's final onscreen roles prior to his death in 2006. The tale unfolds in the seedy Merseyside borough of Liverpool, where Tom Watts (James McMartin), a former pugilist forced to retire from an eye injury sustained in the ring, accepts a position as a bouncer at a dilapidated nightclub run by Billy the Cowboy (Bell). Tom's wife, upset by his new occupation and embarrassed by the discovery of her husband's sexual impotence, abandons him. Meanwhile, at work, Watts is immediately befriended and mentored by his co-bouncer, Paul (Paul Barber), who has become implicated with a shady element thanks to his ex-girlfriend's involvement with the cocaine pusher Romeo Brown (Andrew Simister), a slimy thug in hock to the gangster and cocaine boss Chongi (Mark Russell). The latter attempts to strongarm Paul and then Tom into joining his security firm; when both refuse, Chongi grows psychotically hostile and plans to rub out both men with the help of a trained assassin. He doesn't count, however, on Tom's decision to stop him in his tracks. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Barber, Tom Bell, (more)
Produced and aired in 2006, the final, four-hour installment of the 15-year Granada/WGBH television series Prime Suspect -- entitled Prime Suspect: The Final Act -- nominally continues to follow author Linda La Plante's literary character, Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren), but segues dramatically away from Tennison's casework and toward incidents and developments from her private life. This alteration reshapes Prime Suspect, in its concluding installment, from a detective mystery program centered around hot-button social issues (child molestation, bigotry, gender bias) into more of a domestic drama with an incidental detective subplot. The tale opens with Tennison poised on the edge of retirement, with only a few weeks of work ahead of her. In her off time, she struggles to care for her dying father (Frank Finlay), and battles her own periodic blackouts, brought on by encroaching alcoholism. The central crime plot involves Tennison's attempts to pinpoint those responsible for the sudden death of a pregnant teenage schoolgirl and bring the unsavory characters to swift justice. As she investigates, she comes into increasing contact with the girl's family, and begins to perceive the broken relationship that existed between the victim and her deeply dysfunctional father (Gary Lewis); she also befriends Penny, the best friend of the deceased -- a relationship that imparts her with much-needed insight into the case at hand. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Mirren, Stephen Tompkinson, (more)
Eleanor H. Porter's novel about a cheerful girl who brightens the lives of those around her is brought to the screen once again in this made-for-television melodrama. Pollyanna Whittier (Georgina Terry) is an eleven-year-old girl who, after the unexpected death of her parents, is taken in by her Aunt Polly (Amanda Burton). Aunt Polly and her friend are not an especially happy lot, but despite the recent tragedy in her life, Pollyanna is the sort of person who invariably looks at the sunny side of life. Pollyanna invents what she calls "the Glad Game," in which she challenges those around her to see the positive side of every situation, and her upbeat outlook proves infectious. Produced for British television, this adaptation of Pollyanna received its American premier on the award-winning anthology series Masterpiece Theater. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Georgina Terry, Amanda Burton, (more)
In between the big-budget Blade and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, British filmmaker Stephen Norrington directs the straight-to-video crime drama The Last Minute. Told in flashback, the story follows the rise and fall of Billy Byrne (Max Beesley). With a determined goal to be famous, he lands his first big show with the help of his slick agent, Walsh (Anthony Higgins). Fame comes quickly as he travels the globe and gets invited to hip clubs, becoming the darling of the London art scene. Due to his excessive, self-centered behavior, his girlfriend Janey (Kate Ashfield) leaves him. His fame fades away and he falls into a life of crime, drugs, and gangsters led by Grimshanks (Tom Bell), where he meets Anna (Emily Corrie). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max Beesley, Emily Corrie, (more)
- 2002
A cinematic showcase for British newcomer Joe Tucker, this frenetic crime comedy concerns a loud-mouthed thug who offers to take out the guy who landed his best pal's brother in the hospital. A supermarket worker who has long awaited the day his brother's attacker Darrel (Grahame Fox) is released from the slammer, Philip (James Holmes) enlists the aid of lodger Smiggy (Tucker) in assisting him in revenge, making their way Darrel's flat after acquiring a questionably useful pistol. Undeterred by the fact that Darrel isn't home upon their arrival, the duo is mistaken for cocaine buyers by his girlfriend, Julie (Nicola Stapleton), and invited in to wait. Soon discovering that Julie has stolen a stash of cocaine from some dangerous Jamaicans, things heat up in the Notting Hill apartment as the body count rises and Smiggy slowly reveals his inner psychotic. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Tucker, James Holmes, (more)
- 2001
William Shakespeare's King Lear is transposed into a modern-dress British crime drama in this tense tale of family ties and the lust for power. Sandeman (Richard Harris) is the elderly leader of a Liverpool crime syndicate who is fiercely loyal to his wife Mandy (Lynn Redgrave) and his daughters Jo (Emma Catherwood), Tracy (Lorraine Pilkington), and Kath (Louise Lombard). When Mandy is shot dead during a street robbery, Sandeman is shattered, and decides it's time to turn the business over to one of his daughters. Jo, the middle child, has long been Sandeman's favorite, and he decides to give her control of the business, as well as the lion's share of his estate when he dies. Loyal Jo, however, does not want to get involved in her father's dealings, which leads to a heated battle between Tracy and Kath over Sandeman's empire; adding fuel to the fire are Dean (Paul McGann), a strong-arm man for Sandeman who's married to Kath, and Jug (Jimi Mistry), Tracy's spouse and a notorious drug dealer. As a civil war rages among Sandeman's family and associates over control of his syndicate, police officer Puttnam (Aidan Gillen) and customs agent Quick (Tom Bell) make one last attempt to put Sandeman behind bars before he retires from his life of crime. My Kingdom isn't the first gangland drama to be based on the work of William Shakespeare; another of the Bard's tragedies received similar treatment in 1955's Joe Macbeth. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Harris, Lynn Redgrave, (more)
- 1999
This omnibus film is both a tribute to 1990s Cool Britannia and an opportunity for many of Britain's best actors to step behind the camera. Set in the London's underground (AKA the Tube), the film's nine shorts depict England's most hallowed form of public transportation in wildly divergent manners, from gritty to surreal. Jude Law's "A Bird in the Hand" is a quietly affecting tale about an ailing old man, while "Horny", by Stephen Hopkins is an extended sexual fantasy imagined by a sweaty commuter enduring both the dog days of summer and his obvious arousal. Ewan MacGregor's "Bone" is a fanciful tale about a trombonist and his imagined lover on their way home from a concert, while Bob Hoskins' "My Father the Liar" is an emotionally powerful tale about a child who witnesses a suicide. But perhaps the standout segment from this film is Armando Iannucci's uproarious "Mouth", featuring a beautiful, poised woman vomiting on her fellow commuters set to Bruckner's 9th Symphony. Frank Harper appears in a number of these short works as an overly officious subway staffer. This film premiered at the London Film Festival and was later showed on the UK's BSkyB cable channel. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kelly MacDonald, Jason Flemyng, (more)
A young man learns that love hurts (or at least it does if you're doing it right) in this saucy comedy from England. Henry Harding (Tom Bell) is a member of British Parliament and a self-styled moral crusader who is deeply disturbed by reports that Tanya Cheex (Guinevere Turner), a dominatrix from the U.S., has opened a night club for S&M enthusiasts in England. Harding is determined to put Cheex out of business, but first he needs to collect evidence of her activities, so Harding persuades Peter Emery (Christian Anholt) -- a young man with political ambitions, Christian principles, and his virginity intact -- to attend the club incognito and videotape the proceedings. To Peter's great surprise, he discovers that he rather likes a bit of spanking and leather fetishism, and he soon becomes quite infatuated with Tanya, making him all the less inclined to help shut down her club. Preaching to the Perverted presented Guinevere Turner in her first starring role after her breakthrough in the acclaimed independent feature Go Fish. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guinevere Turner, Christien Anholt, (more)
- 1994
This period drama was based on the best-selling novel by Catherine Cookson. Edward MacFell (Tom Bell) is a violent and tyrannical man who operates a large farm, but treats both his family and hired help with casual brutality. One day, Edward pushes someone too far and is killed. While his son Charlie (Lloyd Owen) witnessed the murder, he refuses to inform on the guilty party. But there is another witness, Ginger Slater (Antony Byrne), who sees this as a perfect opportunity to make a fortune through blackmail. Circumstances force Charlie to marry Victoria Chapman (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a woman with a scandalous reputation, even though he's in love with her sister Nellie (Maria Miles), but both affairs are put on hold when Charlie is sent off to war. The Cinder Path was originally produced as a miniseries for British television, though an edited feature-length version was released on home video in the U.S. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren) investigates the connection between a teen's murder and a pedophile ring in this third installment of the acclaimed BBC series Prime Suspect. Reassigned to a new district and a new department -- vice -- Tennison is drawn back to homicide when her squad discovers the immolated body of rent boy Connie (Greg Saunders) in the flat of timid transsexual Vera Reynolds (Peter Capaldi). The trail soon leads to James Jackson (David Thewlis), a vicious pimp with mysterious connections to Edward Parker-Jones (Ciarán Hinds), the director of a youth shelter where young Connie hung out. Forced to work alongside her old nemesis Sgt. Bill Otley (Tom Bell), Tennison spars with her superiors, who want her to focus on vice and resolve her homicide investigation posthaste. But when a TV reporter (Kelly Hunter) shows up with evidence that Connie was going to provide her with the names of his famous clients, Tennison must race to uncover the real motivation behind Connie's murder. The only installment other than the first to be written by series creator Lynda LaPlante, Prime Suspect 3 was filmed for the BBC and originally aired stateside on PBS. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Mirren, Tom Bell, (more)
Helen Mirren delivers a standout performance in this TV miniseries as Jane Tennison, a London police detective. Tennison is trying to track down a sex-crazed killer who is murdering prostitutes, while at the same time doing battle with her male colleagues for her fair share of respect and responsibility on the force. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Mirren, Tom Bell, (more)
- 1993
Following up the goofy big-screen comedies Dragnet and Delirious, director Tom Mankiewicz delivered this made-for-cable thriller starring Tony Goldwyn and Lynn Whitfield. After witnessing a murder, Goldwyn finds himself pursued by a group of thugs led by mafia boss Alan Arkin. Whitfield stars as the detective assigned to ensure that Goldwyn not only doesn't flee out of fear for his life, but stays alive long enough to testify at the murder trial. Along the way, as the two spend more time together, a romance ensues. Peter Boyle, George Segal and Will Patton round out the cast, and the film was scripted by Dan Gordon who would later gain noteriety as a scribe on 1999's The Hurricane. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lynn Whitfield, Tony Goldwyn, (more)
- 1991
Created by Lynda La Plante, the sporadically broadcast British TV series Prime Suspect succeeded in bestowing international stardom upon actress Helen Mirren. Set in London, the series dealt with female homicide detective Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren), who did her best to do her job in the face of sexual prejudice on the job and political corruption from the higher-ups. Virtually every time that Tennison investigated a murder, the trail of clues led to a compromising situation for a prominent civic leader, who invariably pulled strings to get the heroine off his scent. Not unexpectedly, Tennison was plagued with feelings of doubt and inadequacy, especially whenever her instincts proved (initially) to be wrong. Even so, by the time the series had run its course, Tennison had been promoted to superintendent. Making its British debut on April 7, 1991, Prime Suspect was broadcast for six seasons, each season progressively retitled as Prime Suspect 2, Prime Suspect 3, and so forth. In America, the property was seen over the PBS network and the A&E cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Mirren, John Benfield, (more)
- 1990
In this British drama, the sorts of Britons who live in colonial encampments outside of Britain tend to be the most conventional people imaginable, recreating a little bit of home (and not the most interesting bits) in whatever uncouth foreign place they have landed in. In this story, they are living in Africa, and Johnny Deacon (Tom Bell) is so very tired of them. He's tired of his ex-girlfriend who married another; he's tired of his ex-girlfriend's mother, and he's tired of the men. Instead of coping with them any longer, he goes on a solo journey down the Dark River, and there is a good possibility (which he knows at the outset) that he will not survive the experience. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Bell, Kate Buffery, (more)
- 1989
Tom Skerritt plays an end-of-tether CIA agent in Red King, White Knight. His superiors persuade Skerritt to take one last assignment: to prevent the assassination of the Russian president. Max Von Sydow plays Skerritt's opposite number at the KGB, who despite orders to kill the American agent, teams up with him to save the Soviet leader. Meanwhile, Skerritt's private life is complicated by the return of ex-lover Helen Mirren. Though unrated, the film contains violence and nudity. Produced for the HBO Cable Service, Red King, White Knight was first telecast November 25, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Based on the novel by D.H. Lawrence, the BBC miniseries The Rainbow starred Imogen Stubbs as Ursula Brangwen, the beautiful, naïve daughter of a wealthy country squire. Ursula's sexual awakening came about as the result of her very close friendship with Winifred Inger (Kate Buffery), her swimming instructor. Desperately struggling to suppress her preference for romantic partners of her own sex, Ursula entered into marriage with Anton Skrebensky (Martin Wenner), a career soldier. The ensuing unhappiness of this union led to even more trials and tribulations for the hapless heroine, whose only "crime" was being born in the wrong place and the wrong time. Engendering a great deal of audience interest thanks to a brief nude scene, the three-part The Rainbow aired in 1988. One year later, a more explicit theatrical-feature version of the property was directed by Ken Russell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Imogen Stubbs, Tom Bell, (more)
- 1988
The first directorial effort of British screenwriter Paul Greengrass, Resurrected is based on a true story that came to light during the Falklands War. David Thewlis plays an Army private who, after being listed as missing and presumed dead, wanders back into camp, a victim of amnesia. The army, embarrassed at the situation and not fully believing the boy's story, downplays Thewlis' return. His British home town had planned to give him a hero's welcome, but a newspaper story has intimated that the boy was a deserter. The general consensus is that it would have been better if Thewlis had really died, thus saving his neighbors from embarrassment. With no one, not even his parents, willing to believe the amnesia story, Thewlis is persona non grata, and to add to his troubles he is severely beaten by several of his former army buddies. An ironic coda caps this unpleasant glimpse at the darker side of human nature. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Thewlis, Tom Bell, (more)
- 1986
Not a film for children, this downbeat, violent drama is about three orphans who come to live with their sadistic uncle and his family in a London toyshop. The uncle makes life-size mannequins and then forces the family to watch as he portrays them in violent, sexual scenes. The sex and violence of the mannequins and the behavior of the family members as they eventually rebel against their uncle and his stage props blend into a dream-like world of disputed reality. Themes of incest, abandonment, and murder take over the film as fantasy and reality mix together. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Bell, Patricia Kerrigan, (more)
- 1980
In this provocative British drama, a young Yorkshire woman discovers a radioactive leak at the nuclear power plant where she works. At first, her lover encourages her make public her find, but when the resulting pressure gets too strong, he leaves her to fight alone. Despite her pleas and insistence, no one believes her story. The frustration eventually causes the crusading woman to go insane. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francesca Annis, Tom Bell, (more)
- 1978
Based on a novel by David Garnett, Sailor's Return is a British Victorian-era domestic drama, with plenty of domesticity and precious little drama. Tom Bell stars as a sailor who returns to his home village with his new bride (Shope Soleinde). The bride is black; the village is aghast. Struggling against the prejudice of the townsfolk and his own doubts about the wisdom of his union, Bell opens a pub. No distributor wanted to have anything to do with Sailor's Return, a dilemma due less to the film's subject matter than to its production ineptitudes. The film finally got its first showing on British television, two years after its completion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Bell, Shope Shodeinde, (more)
- 1978
Tom Bell starred in this six-part British miniseries as Frank Ross, a nasty career criminal freshly released from prison. Hardly the better for his experience, Ross was consumed with the desire to get even with the person responsible for his incarceration. The "hero" was surrounded by such equally odious characters as his unhinged wife Anne (Lynn Farleigh) and his lowlife buddies Chris (Brian Croucher) and Ralph (John Junkin). Out was broadcast by Thames Television from July 24 to August 28, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Bell
The now-legendary miniseries Holocaust first aired as a presentation in NBC's Big Event series. Written by Gerald Green, the story begins in the Germany of 1935. We are introduced to the family of Jewish doctor Joseph Weiss (Fritz Weaver) his wife Berta (Rosemary Harris), his brother Moses (Sam Wanamaker), his sons Rudi (Joseph Bottoms) and Karl (James Woods), and his daughter Anna (Blanche Baker). We also meet struggling lawyer Erik Dorf (Michael Moriarity), who is urged by his ambitious wife to join the SS. As the Nazis' persecution of the Jews is stepped up, most of the Weiss family is deported to the Polish ghetto--then to Auschwitz, which is overseen by Erik Dorf. Rudi and his Jewish girlfriend Helena (Tovah Feldsuh) witness the 1941 Baba Yar massacre, then join the Russian partisans in their battle against the Nazis. Also appearing in Holocaust is Meryl Streep as Karl Weiss' Christian wife Inga. The winner of eight Emmy awards, Holocaust was originally telecast in four parts on April 16, 17, 18, and 19, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fritz Weaver, Rosemary Harris, (more)
