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
- 1962
Billie Whitelaw dominates this crime melodrama, not as a criminal but as vengeful bystander Jackie Parker. Parker's husband, an armored car driver, is killed during a carefully orchestrated robbery. The police have an idea of who's responsible, but they lack proof. On her own, Parker goes after the suspects one by one, using psychological torture (phone calls, poison pen letters) to break them down. She reduces inside man Pearson (William Lucas) to a quivering mass of gelatin, and indirectly sends Monty (Kenneth Griffith) to a sticky end in a mire of quicksand. The film's climax is a showdown between Parker and gang boss Mellors (Michael Craig). Payroll was based on a novel by Derek Bickerton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Craig, Françoise Prevost, (more)
- 1962
Considered ultra-mature film fare in 1962, The L-Shaped Room stars Leslie Caron as a unmarried, pregnant French girl. Arranging for an abortion (illegal at that time), she takes up residence in a ramshackle British boarding house where most of the other residents are also outcasts of society. Many of the character types were new to films of the era, but have since become cliches: the understanding young black, the lesbian actress, the prostitutes without golden hearts. There is also a Christopher Isherwood type writer (Tom Bell) who observes the passing parade and writes a book on the subject. Director Bryan Forbes brings his usual muted sensibilities to the project, resulting in a work that downplays the sensational aspects and emphasizes characterization. Surprisingly, while The L-Shaped Room was considered too "hot" for several corporate-owned American movie houses, it was an early arrival on 1960s TV, where it frequently ran uncut. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Caron, Anthony Booth, (more)
- 1962
This effective crime caper involves an attempted robbery of no one less than the U.S. Army, a heist which has its beginnings when Turpin (Stanley Baker) is drummed out of the service for his black-market activities. Apparently chaffing at this unjust treatment and also fueled by greed, Turpin enlists two cohorts -- Swavek and Fenner (Helmut Schmid and Tom Bell) to help him carry out his revenge. After much rehearsal of his plan, the three put on uniforms and walk into an army camp just before the troops are mustered out to the Middle East during a crisis over the Suez Canal. The trio's intention is to rob the payroll ($700,000), stash the cash in a spare tire, and drive out of there. That is the plan, but the reality turns out quite different, after one of the three gets a reaction to a vaccination and another is called up for KP duty ("kitchen police"). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Baker, Helmut Schmidt, (more)
- 1961
This microcosmic comedy/drama is set in the kitchen of a swank London restaurant. The kitchen's unofficial father-figure is chef Carl Mohner, who gleefully advises his fellow workers to enjoy life and to seek their heart's desires. But no one is around to boost Mohner's morale when his planned marriage to waitress Mary Yeomans is shot down in flames. This culinary variation of the Grand Hotel theme was the handiwork of screenwriter Sidney Cole. Because of its nonstop action and huge cast, the stage adaptation of The Kitchen has become a favorite of local repertory theatres in both England and the US. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Möhner, Eric Pohlmann, (more)
- 1961
Barbara is the long-lost sister of no-good Mike Roscoe (Ronald Hines). Paula Brown (Maureen Connell) is the stripper whom Mike hires to pose as Barbara. It's all part of a scheme to fool Mike's ex-convict dad Sam Roscoe (Mervyn Johns). The son hopes to entice Sam into revealing the whereabouts of his stolen money, and Paula is hopefully going to do the trick. Based on a novel by Jonathan Burke, Echo of Barbara is a better-than-usual British programmer, entertaining despite its surplus of unpleasant leading characters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Directed by American expatriate Joseph Losey, the British The Criminal is a gloom-wallow elevated by superb performances. Top crook Stanley Baker plans a clever bank robbery. It goes off hitchless, but the clerk responsible for "laundering" the stolen money insists upon a bigger percentage of the take, else he'll blow the whistle. Baker hides the money, whereupon he is turned over to the law by his ex-girlfriend, who is in cahoots with the clerk. Baker refuses to reveal the whereabouts of the loot, so his old gang arranges to have him broken out of jail -- and also arranges for Baker's "accidental" demise. Appearing as the greedy clerk in Concrete Jungle is Sam Wanamaker, who like Joseph Losey fled to England as a result of the Hollywood blacklist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Baker, Sam Wanamaker, (more)
