George Murcell
Acting • Born 1925-10-30 – Died 1998-12-03
Biography
Arthur George Murcell (30 October 1925 – 3 December 1998) was a British character actor. Born in Italy, he made his film debut in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Battle of the River Plate (1956), Murcell went on to develop a career playing snarling villains in both film and television. These could either be stupid, brutish henchmen, as in Hell Drivers and Campbell's Kingdom (both 1957), or sophisticated rogues, such as Needle in "You Have Just Been Murdered", an episode of The Avengers. He specialised in playing foreign characters, including Germans, Russians and South Americans. A number of these roles were in ITC adventure TV series of the 1960s and 1970s, such as Danger Man, The Baron, The Saint, The Champions (Reply Box No.666 episode, 1967) Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Persuaders! and Jason King. His film roles included Sea of Sand (1958), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), The Heroes of Telemark (1965), Kaleidoscope (1966), The Fixer (1968), A Dandy in Aspic (1968), The Assassination Bureau (1969), A Walk with Love and Death (1969), Penny Gold (1973), Special Branch (1974), Inside the Third Reich (1982, as Hermann Göring), Year of the Gun (1991), and Cutthroat Island (1995). He enjoyed a long stage career, which involved working with Tyrone Guthrie and Peter Brook, and was active in the Royal Shakespeare Company.In the 1970s, he acquired a Victorian church in North London, which he converted into an Elizabethan-style theatre in collaboration with director Adrian Brown. In 1973, he opened it as "St George's Theatre", intending that it present little-seen classical plays. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he continued to work at St George's Theatre as both an actor and a director, often with his wife, Elvi Hale.
Filmography
63 credits
Sea of Sand
Movie • 1958
Cpl. Simms
In Search of the Castaways
Movie • 1962
Ayerton's Assistant
The Cherry Orchard
Movie • 1962
Yermolai Alexeyevich Lopahin
The Year of the Sex Olympics
Movie • 1968
Grels
The Fall of the Roman Empire
Movie • 1964
Victorinus
The Assassination Bureau
Movie • 1969
Zeppelin pilot
The Angry Silence
Movie • 1960
Jones
There Was a Crooked Man
Movie • 1960
Receptionist at 'The McKillup Arms'
A Walk with Love and Death
Movie • 1969
The Captain
Mafia Junction
Movie • 1973
Pascali's Island
Movie • 1988
Herr Gesing
Crossroads to Crime
Movie • 1960
Diamond
Don't Panic Chaps
Movie • 1959
Meister
Penelope Pulls It Off
Movie • 1975
Owen
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Movie • 1975
A Sound from the Sea
Movie • 1970
George
Penny Gold
Movie • 1973
Doctor Merrick
Blood of the Vampire
Movie • 1958
First Guard
The Horsemen
Movie • 1971
Mizrar
The Battle of the River Plate
Movie • 1956
Chief Officer, Newton Beach
The Possessed
Movie • 1969
Liputin
The Heroes of Telemark
Movie • 1965
Sturmfuhrer
Cutthroat Island
Movie • 1995
Mordachai Fingers
The Naked Runner
Movie • 1967
Sea Fury
Movie • 1958
Loudon
The Merry Christmas
Movie • 1955
Mr. Fezziwig
Campbell's Kingdom
Movie • 1957
Max, a worker
The Pursuers
Movie • 1961
Freddy
You Only Live Twice
Movie • 1967
Russian Diplomat (uncredited)
Hell Drivers
Movie • 1957
Tub
Year of the Gun
Movie • 1991
Pierre Bernier
Kaleidoscope
Movie • 1966
Johnny
A Dandy in Aspic
Movie • 1968
The Prison
Movie • 1974
Maître Rabut
The Ice Princess
Movie • 1996
Supercar
TV • 1961
Gideon's Way
TV • 1965
Kautsky
The Avengers
TV • 1961
Needle
The Persuaders!
TV • 1971
Zorakin
Jason King
TV • 1971
The Saint
TV • 1962
Vogler
The Champions
TV • 1968
Nikko
The Champions
TV • 1968
El Gaudillo
The Adventures of Robin Hood
TV • 1955
Sheriff's Guard
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
TV • 1971
Inspector Vandeleur
No Hiding Place
TV • 1959
Smuggler
TV • 1981
Silas Kemble
Peter the Great
TV • 1986
The Saint
TV • 1962
Abdul Graner
Rogues' Gallery
TV • 1968
Sir Esmond Bellasize
Manhunt
TV • 1970
Franco
1990
TV • 1977
Tiny
The Adventures of Sir Lancelot
TV • 1956
Jaggyd
The Professionals
TV • 1977
Yashinkov
Presented in Supercolorisation
TV • 2022
Professor Rudolph Popkiss / Black Morgan (voice)
Presented in Supercolorisation
TV • 2022
Professor Rudolph Popkiss (voice) (credit only)
Armchair Cinema
TV • 1974
Maître Rabut
The Informer
TV • 1966
Willie Cluff
Theatre 625
TV • 1964
Delamarche
Theatre 625
TV • 1964
Wensley Grafton
Theatre 625
TV • 1964
Grels
Inside the Third Reich
TV • 1982
Herman Goering
Sunday Night Theatre
TV • 1950
M. Lafarge