George Sewell Has Died

[Si Hunt]

He's died. He played Radcliffe in "Remembrance", not to mention a lead role in "The Detectives".

He was a slave, Radcliffe.

Si.

[Ralph]

Sorry to hear that

I first remember him from UFO and thats three of the lead actors from that show all died within the same year!

I also remember him from being in movies like Get Carter - he'd either play a heavy or a cop on TV and film.

This news isn't showing up on the BBC website yet which is unusual.

[Wayne]

Awww..... I know George Sewell from U.F.O. mostly, & i've seen him in a variety of different things over the years. He was a good actor.
R.I.P. George.

[Pip Madeley]

I was only watching him in "The Detectives" with some friends last night. Very sad news.

[Si Hunt]

This news isn't showing up on the BBC website yet which is unusual.

I only hope it's true - I'd hate to be the one that had told everyone George Sewell was dead when he was alive.

But I think it's true. Everyone on the RT says he's dead.

Si.

[Dave Tudor]

I heard this from someone earlier, but I haven't found anything on the internet, either.

This is very sad - he was a good, solid, dependable actor, and he was excellent in everything from UFO to Doctor Who to The Detectives. I think he was also well known for a series called Special Branch, too. He was in his eighties, wasn't he? Older than I thought he was.

Rest in peace, George.

[Martin Penny]

Sad to hear this
I always remember him from the Detectives, I also convinced myself he was in Titanic for years, but turns out it wasn't him.

[WhiteCrow]

The wiki link on his bio ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Sewell

[Si Hunt]

That was Leonardo DiCaprio Martin!

Si.

[Larry]

just found this news over on O.G

George Sewell, the actor, who died on Sunday aged 82, had one of the best-known faces in Britain, thanks to dozens of appearances on television and in films, notably Get Carter (1971).

With his sandblasted features and shifty, haunted looks, Sewell was as at home playing shady villains as he was in police and thriller roles, which dated from the early 1960s, when he appeared in series such as Z-Cars, to the 1990s comedy The Detectives.

He was still working until recently, making television appearances in Doctors and The Bill (both 2005) and, last year, in Casualty.

advertisementAn accomplished stage actor, and nicknamed in the business "Chuck", he played principal roles in Oliver, Fings Ain't Wot They Used To Be and Oh! What A Lovely War in the 1960s, and more recently in Dial M for Murder (1998) and Who Killed Agatha Christie? (2002). His last stage appearance was touring in Francis Durbridge's drama The Gentle Hook in 2004.

But while the theatre was Sewell's preferred medium, it was his career in film and television, extending over 40 years, that ensured his celebrity. He appeared as Detective Chief Inspector Alan Craven in 25 episodes of Special Branch, a 1970s television drama series made by Euston Films in which he was cast opposite Patrick Mower as Haggerty. At the height of his Special Branch fame, his appearance on This Is Your Life topped the television ratings in December 1973.

Twenty years later, Sewell played Supt Frank Cottam, a send-up of the same character, in The Detectives, with Robert Powell and Jasper Carrott.

George Sewell was born on August 31 1924 at Hoxton in the East End of London. His father was a printer and his mother came from a family of florists, his grandmother having sold flowers and bird seed on the steps of St Paul's.

He left school at 14 and started work as an apprentice printer. At the start of the Second World War he worked repairing bomb damage before joining the RAF in 1943; but the war ended before he had completed his training as a pilot and he was demobbed almost immediately.

During the following three years Sewell took a string of jobs, among them street photographer, assistant road manager and drummer in a small rumba band. In 1948 he joined the Merchant Navy and became a steward on cruise ships, circling the world three times. On his return, he used his knowledge of languages to work for several seasons as a motor-coach courier for a travel company before making a late entry into acting in 1959 aged 35.

A chance encounter with Dudley Sutton and a group of other actors in a West End pub led to an audition and a job with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop.

He made his debut in that company's production of Frank Norman and Lionel Bart's musical Fings Ain't Wot They Used To Be in the West End in 1960.

Sewell went on to star in two more Littlewood productions, which later transferred to Paris and Broadway. He continued to make regular appearances on television, among his more notable parts being that of Col Alec Freeman in the science fiction series UFO (1970-73), and as Ratcliffe in Doctor Who (1988).

On the cinema screen, Sewell appeared in several successful and important films, including Sparrows Can't Sing (1962), shot on location in Stepney, and Lindsay Anderson's bleak This Sporting Life (1963) as well as Get Carter, the gritty gangster classic set in Newcastle and in which he was cast with Michael Caine.

In 2002, touring in Who Killed Agatha Christie? with the dancer Lionel Blair, Sewell reflected on a career in which he never quite achieved first-rank stardom. "I don't have enough energy to feel resentment," he said. "You couldn't keep on acting if you felt like that. I've been lucky to work so much.

"We all know great actors who have struggled, so I feel lucky I've made a good living."

Latterly Sewell divided his time between London and a holiday home at Cannes in the south of France.

George Sewell is survived by his wife and daughter.

[The Secretive Bus]

That's a damn shame. A very good actor and a great straight man against comedians. Been watching him recently in ITV's "The Caesars" where he delivers a typically solid performance.

[Wayne]

There's already a thread for this that was started yesterday.

[Pip Madeley]

I'm sure a Mod will merge the threads in due course.

[Larry]

yep sorry guys my mistake - should of checked the tv thread first..

[Andrew Curnow]

I'm sure a Mod will merge the threads in due course.

Tis done!

[SiHart]

Well 82 isn't a bad age is it? he had a great acreer and was a lways a dependable actor. He was great in Remembrance.

Si xx

[Captain Tancredi]

I suspect he never quite looked his age because of those weatherbeaten looks- one of those actors who initially looks prematurely middle-aged but never seems to age much thereafter. Seems to have had more of a varied career than his association with cop shows would suggest too- haven't seen any UFO for a couple of years now, but roles like Freeman show that he could play against type when required.