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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
Movies and shows, newest first
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2022
Presented in Supercolorisation
TV show Professor Rudolph Popkiss / Black Morgan (voice)
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1996
The Ice Princess
Movie
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1995
Cutthroat Island
Movie Mordachai Fingers
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1991
Year of the Gun
Movie Pierre Bernier
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1988
Pascali's Island
Movie Herr Gesing
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1986
Peter the Great
TV show
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1982
Inside the Third Reich
TV show Herman Goering
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1981
Smuggler
TV show Silas Kemble
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1977
The Professionals
TV show Yashinkov
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1977
1990
TV show Tiny
- 1975
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1975
Penelope Pulls It Off
Movie Owen
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1974
Armchair Cinema
TV show Maître Rabut
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1974
The Prison
Movie Maître Rabut
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1973
Penny Gold
Movie Doctor Merrick
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1973
Mafia Junction
Movie
More credits
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1971
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
TV show Inspector Vandeleur
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1971
The Persuaders!
TV show Zorakin
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1971
Jason King
TV show
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1971
The Horsemen
Movie Mizrar
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1970
A Sound from the Sea
Movie George
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1970
Manhunt
TV show Franco
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1969
A Walk with Love and Death
Movie The Captain
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1969
The Possessed
Movie Liputin
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1969
The Assassination Bureau
Movie Zeppelin pilot
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1968
The Champions
TV show Nikko
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1968
The Year of the Sex Olympics
Movie Grels
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1968
A Dandy in Aspic
Movie
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1968
Rogues' Gallery
TV show Sir Esmond Bellasize
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1967
The Naked Runner
Movie
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1967
You Only Live Twice
Movie Russian Diplomat (uncredited)
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1966
The Informer
TV show Willie Cluff
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1966
Kaleidoscope
Movie Johnny
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1965
The Heroes of Telemark
Movie Sturmfuhrer
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1965
Thirty-Minute Theatre
TV show Second Man
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1965
Gideon's Way
TV show Kautsky
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1964
Theatre 625
TV show Delamarche
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1964
The Fall of the Roman Empire
Movie Victorinus
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1962
In Search of the Castaways
Movie Ayerton's Assistant
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1962
The Saint
TV show Vogler