Michael Balfour

About

Michael Creighton Balfour (11 February 1918 – 24 October 1997) was an English actor, working mainly in British films and TV, following his TV debut in the BBC's The Marvellous History of St Bernard, in 1938. He was a recognisable face, often in small character parts and supporting roles, in nearly two hundred films and TV shows, from the 1940s to the 1990s, often playing comical heavies or otherwise shady characters notable for their "loud" clothes, sometimes convincingly cast as an American. He worked for a roll call of film directors, including Tony Richardson, Pete Walker, Billy Wilder, Lewis Gilbert, Roman Polanski, Leslie Norman, Tim Burton, John Frankenheimer, François Truffaut, John Gilling, Stanley Donen, Ken Annakin, Cavalcanti, Lance Comfort, Terence Young, Gerald Thomas, Pasolini, John Paddy Carstairs, Terence Fisher, Val Guest, Frank Launder, John Huston, Basil Dearden and...

Known for

The AvengersSeries • 1961New Scotland YardSeries • 1972Danger ManSeries • 1960Sunday Night TheatreSeries • 1950ITV Saturday Night TheatreSeries • 1969The Persuaders!Series • 1971The PrisonerSeries • 1967Dempsey and MakepeaceSeries • 1985BatmanMovie • 1989Dixon of Dock GreenSeries • 1955Hancock's Half HourSeries • 1956Interpol CallingSeries • 1959Department SSeries • 1969Steptoe and SonSeries • 1962Fahrenheit 451Movie • 1966The Private Life of Sherlock HolmesMovie • 1970CandleshoeMovie • 1977The Canterbury TalesMovie • 1972Quatermass 2Movie • 1957MacbethMovie • 1971Look Back in AngerMovie • 1959Sink the Bismarck!Movie • 1960Fiend Without a FaceMovie • 1958The KraysMovie • 1990