Robert Powell
Encyclopedia
Robert Powell is an English television and film actor, probably most famous for his title role in Jesus of Nazareth (1977) and as the fictional secret agent
Secret Agent
Secret Agent is a British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on two stories in Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film starred John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, Madeleine Carroll, and Robert Young...

 Richard Hannay
Richard Hannay
Major-General Sir Richard Hannay, KCB, OBE, DSO, Legion of Honour, is a fictional secret agent created by Scottish novelist John Buchan. In his autobiography, Memory Hold-the-Door, Buchan suggests that the character is based, in part, on Edmund Ironside, from Edinburgh, a spy during the Second Boer...

. His distinctive voice has become well known in advertisements and documentaries.

He is also known for his role as Mark Williams in BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

 medical drama, Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...

, and in the sitcom The Detectives
The Detectives
The Detectives is a British comedy television series, starring Jasper Carrott, Robert Powell, and George Sewell. It was a spoof of police dramas, which were numerous in the 1990s, and it was aired on BBC One...

alongside Jasper Carrott
Jasper Carrott
Jasper Carrott OBE is a British comedian, actor, television presenter and personality.-Early life:...

.

Early life

Powell was born in Salford, the son of Kathleen (née Davis) and John Wilson Powell.

Education

Powell was educated at Manchester Grammar School
Manchester Grammar School
The Manchester Grammar School is the largest independent day school for boys in the UK . It is based in Manchester, England...

, an independent school
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...

 for boys in the city of Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 in North West England
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...

, and later at the University of Salford
University of Salford
The University of Salford is a campus university based in Salford, Greater Manchester, England with approximately 20,000 registered students. The main campus is about west of Manchester city centre, on the A6, opposite the former home of the physicist, James Prescott Joule and the Working Class...

. One of his classmates was Sir Ben Kingsley, another famous actor.

Career

Powell took up acting while an undergraduate. He had a small role in the original version of The Italian Job
The Italian Job
The Italian Job is a 1969 British caper film, written by Troy Kennedy Martin, produced by Michael Deeley and directed by Peter Collinson. Subsequent television showings and releases on video have established it as an institution in the United Kingdom....

playing one of the gang, but had to wait a few years for his first success, playing scientist Toby Wren in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

's science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 series, Doomwatch
Doomwatch
Doomwatch is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC, which ran on BBC One between 1970 and 1972. The series was set in the then present-day, and dealt with a scientific government agency led by Doctor Spencer Quist , responsible for investigating and combating various...

in 1970. Having been at his request killed off in the last episode of the original series, Powell became a pin-up and a household name, following up with starring roles in several BBC serials, including television adaptations of the novels Sentimental Education
Sentimental Education
Sentimental Education was Gustave Flaubert's last novel published during his lifetime, and is considered one of the most influential novels of the 19th century, being praised by contemporaries George Sand, Emile Zola, and Henry James.-Plot introduction:The novel describes the life of a young man ...

and Jude the Obscure
Jude the Obscure
Jude the Obscure, the last of Thomas Hardy's novels, began as a magazine serial and was first published in book form in 1895. The book was burned publicly by William Walsham How, Bishop of Wakefield, in that same year. Its hero, Jude Fawley, is a working-class young man who dreams of becoming a...

. He also appeared in the 1975 series Looking for Clancy, based on the Frederic Mullally
Frederic Mullally
Frederic Mullally is an English journalist, public relations executive, and novelist.-Career:Mullally's journalism carer began in India where, from 1937 to 1949, he was sub-editor on The Statesman of Calcutta, then editor of the Sunday Standard of Bombay...

 novel Clancy.

For several years Powell continued as a television regular, with occasional forays into film, notably as Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...

in 1974. He also notably played Captain Walker in the 1975 Ken Russell
Ken Russell
Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...

 film version of Tommy
Tommy (film)
Tommy is a 1975 British musical film based upon The Who's 1969 rock opera album musical Tommy. It was directed by Ken Russell and featured a star-studded cast, including the band members themselves...

. His role had no lines at all and apart from a few early scenes during the overture with Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret Olsson is a Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer whose professional name is Ann-Margret. She became famous for her starring roles in Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, The Cincinnati Kid, Carnal Knowledge, and Tommy...

, he is primarily seen through the mind of his son as played by Barry Winch (Young Tommy) and Roger Daltrey
Roger Daltrey
Roger Harry Daltrey, CBE , is an English singer and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who. He has maintained a musical career as a solo artist and has also worked in the film industry, acting in a large number of films, theatre and television roles and also...

. In one of those scenes Captain Walker is shown in a crucifixion
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...

 pose.

He then played Jesus Christ in the series Jesus of Nazareth following a successful second audition with Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli KBE is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party....

. The series had an all star cast, including Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...

, Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...

, Rod Steiger
Rod Steiger
Rodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the...

 and James Mason
James Mason
James Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...

. For this role, Powell was nominated for a BAFTA award, and collected the TVTimes Best Actor award for the same performance. Archive footage of his performance would later be used in Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...

's documentary, Capitalism: A Love Story
Capitalism: A Love Story
Capitalism: A Love Story is a 2009 American documentary film directed, written by and starring Michael Moore. The film centers on the late-2000s financial crisis and the recovery stimulus, while putting forward an indictment of the current economic order in the United States and capitalism in general...

, although Powell's voice was dubbed off with alternate lines parodying the possibility of Jesus being a capitalist.

In 1975, Powell married his girlfriend, the Pan's People
Pan's People
Pan's People were a British TV dance troupe, who are usually associated with the BBC TV music chart show Top of the Pops.In an era before pop videos, they danced to songs whose original artists were not available to perform them live...

 dancer Babs Lord, quickly and quietly, partly because he was about to start filming for Jesus of Nazareth, and partly to overcome problems if she flew out to see him on location in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

. Both felt it would be easier if they were married.

On 23 November 1977, they had their son, Barney, followed in 1979 by a daughter, Kate.

In 1978, Powell took the leading role of Richard Hannay
Richard Hannay
Major-General Sir Richard Hannay, KCB, OBE, DSO, Legion of Honour, is a fictional secret agent created by Scottish novelist John Buchan. In his autobiography, Memory Hold-the-Door, Buchan suggests that the character is based, in part, on Edmund Ironside, from Edinburgh, a spy during the Second Boer...

 in the third film version of The Thirty Nine Steps. It met with modest success, and critics compared Powell's portrayal of John Buchan's character favourably with his predecessors. His characterisation did indeed prove to be enduring, as almost ten years later a television series entitled simply Hannay
Hannay (TV series)
Hannay was a 1988 spin-off from the 1978 film version of John Buchan's novel The Thirty-Nine Steps which had starred Robert Powell as Richard Hannay....

appeared with Powell back in the role, (although the Buchan short stories on which the series was based were set in an earlier period than The Thirty-Nine Steps
The Thirty-nine Steps
The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. It first appeared as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine in August and September 1915 before being published in book form in October that year by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh...

). Hannay ran for two seasons.

In 1980 Powell appeared in the film Harlequin
Harlequin (film)
Harlequin, known as Dark Forces in the USA, is a 1980 Australian film starring Robert Powell, Carmen Duncan, David Hemmings and Broderick Crawford...

playing the Harlequin of the title who seems to have the power to cure the son of a powerful politician. For this performance, he won the Best Actor Award at the Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 Film Festival. In 1982, he won Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

 for his role in Imperativ.

Powell then agreed to a request from his old friend and golf partner, comedian Jasper Carrott
Jasper Carrott
Jasper Carrott OBE is a British comedian, actor, television presenter and personality.-Early life:...

, taking the part of an incompetent detective in a succession of sketches that formed part of Carrott's television series. The Detectives
The Detectives
The Detectives is a British comedy television series, starring Jasper Carrott, Robert Powell, and George Sewell. It was a spoof of police dramas, which were numerous in the 1990s, and it was aired on BBC One...

was so popular that it was turned into a sitcom, Powell's first and only venture into this genre.

In 1984, Powell made his U.S. film debut in What Waits Below
What Waits Below
What Waits Below is a British science-fiction adventure film released in 1984. Directed by Don Sharp, produced by the Adams Apple Film Company, the film runs for 88 minutes and starred Robert Powell, Timothy Bottoms, and Lisa Blount...

(as known as Secrets of the Phantom Caverns).

In 1986, Powell narrated and co-starred in William C. Faure's popular miniseries Shaka Zulu...with soccer legend Henry Cele
Henry Cele
Henry Cele was a South African actor famous for his chilling performance as Shaka Zulu in SABC's Shaka Zulu miniseries. Born in Durban, South Africa, he landed the role of Shaka in the miniseries after acting out the same role in a South African stage production of Shaka Zulu.Henry also had a...

 in the title role. In 1992, he starred in the New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 film Chunuk Bair
Chunuk Bair (film)
Chunuk Bair is a 1992 New Zealand film based on the play Once on Chunuk Bair by Maurice Shadbolt.Set in 1915, the film tells of the Wellington Regiment, part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force present at Gallipoli during World War I...

, as Sgt Maj Frank Smith. In 1993-1995, he was the voice actor of Dr. Livesey in The Legends of Treasure Island
The Legends of Treasure Island
The Legends Of Treasure Island is an animated cartoon from the UK that ran from 1993-1995. It had two series of 13 episodes each and each episode runs for 22–25 minutes....

.

Nowadays Powell appears in person less often, but his distinctive voice is frequently heard on voice-overs, advertisements, and as a narrator of television programmes such as Great Crimes and Trials
Great Crimes and Trials
Great Crimes and Trials is an early 90's BBC documentary television series. The program consists of archival material combined with never before seen interviews to reconstruct a renowned crime, examining the felon's motives, details of the crime, the investigations and the trial...

and The Century of Warfare
The Century of Warfare
The Century of Warfare is a 26 part British TV documentary first released in 1993 and shown on A&E Television Networks. It was narrated by Robert Powell, and produced by Nugus/Martin Productions Ltd, and coincided with another Powell/Nugus-Martin project called Great Crimes and Trials.The series...

. He has also narrated many audio books including The Thirty Nine Steps, abridged versions of many of Alan Garner
Alan Garner
With his first book published, Garner abandoned his work as a labourer and gained a job as a freelance television reporter, living a "hand to mouth" lifestyle on a "shoestring" budget...

's books, and several abridged novels for 'The Talking Classics Collection'. Powell has also lent his voice to musical works, such as David Bedford
David Bedford
David Vickerman Bedford , was an English composer and musician. He wrote and played both popular and classical music....

's album The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, or the 2002 rock opera
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...

 The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Clive Nolan
Clive Nolan
Clive Nolan is a British musician, composer and producer who has played a prominent role in the recent development of progressive rock...

 and Oliver Wakeman
Oliver Wakeman
Oliver Wakeman is a rock keyboardist, best known as a member of Yes, where he replaced his father, Rick Wakeman.-Biography:Oliver is the first son of Rick Wakeman, but his parents divorced when he was young....

, where he played the role of John Watson. He also made use of his narrating skills on two rock albums by Rick Wakeman
Rick Wakeman
Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...

 called Cost of Living and The Gospels (1987).

On 29 October 2001 a state-of-the-art theatre named after him was opened at the University of Salford
University of Salford
The University of Salford is a campus university based in Salford, Greater Manchester, England with approximately 20,000 registered students. The main campus is about west of Manchester city centre, on the A6, opposite the former home of the physicist, James Prescott Joule and the Working Class...

. In early 2005 he became a regular in the UK TV medical drama, Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...

, where he remained for six years before departing to return to theatre. On 9 February 2008 he performed as narrator
Narrator
A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...

 in Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf
Peter and the Wolf
Peter and the Wolf , Op. 67, is a composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936 in the USSR. It is a children's story , spoken by a narrator accompanied by the orchestra....

with the Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra
Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra
The Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra is an amateur orchestra based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England.- Origins :In 1862 the first orchestra in Huddersfield to achieve lasting permanence was established by Rev JH Thomas...

 with conductor Natalia Luis-Bassa
Natalia Luis-Bassa
Natalia Luis-Bassa is a conductor who currently lives and works in England where she is Musical Director of the Haffner Orchestra in Lancaster and the Hallam Sinfonia in Sheffield.-Background:...

 in the North of England. He currently has a regular spot narrating literary passages on BBC4's The Book Quiz
The Book Quiz
The Book Quiz is a BBC Four quiz programme. The first series, first broadcast in 2007, was hosted by David Baddiel with a second 2008 series hosted by Kirsty Wark.-Critical reception:...

.

Doherty
Pete Doherty
Peter Doherty is an English musician, writer, actor, poet and artist. He is best known musically for being co-frontman of The Libertines, which he reformed with Carl Barât in 2010. His other musical project is indie band Babyshambles...

-skeptics Half Man Half Biscuit
Half Man Half Biscuit
Half Man Half Biscuit, often "HMHB", are an English rock band from Birkenhead, Merseyside, active since the mid-1980s, known for satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs. The group comprises Nigel Blackwell , Neil Crossley , Ken Hancock , and Carl Henry...

 refer to Robert in their song Venus In Flares, from the album Back in the DHSS
Back in the DHSS
-2003 Rerelease:# "Busy Little Market Town"# "God Gave Us Life"# "Fuckin' 'Ell It's Fred Titmus"# "Sealclubbing"# "99% Of Gargoyles Look Like Bob Todd"# "Time Flies By "# "I Hate Nerys Hughes "...

.

Filmography

  • Robbery (1967)
  • Walk a Crooked Path
    Walk a Crooked Path
    Walk a Crooked Path is a 1969 British crime film directed by John Brason and starring Tenniel Evans, Faith Brook and Christopher Coll. The film is set at a boarding school where a man plans to murder his wealthy teacher wife. It is sometimes known as Twilight Man.-Cast:* Tenniel Evans ... John...

    (1969)
  • The Italian Job
    The Italian Job
    The Italian Job is a 1969 British caper film, written by Troy Kennedy Martin, produced by Michael Deeley and directed by Peter Collinson. Subsequent television showings and releases on video have established it as an institution in the United Kingdom....

    (1969)
  • Secrets (1971)
  • Running Scared
    Running Scared (1972 film)
    Running Scared is a 1972 film written and directed by David Hemmings. This was the only film written by Hemmings, and his first time directing. It was based on a novel of the same name written by Gregory McDonald....

    (1972)
  • Asylum
    Asylum (1972 film)
    Asylum is a 1972 British horror film made by Amicus Productions. The film was directed by Roy Ward Baker, produced by Milton Subotsky, and scripted by Robert Bloch .It is a horror portmanteau film, one of several produced by Amicus during the 1960s to...

    (1972)
  • Shelley (1972, television film)
  • The Asphyx
    The Asphyx
    The Asphyx is a 1972 British horror film directed by Peter Newbrook. Also known as Spirit of the Dead and The Horror of Death, it stars Robert Stephens and Robert Powell.-Plot:...

    (1973)
  • Mahler
    Mahler (film)
    Mahler is a 1974 biographical film based on the life of composer Gustav Mahler. It was written and directed by Ken Russell for Goodtimes Enterprises, and starred Robert Powell as Gustav Mahler and Georgina Hale as Alma Mahler...

    (1974)
  • Tommy
    Tommy (film)
    Tommy is a 1975 British musical film based upon The Who's 1969 rock opera album musical Tommy. It was directed by Ken Russell and featured a star-studded cast, including the band members themselves...

    (1975)
  • Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
  • The Four Feathers
    The Four Feathers (1977 film)
    The Four Feathers is a 1977 British television film adaptation of the classic novel The Four Feathers by novelist A.E.W. Mason. Directed by Don Sharp, this version starred Beau Bridges, Robert Powell, Simon Ward and Jane Seymour, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award...

    (1977)
  • The Thirty Nine Steps (1978)
  • Harlequin
    Harlequin (film)
    Harlequin, known as Dark Forces in the USA, is a 1980 Australian film starring Robert Powell, Carmen Duncan, David Hemmings and Broderick Crawford...

    (1980)
  • Jane Austen in Manhattan
    Jane Austen in Manhattan
    Jane Austen in Manhattan is a Merchant Ivory Film made for LWT in 1980, but released for theatrical in UK and USA. It was the last theatrical film of Anne Baxter and the debut film of Sean Young.-Starring:*Anne Baxter - Lilliana Zorska...

    (1980)
  • The Survivor
    The Survivor (film)
    The Survivor is a 1981 movie starring Robert Powell and Jenny Agutter, based on a novel of the same name by James Herbert.The film was notable for being the first Australian film to cost more than A$1,000,000 to make...

    (1981)
  • Imperativ (1982)
  • The Jigsaw Man
    The Jigsaw Man (film)
    The Jigsaw Man British espionage film starring Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier and Robert Powell. Directed by Terence Young, it was based on a novel by Dorothea Bennett and the screenplay was by Jo Eisinger.-Plot:...

    (1983)
  • What Waits Below
    What Waits Below
    What Waits Below is a British science-fiction adventure film released in 1984. Directed by Don Sharp, produced by the Adams Apple Film Company, the film runs for 88 minutes and starred Robert Powell, Timothy Bottoms, and Lisa Blount...

    (1984)
  • D'Annunzio (1985)
  • Shaka Zulu
    Shaka Zulu (TV Series)
    Shaka Zulu was a 1986 television serial directed by William C. Faure and written by Joshua Sinclair for the South African Broadcasting Corporation . It is based on the story of Shaka, king of the Zulu nation from 1816 to 1828, and the writings of the British traders who dealt with him...

    (1986)
  • Chunuk Bair
    Chunuk Bair (film)
    Chunuk Bair is a 1992 New Zealand film based on the play Once on Chunuk Bair by Maurice Shadbolt.Set in 1915, the film tells of the Wellington Regiment, part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force present at Gallipoli during World War I...

    (1992)
  • Fantomcat
    Fantomcat
    Fantomcat was an animated series produced by Cosgrove Hall Films, it was first broadcast in 1995 and was animated after Avenger Penguins in 1994 by Alfonso Productions, a Spanish based animation studio. It aired largely on Children's ITV. The show also had a brief run on Pop...

    (1995)
  • Pride of Africa (1997)
  • The Alchemist of Happiness (documentary) (2004) - voiceover Al-Ghazali
  • B-Mail (short animation) (2006) - voiceover The Pink Professor

External links

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