George Sewell

British leading actor whose tough, pockmarked features belied a soft voice and cultivated manner. Sewell was born in East London, the son of a printer. His father was a boxer known as "The Cobblestone Kid". After brief service in the RAF during the closing stages of World War II, he held down a wide variety of short-lived jobs, including as carpenter, photographer, drummer and assistant roadie for a rumba band, steward on Cunard liners Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, and, for six years, as motor coach courier for a holiday travel agency.Not until a chance conversation in 1959 with actor 'Dudley Sutton' (qv) in a pub did Sewell seriously contemplate an acting career. A successful audition with 'Joan Littlewood' (qv)'s Theatre Workshop, led to him being cast in several cockney comedies and he ended up playing Field Marshal Haig in "Oh, What a Lovely War" in 1963. Motion pictures saw him in gritty social dramas like _This Sporting Life (1963)_ (qv) and tough crime films like _Underworld Informers (1963)_ (qv) and _Get Carter (1971)_ (qv), often alternating villainy with law enforcement. He also had a small role in the science fiction thriller _Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (1969)_ (qv). This was something of a precursor to the cult series _UFO (1970)_ (qv), in which he played the cool-headed second-in-command, Colonel Alec Freeman.More typically, his television characters tended to be hard-nosed, cynical cops, like his DI Brogan in _Z Cars (1962)_ (qv) or DCI Alan Craven in _Special Branch (1969)_ (qv). A former Littlewood alumnus, the writer 'Robin Chapman' (qv), picked Sewell for another plum role as a London gangster in _Spindoe (1967)_ (qv). He was also on hand as Smiley's reliable, 'sharp-eyed' ex-Special Branch minder Mendel in the original miniseries _Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979)_ (qv).After 2000, Sewell scaled down his television appearances and spent more time at his holiday home in the south of France. He occasionally came out of semi-retirement, most notably for a well-received production of a play by 'Tudor Gates' (qv), "Who Killed Agatha Christie?", in which he starred as a playwright intent on exacting revenge against a waspish critic. Sewell died in April 2007 at the age of 82, survived by a daughter and a stepson.::I.S.Mowis