Michael Balfour
Acting
- Born:
- 1918-02-11
- Died:
- 1997-10-24
- Place of birth:
- Dover, Kent, England, UK
Biography
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 Howard Hawks. Balfour had parts in many popular TV shows of the era including Educated Evans, Mess Mates, Danger Man, The Avengers, Hancock's Half Hour, Dixon of Dock Green, Rogue's Gallery, Z-Cars, The Onedin Line, and the detective drama The Vise, playing Saber's assistant Barney O'Keefe. Balfour was also known as the passenger in a Jaguar XK120 car driven by actor Bonar Colleano when it crashed, killing Colleano. Balfour's injuries required him to have 98 stitches, but he was released from hospital in time to attend Colleano's funeral. As his screen career began to slow down in the late 1970s, Michael Balfour went on tour with European circuses, as a clown. He founded Circus Hazzard, and created his own clown character. His son later became a circus manager. As well as performing, Balfour was a dedicated painter and sculptor, and in later years turned increasingly to sculpture and the arts, even running his own gallery for a while. For his subjects, he frequently drew on his own family career as a circus clown
Known For
Filmography
Revenge of Billy the Kid
The Krays
Batman
Casanova
The Holcroft Covenant
Dempsey and Makepeace
Kelly Monteith
The Prisoner of Zenda
Resting Rough
Candleshoe
The Stick Up
Joseph Andrews
The Copter Kids
The Canterbury Tales
New Scotland Yard
Late Night Theatre
All Coppers Are...
Macbeth
The Persuaders!
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Man of Violence
The Adventurers
Department S
The Oblong Box
Hoverbug
The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
The Jazz Age
Cold Comfort Farm
Rogues' Gallery
The Prisoner
Escape
Mickey Dunne
Press for Time
Fahrenheit 451
Kaleidoscope
Strangler's Web
It's Not Me - It's Them!
Reluctant Bandit
Five Have a Mystery to Solve
The Rescue Squad
A Stitch in Time
Echo of Diana
The Fast Lady
Design for Loving
Steptoe and Son
She Always Gets Their Man
Pit of Darkness
The Ship That Couldn't Stop
The Monster of Highgate Ponds
The Avengers
The Cheaters
Too Hot to Handle
Surprise Package
Danger Man
Theatre '70
Carry On Constable
Sink the Bismarck!
The Flesh and the Fiends
Look Back in Anger
Interpol Calling
The Larkins
Fiend Without a Face
The Big Money
The Steel Bayonet
Man from Tangier
Light Fingers
Quatermass 2
Breakaway
Armchair Theatre
Hancock's Half Hour
The Secret of the Forest
Secret Venture
Gentlemen Marry Brunettes
Strange Experiences
The Reluctant Bride
Dixon of Dock Green
Barbados Quest
One Good Turn
The Delavine Affair
It's a Great Day
Devil's Point
Delayed Action
Meet Mr. Callaghan
Scarlet Web
The Sea Shall Not Have Them
The Diamond Wizard
River Beat
Impulse
Small Town Story
3 Steps to the Gallows
Black 13
Albert R.N.
Love in Pawn
Three's Company
Park Plaza 605
The Red Beret
Recoil
Johnny on the Run
Genevieve
The Steel Key
Hot Ice
Top Secret
Moulin Rouge
Venetian Bird
13 East Street
A Case For P.C. 49
The Quiet Woman
Her Favourite Husband
Prelude to Fame
Help Yourself
Scrapbook for 1933
Sunday Night Theatre
I Was a Male War Bride
Helter Skelter
Obsession
Don't Ever Leave Me
Melody Club
Stop Press Girl
William Comes to Town
The Small Voice
Woman Hater
Sleeping Car to Trieste
No Orchids for Miss Blandish
Just William's Luck