John Albert Bailey (26 June 1912 – 18 February 1989) was a British screen and TV actor who had a long screen, stage and TV career. He was born in South East

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He took a number of film roles during the late 1940s and early 1950s which included a sinister role, Stringer, in ''

High Treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

''. During the 1960s, he appeared in a number of high-profile BBC TV roles such as in ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' and ''

Steptoe and Son ''Steptoe and Son'' is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about a father-and-son rag-and-bone business in 26a Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC in black and ...

''. Most famously, he played the artist Aubrey Green in ''

The Forsyte Saga ''The Forsyte Saga'', first published under that title in 1922, is a series of three novels and two interludes published between 1906 and 1921 by the English author John Galsworthy, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. They chronicle the vici ...

'' in (1967). He also took the lead in a highly acclaimed ''

Wednesday Play ''The Wednesday Play'' is an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramatic adaptations of fiction ...

''. One of his notable early films was ''High Treason'' by

Roy Boulting John Edward Boulting (21 December 1913 – 17 June 1985) and Roy Alfred Clarence Boulting (21 December 1913 – 5 November 2001), known collectively as the Boulting brothers, were English filmmakers and identical twins who became known for thei ...

(1951). Set in a tense and austere London during the early

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, the tense plot follows the secret services

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Go ...

pursuing a terrorist cell group. John Bailey's cold and ruthless assassin, Stringer, speaks with a convincing Russian accent. As an actor, he had considerable vocal range, notably employing a clipped, upper class English accent as Inspector Grant in Josephine Tey's ''The Franchise Affair'' (1951). His dark looks and convincing accents led to roles as Italians or Eastern Europeans. BBC TV's ''

The Wednesday Play ''The Wednesday Play'' is an anthology series of United Kingdom, British television plays which ran on BBC One, BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramati ...

'' about

Sacco and Vanzetti Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a ...

(1965) addressed the topical issue of the death penalty. Written by

Jean Benedetti Jean Benedetti (1930–2012) was an actor and playwright best known for his studies of Konstantin Stanislavski. Selected works Books * Gilles de Rais biography (1972) * ''Stanislavski: An Introduction'' (1982) * ''Stanislavski: A Biography'' ...

the play was entitled '' The Good Shoe Maker and the Poor Fish Pedlar''. John Bailey played

Bartolomeo Vanzetti Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a ...

, an Italian immigrant in America whose execution was widely regarded as having been a miscarriage of justice. He also made various appearances in ''

'', including "

The Sensorites ''The Sensorites'' is the seventh serial in the British science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and othe ...

" (1964), playing Edward Waterfield in "

The Evil of the Daleks ''The Evil of the Daleks'' is the mostly-missing ninth and final serial of the fourth season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which originally aired in seven weekly parts from 20 May to 1 July 1967. In this seri ...

" (1967) and "

The Horns of Nimon ''The Horns of Nimon'' is the fifth and final broadcast serial of the 17th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 22 December 1979 to 12 January 1980. I ...

" (1979-80), as well as appearing in several episodes of '' The Avengers'' and as

Hans Frank Hans Michael Frank (23 May 1900 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and lawyer who served as head of the General Government in Nazi-occupied Poland during the Second World War. Frank was an early member of the German Workers' Party ...

in the 1978 American television miniseries ''

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

''.

Selected filmography

* ''It Happened in Soho'' (1948) * '' Meet Simon Cherry'' (1949) * ''

Man on the Run ''Man on the Run'' is a 1949 British film noir directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Derek Farr, Joan Hopkins, Edward Chapman, Kenneth More and Laurence Harvey. Plot An army deserter, still a fugitive in post-war Britain, wanders i ...

'' (1949) * '' Celia'' (1949) * ''

Cairo Road Cairo Road is the main thoroughfare of Lusaka, Zambia and the principal business, retail and service centre of the city. It is a section of the T2 road and was so named because it is a link in Cecil Rhodes' then dream of a Cape to Cairo Road th ...

'' (1950) * ''

Circle of Danger ''Circle of Danger'' is a 1951 British thriller film directed by Jacques Tourneur which stars Ray Milland, Patricia Roc, Marius Goring, Hugh Sinclair and Naunton Wayne. An American travels to England to discover the truth behind his brother's d ...

'' (1951) as Pape Llewellyn * '' The Franchise Affair'' (1951) as Inspector Grant * ''

'' (1951) as Stringer * ''

Venetian Bird ''Venetian Bird'' is a 1952 British thriller film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Richard Todd, Eva Bartok and John Gregson. The screenplay was adapted by Victor Canning from his own 1950 novel of the same title. It was shot at Pinewo ...

'' (1952) as Lieutenant Longo * ''

The Night Won't Talk ''The Night Won't Talk'' is a 1952 British crime film directed by Daniel Birt and starring John Bailey, Hy Hazell and Mary Germaine. The murder of an artist's model leads the police to investigate the artistic community of Chelsea. It was mad ...

'' (1952) as Clayton Hawkes * ''

So Little Time ''So Little Time'' is an American sitcom starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in their third television series. It aired on Fox Family: the first half of the series aired from June 2 to August 15, 2001, and the series then went on a four-month ...

'' (1952) * '' The Hostage'' (1956) * ''

Operation Amsterdam ''Operation Amsterdam'' is a 1959 black and white British action film, directed by Michael McCarthy, and featuring Peter Finch, Eva Bartok and Tony Britton. It is based on a true story as described in the book ''Adventure in Diamonds'', by Da ...

'' (1959) as an officer * ''

Moment of Danger ''Moment of Danger'' (also known as ''Malaga'') is a 1960 British crime drama film starring Trevor Howard, Dorothy Dandridge and Edmund Purdom. It was filmed in Europe in the late months of 1959. The film is based on the novel by , and it was ...

'' (1960) * ''

Never Let Go ''Never Let Go'' is a 1960 British thriller film starring Richard Todd, Peter Sellers and Elizabeth Sellars. It concerns a man's attempt to recover his stolen Ford Anglia car. Sellers plays a London villain, in one of his rare serious roles. P ...

'' (1960) as MacKinnon * ''

Rasputin, the Mad Monk ''Rasputin the Mad Monk'' is a 1966 Hammer horror film directed by Don Sharp and starring Christopher Lee as Grigori Rasputin, the Russian peasant- mystic who gained great influence with the Tsars prior to the Russian Revolution. It also featu ...

'' (1966) as the royal physician * ''

A Choice of Kings "A Choice of Kings" is a television drama film and stage play by John Mortimer. It was first produced in 1966 in the ITV Play of the Week series, directed by John Frankau, starring Michael Craig. Outline The action is set at the court of Edwa ...

'' (1966) as FitzOsbern * '' Running Scared'' (1972) as Inspector * ''

The 14 ''The 14'' is a 1973 British drama film directed by David Hemmings and starring Jack Wild and June Brown. It was also released as ''Existence'' and, in the United States, as ''The Wild Little Bunch''. It was entered into the 23rd Berlin Intern ...

'' (1973) as Mr. Sanders * ''

Personal Services ''Personal Services'' is a 1987 British comedy film directed by Terry Jones and written by David Leland, about the rise of a madam of a suburban brothel which caters to older men. The story is inspired by the real experiences of Cynthia Payne, ...

'' (1987) as Mr. Gardner

References

External links

* 1912 births 1989 deaths English male stage actors English male film actors English male television actors Male actors from London 20th-century English male actors {{UK-screen-actor-stub