Michael Balfour

Acting · 0.6 popularity

Age

108

Movies

Born: February 11, 1918 – October 24, 1997
From: 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

Works

96 films

Batman

19897.2

Fahrenheit 451

19667.1

The Canterbury Tales

19726.1

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes

19706.8

The Krays

19906.0

Venetian Bird

19526.2

Sink the Bismarck!

19606.8

Macbeth

19717.1

Quatermass 2

19576.4

Candleshoe

19776.9

Moulin Rouge

19526.6

The Oblong Box

19695.8

Casanova

19874.1

Fiend Without a Face

19586.1

The Prisoner of Zenda

19795.7

The Holcroft Covenant

19855.5

I Was a Male War Bride

19497.0

Kaleidoscope

19665.3

Barbados Quest

19555.1

Look Back in Anger

19596.7

The Adventurers

19704.7

Carry On Constable

19606.3

Resting Rough

19797.0

Park Plaza 605

19534.7

The Sea Shall Not Have Them

19547.3

One Good Turn

19556.2

The Delavine Affair

19555.5

The Red Beret

19536.7

Genevieve

19536.7

A Stitch in Time

19637.4

Joseph Andrews

19775.2

The Flesh and the Fiends

19606.6

The Fast Lady

19625.8

No Orchids for Miss Blandish

19486.1

Too Hot to Handle

19604.7

Hot Ice

19537.0

Obsession

19496.8

Helter Skelter

19496.4

Woman Hater

19487.7

The Rescue Squad

19636.0

Press for Time

19665.9

Albert R.N.

19537.3

River Beat

19546.3

Surprise Package

19606.6

Three's Company

19539.0

Breakaway

19565.5

Man of Violence

19705.5

Meet Mr. Callaghan

19546.5

The Big Money

19587.0

Man from Tangier

19575.1

Prelude to Fame

19506.8

The Quiet Woman

19516.2

Her Favourite Husband

19506.0

Just William's Luck

19477.8

Top Secret

19528.0

The Ship That Couldn't Stop

1961

Melody Club

19497.3

Scarlet Web

19545.7

Black 13

19537.0

Sleeping Car to Trieste

19486.8

The Steel Bayonet

19585.7

Impulse

19544.6

The Small Voice

19486.4

Johnny on the Run

19538.3

The Steel Key

19536.5

The Stick Up

19775.6

The Monster of Highgate Ponds

19616.7

Secret Venture

19556.5

Revenge of Billy the Kid

19924.9

Small Town Story

19535.9

Don't Ever Leave Me

19497.7

Pit of Darkness

19616.2

Love in Pawn

19537.2

The Diamond Wizard

19545.9

Strangler's Web

19657.7

Stop Press Girl

19495.9

Devil's Point

19547.0

All Coppers Are...

19727.1

The Secret of the Forest

195610.0

3 Steps to the Gallows

19536.7

Design for Loving

19626.7

The Reluctant Bride

19556.3

Five Have a Mystery to Solve

19647.0

Delayed Action

19545.8

A Case For P.C. 49

19517.0

13 East Street

19526.0

She Always Gets Their Man

19626.0

Recoil

19535.8

William Comes to Town

19489.0

Echo of Diana

19635.8

It's a Great Day

19556.4

Help Yourself

1950

The Copter Kids

197610.0

Hoverbug

19699.0

Scrapbook for 1933

19506.0

Light Fingers

19579.0