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Anthony Steel is a Actor British born on 21 may 1920 at London (United-kingdom)

Anthony Steel

Anthony Steel
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Birth name Anthony Maitland Steel
Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 21 may 1920 at London (United-kingdom)
Death 21 march 2001 (at 80 years) at London (United-kingdom)

Anthony Maitland Steel (21 May 1920 – 21 March 2001) was an English actor and singer best known for his appearances in British war films of the 1950s such as The Wooden Horse (1950), and his marriage to Anita Ekberg. He was described as "a glorious throwback to the Golden Age of Empire... the perfect Imperial actor, born out of his time, blue-eyed, square-jawed, clean-cut." As another writer put it, "whenever a chunky dependable hero was required to portray grace under pressure in wartime or the concerns of a game warden in a remote corner of the empire, Steel was sure to be called upon."

Biography

Early life
Anthony Steel was born in Chelsea, the son of an Indian army officer, and educated at Alexander House Prep School, Broadstairs, Kent before attending the University of Cambridge. When World War II broke out he enlisted in the Grenadier Guards and became an officer. He was badly wounded on patrol in the Middle East, and again in the Far East. He trained as a parachutist, and made nine operational jumps.

On demobilisation, Steel decided to become an actor and got some parts on stage, including appearing opposite Margaret Lockwood in Roses for Her Pillow. He was dating a niece of J. Arthur Rank who introduced Steel to her uncle at a party. Rank subsequently signed the actor to a long-term contract with his company. Steel was trained at Rank's "charm school" and given a slow buildup with small parts in several films, starting with Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948). He also appeared in Quartet (1948), The Blue Lamp (1949), Trottie True (1949), Christopher Columbus (1949), and The Chiltern Hundreds (1949).


Stardom
Steel's first big break was being cast as one of three British POWs who escape from a camp in The Wooden Horse (1950). This film, based on a true story, was a hit and established Steel as a star. Director Jack Lee said that the actor "was fine to work with just a physical type, a young chap who could do certain things, though he didn't have much acting to do in this."

Steel followed this performance playing the romantic male lead in The Mudlark (1950) and supported Bette Davis in Another Man's Poison (1951). He then starred as a game park warden in Where No Vultures Fly (1951), which was the most popular British movie of the year and the Royal Command Performance Film for 1951, confirming Steel's status as a genuine box office draw. In 1952 British exhibitors voted him the fourth most popular British star.

Rank tried Steel in a comedy, Something Money Can't Buy (1952), but the public response was not enthusiastic. Later they put him back in war films such as The Planter's Wife (1952) and Malta Story (1953), the genre in which audiences seemed to enjoy him most. He rarely carried a movie alone, usually supporting a better known star, such as Claudette Colbert, Errol Flynn, Alec Guinness, Peter Finch or Bette Davis. Nonetheless he was popular and in 1954 he and Dirk Bogarde were the highest paid actors with the Rank Organisation.

In 1956 Steel married Swedish actress Anita Ekberg and together they moved to Hollywood, with mixed results. He broke his contract with the Rank Organisation - for whom he was meant to star in The Secret Place (1957) - received bad publicity for fighting with Ekberg and attacking paparazzi, and was arrested twice for drunk driving. During his time in Hollywood he appeared in one film, the little-seen Valerie (1957). It was announced he would be in a film to be made in Spain, Tetuan, but this did not come to fruition.


Career decline
Steel returned to Britain but was unable to regain his earlier popularity. His most prestigious role was in a film directed by Michael Powell, Honeymoon (1959), but it was one of Powell's least known works. John Davis, head of the Rank Organisation was known to be furious about Steel having left the company earlier after the support they had given him, and this was thought to have harmed his chances at reviving his career. Steel was also hurt that the sort of war films in which he had made his name were going out of fashion.

In 1960 Steel moved to Rome and lived there for the next decade. His roles grew smaller and less prestigious, such as appearing as Sir Stephen in the Just Jaeckin film adaptation of Story of O (1975).

By the 1970s he had returned to Britain where he appeared in number of TV shows such as Bergerac, The Professionals, Robin of Sherwood and Crossroads. After stage tours in the 1980s he rarely worked, and later lived for a number of years in a tiny flat in Northolt, west London. His then-agent, David Daly, said that:


He was a very private man. He just decided that he would withdraw. He found a place to live and simply went into hiding. In some ways, it was not unlike him; if he decided that things weren't right, he would withdraw into himself and not contact anybody.
Daly arranged for him to stay at Denville Hall, a London retirement home for actors. Not long before he died he had a guest role in the TV series The Broker's Man.

Best films

Storm Over the Nile (1955)
(Actor)
The Story of O (1975)
(Actor)

Usually with

Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Anthony Steel (49 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

The Monster Club, 1h37
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy, Horror
Themes Films about magic and magicians, Vampires in film
Actors Vincent Price, Donald Pleasence, John Carradine, Stuart Whitman, Anthony Steel, Britt Ekland
Roles Lintom Busotsky, Film Producer
Rating59% 2.9516152.9516152.9516152.9516152.951615
A fictionalised version of author R. Chetwynd-Hayes (John Carradine) is approached on a city street by a strange man (Vincent Price) who turns out to be a starving vampire named Eramus. Eramus bites the writer, and in gratitude for the small "donation", takes his (basically unharmed but bewildered) victim to the titular club, which is a covert gathering place for a multitude of supernatural creatures. In between the club's unique music and dance performances, Eramus introduces three stories about his fellow creatures of the night.
The Mirror Crack'd, 1h45
Directed by Guy Hamilton
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Thriller, Crime
Themes Films about films, Films about television
Actors Angela Lansbury, Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak, Rock Hudson, Edward Fox, Geraldine Chaplin
Roles Sir Derek Ridgeley (‘Murder at Midnight’)
Rating61% 3.099543.099543.099543.099543.09954
Set in the fictional English village of St. Mary Mead, home of Miss Jane Marple (Angela Lansbury), in 1953, a big Hollywood production company arrives to film a costume movie about Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I with two famous movie stars, Marina Rudd and Lola Brewster (Elizabeth Taylor and Kim Novak, respectively). The two actresses are old rivals who despise each other. Marina, making a much heralded comeback after a prolonged "illness" and retirement (due to what was really a nervous breakdown), and her husband, Jason Rudd (Rock Hudson), who is directing the movie they are making, arrive with their entourage. When she learns that Lola will be in the movie as well, she becomes enraged and vents her anger. Lola and her husband, Marty Fenn (Tony Curtis), who is producing the movie, arrive. Excitement runs high in the village as the locals have been invited to a reception held by the movie company in a manor house, Gossington Hall, to meet the celebrities. Lola and Marina come face to face at the reception and exchange some potent and comical insults, nasty one-liners, as they smile and pose for the cameras. The two square off in a series of clever verbal cat-fights throughout the movie.
The Perfect Crime, 1h27
Directed by Giuseppe Rosati
Origin Italie
Genres Thriller, Comedy, Crime
Actors Leonard Mann, Gloria Guida, Joseph Cotten, Anthony Steel, Franco Ressel, Adolfo Celi
Roles Supt. Jeff Hawks
Rating48% 2.4468252.4468252.4468252.4468252.446825
Le riche président d'une multinationale décède dans un accident d'avion. Son héritage et sa succession attirent les convoitises de son entourage.
Twilight of Love
Directed by Luigi Scattini
Genres Drama, Romance
Actors Anthony Steel, Pam Grier, Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Alain Montpetit, Gerardo Amato, Annie Belle
Roles Richard Butler
Rating52% 2.603082.603082.603082.603082.60308
Richard, an elderly director of a Montreal advertising agency, met Dyanne, a young girl who appears to be a perfect model for the launch of a new perfume.
The Story of O, 1h45
Directed by Just Jaeckin
Origin France
Genres Drama, Erotic, Romance
Themes Films about sexuality, Erotic films, BDSM in films, LGBT-related film, Lesbian-related films
Actors Corinne Cléry, Udo Kier, Anthony Steel, Gabriel Cattand, Jean Gaven, Christiane Minazzoli
Roles Sir Stephen
Rating53% 2.6544952.6544952.6544952.6544952.654495
A young woman fashion photographer known only as O is taken by her lover René to Château Roissy, where she is subject to various sexual and/or sadomasochistic rituals. O is taught to be constantly available for oral, vaginal, and anal intercourse. She is regularly stripped, blindfolded, chained and whipped;her labium is pierced and her buttocks are branded. She leaves wearing a ring as a sign of her initiation.
Massacre in Rome, 1h27
Directed by George Cosmatos
Origin Italie
Genres Drama, War, Historical
Themes Political films
Actors Richard Burton, Marcello Mastroianni, Delia Boccardo, John Steiner, Anthony Steel, Renzo Montagnani
Roles SS-Sturmbannführer Domizlaf
Rating64% 3.2451153.2451153.2451153.2451153.245115
Pendant la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, les nazis s'emparent de trésors artistiques datant de la Renaissance italienne et en font de la monnaie de chantage...
Anzio
Anzio (1968)
, 1h57
Directed by Duilio Coletti, Edward Dmytryk
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Action, Historical
Themes Political films
Actors Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Peter Falk, John Arthur Kennedy, Earl Holliman, Mark Damon
Roles Gen. Marsh
Rating59% 2.99882.99882.99882.99882.9988
After meeting a general, war correspondent Dick Ennis (Robert Mitchum) is assigned to accompany US Army Rangers for the upcoming attempt to outflank the tough enemy defenses. The amphibious landing is unopposed, but the bumbling American general, Jack Lesley (Arthur Kennedy) is too cautious, preferring to fortify his beachhead before advancing inland. Ennis and a Ranger drive in a jeep through the countryside, discovering there are few Germans between the beachhead and Rome, but his information is ignored. As a result, the German commander, Kesselring (Wolfgang Preiss), has time to gather his forces and launch an effective counterattack.
An Affair of States, 1h30
Directed by Marcel Ophuls
Origin France
Genres Comedy
Actors Curd Jürgens, Lilli Palmer, Kurt Meisel, Anthony Steel, Stanislav Ledinek, Pascale Petit
Roles Michael 'Mike' Astor
Rating55% 2.781832.781832.781832.781832.78183
Le colonel Olga Nikolajevna et le commandant Anna Petrovna, deux officiers soviétiques de charme, sont envoyées à Genève pour assister à une conférence sur le désarmement. Mais là, la première tombe amoureuse d'un homologue américain, Dave O'Connor. Une idylle que leurs délégations respectives voient d'un très mauvais œil en ces temps de guerre froide.
Winnetou: The Red Gentleman, 1h34
Directed by Harald Reinl
Origin German
Genres Adventure, Western
Actors Lex Barker, Pierre Brice, Anthony Steel, Karin Dor, Klaus Kinski, Renato Baldini
Roles Bud Forester
Rating64% 3.24893.24893.24893.24893.2489
Alors qu'il se rend chez la tribu indienne des Assiniboins, Winnetou parvient à sauver Ribanna, la fille du chef, d'une attaque d'ours. En remerciement, le chef lui remet à la demande de Winnetou trois soldats prisonniers, dont le lieutenant Merrill, le fils du commandant de Fort Niobrara. Il veut s'assurer que Indiens et Blancs puissent organiser une conférence de paix. Dans le camp, Winnetou et Ribanna se rapprochent et tombent amoureux.
A Matter of Choice
Directed by Vernon Sewell
Genres Drama, Crime
Actors Anthony Steel, Ballard Berkeley, James Bree
Roles John Crighton
Rating63% 3.1810553.1810553.1810553.1810553.181055