- Born
- Died
- Birth nameAlan Fernand Badel
- British thespian Alan Badel came to prominence after graduating from RADA a Gold Medal winner. He made an almost instant impact on the stage in both modern and classical roles. One of his first critically acclaimed performances was as Romeo, opposite Claire Bloom's Juliet at the Old Vic. Despite his velvety, resonant voice and commanding personality, Badel never quite made the first rank on screen. In the theatre, however, he was never less than a star, particularly after his tour-de-force impersonation of 19th century actor Edmund Kean in Jean-Paul Sartre's 1971 play.
His motion picture career took in parts as John the Baptist in Salome (1953), Richard Wagner in Magic Fire (1956) and as the corrupt manager of a rugby club in This Sporting Life (1963). On the small screen he was excellent as Edmund Dantes, the The Count of Monte Cristo (1964), and as the eccentric, enigmatic Count Fosco in The Woman in White (1982). Badel, who died unexpectedly in 1982 at the age of 58, had a distinguished military record dating back to his wartime service with the 13th Parachute Battalion. He took part in Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings in 1944. He fought with distinction as a platoon sergeant and saw action in the Normandy and Ardennes Campaigns and the subsequent advance through northern Germany. After VE Day, he was posted to the Far East as part of the 6th Airborne Division for a projected invasion of Japan, which never took place due to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Badel spent some time in Palestine, until he was demobbed in June 1947.
- IMDb mini biography by: I.S.Mowis
- SpouseYvonne Owen(1942 - March 19, 1982) (his death, 1 child)
- Children
- His World War II skills proved valuable when, many years later, he found two delinquents breaking into his car. When they saw him approach, they produced flick-knives and might have killed him, but he was able to disarm both of them and contrived to break all four of their wrists.
- During World War II he served in the British army and took part in the D-Day landings in Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes Forest.
- Claimed to do theatre work for love, TV for fame and films for money.
- Was a British paratrooper and liaised with the French Resistance in World War II; being half-French, he did a lot of work behind enemy lines with the Resistance and claimed he had killed several men in hand-to-hand combat.
- Father of Sarah Badel, with his wife, Yvonne. Both he and his wife were still in their teens when Sarah was born.
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