British Noir Faces

Homme Fatale in the Gainsborough films , in the early I Met A Murderer , Eyes in the Night , and in US Noirs . Best roles Odd Man Out , The Man Between .

Doomed crooks , gruff coppers with chips on their shoulder , and the village idiot in Home To Danger . Hell Drivers , The Criminal , Blind Date , Prize of Arms , Hell Is A City , Robbery , The Good Die Young and lots more .

Best known for Brief Encounter , and countless war films , could be very tough and cynical . They Made Me A Fugitive , Malaga , Golden Salamander , The Clouded Yellow , very nasty in Interpol , the near noir Outcast Of The Islands , not to mention The Third Man .

Czech actor , usually in sinister roles , villains , nazis , dodgy hypnotists .In loads of British Noir , notably Dark Tower , Dual Alibi (twice) , Night And The City , Good Time Girl , Hell Drivers (not a villain for once) , Frightened City , not to mention Louis in The Ladykillers .

Played British equivalent of juvenile delinquents for years , then a few dodgy middle aged characters . Brighton Rock , Dancing With Crime with his wife , Sheila Sim , pushing Eleanor Summerfield out of a car in London Belongs To Me (" I never done it ! I never done it ! ") , The Man Upstairs , Seance On A Wet Afternoon , and Christie in 10 Rillington Place .

Welsh playwright and actor , wrote Night Must Fall , The Man Who Knew Too Much , and They Drive by Night . Shorty Matthews on the run in They Drive By Night , great as a sleazy blackmailer in Friday The Thirteenth , slimey in Hatter's Castle .

If he's in it , it's bound to be a noir . Briefly seen as a bus conductor in They Drive By Night , barman in Odd Man Out , circus owner in Dark Tower , ex con after revenge in Appointment With Crime , one of his few lead roles , Brighton Rock of course , the dodgy boss in Hell Drivers . Added touches of noir to a little known series called Doctor Who .

Ubiquitous British actor , not exactly a noir icon , but in the early Green Cockatoo , blacking out in The October Man , bitter ex con after revenge in The Long Memory , Bassett in the weird The Rocking Horse Winner , dead woman in his flat in The Vicious Circle . Plus Ice Cold In Alex , almost a British version of Wages of Fear .

One of the great eye rollers , apart from Bill Sykes in the almost noir Oliver Twist , the tyrannical father in Hatter's Castle , Lukey the painter in Odd Man Out , Temptation Harbour , foiled in a perfect murder plot in Obsession , the bad dad in Waterfront .Small parts in The Green Cockatoo , Gaslight . Also appeared in American Noir , Kiss The Blood Off My Hands , and some TV series like Climax , Alfred Hitchcock Presents .

Great character actor , and political documentary maker . Often dodgy and sleazy , The Shop at Sly Corner , Forbidden , Frightened City , Rag Doll , Terror Street ; the weak link , Monty , in Pay Roll .

Sleazy characters , grasses , blackmailers . Great in Cairo Road , also West 11 , Blackout , Spider and the Fly .

Forever known as PC George Dixon , killed by Dirk Bogarde in The Blue Lamp , started as a comic , moved to playing spivs , then Scotland Yard inspectors before demotion to sergeants . Dear Murderer , It Always Rains on Sunday , The Square Ring , Jigsaw , not to mention The Quatermass Experiment , and The Ladykillers .

Before his career faded into obscurity ... , a regular in tough crime films . Hell Drivers , No Road Back , Time Lock , The Frightened City . Noirish films later on , Marnie , The Hill , The Offence , not to mention the remake of The Untouchables .

Before Hancock and Carry On , he was one of the trio of working class characters with Alfie Bass and Bill Owen , or playing Yanks when no Canadians were available . Hell Drivers , Black Memory , The October Man briefly , No Orchids For Miss Blandish , House Across the Lake , The Flanagan Boy , Yellow Balloon , The Glass Tomb , and the comic heist in The Lavender Hill Mob .

Cockneys with a touch of Jewishness , comic and serious . It Always Rains on Sunday , Pool of London , Blackout , Hell Drivers , Lavender Hill Mob .

Canadian actor who often played Americans , or Irish gunmen . Odd Man Out , The Gentle Gunman , The Square Ring .

Scotland Yard Inspector in countless films , great as a villain in The Ship That Died of Shame .

Mainstay of British films . A reporter in the 1932 remake of The Lodger , the detective in The Fallen Idol , Colonel Hyde in the comic heist film The League of Gentlemen .

In loads of British crime films , often ethnic , Egyptians , Russians , Arabs , Italians , Mexicans . The Third Man , Cairo Road , a Greek taxidermist in The Clouded Yellow , The Long Dark Hall , The Gambler And The Lady , Terror Street , The Glass Tomb , Interpol , Across The Bridge , Cairo and loads more .

Heavy , often comical , immortal as One Round in The Ladykillers . Gangsters in No Orchids For Miss Blandish , Good Time Girl , Dancing With Crime , the bartender in Interpol , in Web Of Evidence , Hidden Homicide and others

Horror icon , played Winston Smith in the great BBC version of 1984 . Noirs include Time Without Pity , Violent Playground , The Naked Edge , the bank manager in Cash On Demand , and the Diabolique rip off Fear In The Night , married to Joan Collins no less .

The other great horror icon , small bit in Corridor of Mirrors , John Preston in the odd Alias John Preston , Port Afrique , Too Hot To Handle , the dodgy doctor in Taste Of Fear .

Another Canadian pretending to be a Yank ,

Authority figures , policemen , army officers , doctors . Great as a sleazy private eye in Hysteria .

Authority figures , government men , army officers , judges etc . Small roles in Odd Man Out , Fallen Idol , The Third Man , the chaplain in Yield To The Night . Dodgy in The Glass Tomb , the reporter in The Long Memory .

In virtually every British film ever made (!) , a familiar face in small parts , often uncredited . Noir appearances include They Made Me A Fugitive , Forbidden , The Blue Lamp , Cage Of Gold , The Clouded Yellow , Pool of London , Secret People , Radio Cab Murder , Glass Tomb , The Quatermass Xperiment , The Long Haul , Clue of The Silver Key etc etc etc

The Master in Doctor Who , played villains , or ethnics ( he was part Spanish ) , Man In The Shadow , Third Party Risk , Blood Orange .

Mostly played soldiers in comedies , including Carry On's . Superb as Limpy in Street of Shadows , small bits in Pool Of London , Seven Days To Noon , Footsteps In The Fog , Face In The Night amongst others .

Cockney character actor , mostly comedies . Started as a kid , the evacuee in Went The Day Well . In She Shall Have Murder , The Dark Man , Scarlet Thread , The Last Page , one of the prisoners in the barn in Clash By Night .

Arthur Daley himself , started as a child actor , the cockney evacuee in Cottage To Let for example . Appeared in The Spider And The Fly , The Intruder , A Prize Of Gold .

Great comic actor , good character bits in London Belongs To Me , Stage Fright .

Googie Withers bit of rough in It Always Rains on Sunday and Derby Day , they were married in real life . Copper in The Long Memory .

Better known in old age , first film appearance is "Woman In Phone Box" in Odd Man Out , then the prostitute in the police station in Fallen Idol , first of a long line of tarts , Street Corner , Both Sides of the Law , Women of Twilight etc etc . When she's not walking the streets , she's a barmaid .

Best remembered as a police sergeant , usually in a police station , The Fallen Idol , Double Confession , Cloudburst . Also in I See A Dark Stranger , Temptation Harbour , Blanche Fury , The Flanagan Boy promoted to inspector for a change , also in many of the classic Hammer Horrors .

Authority figure in tons of films , especially comedies . A nazi in Night Train To Munich , a nazi agent in I See A Dark Stranger , So Evil My Love , inspector in The Long Dark Hall , the book shop manager in The Lost Page , even a journalist in Godard's Breathless .