Nosher Powell

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Nosher Powell
Born	George Frederick Bernard Powell (1928-08-15)15 August 1928 Camberwell, London, England
Died	20 April 2013(2013-04-20) (aged 84) London, England
Nationality	British
Other names	Frederick Powell
Occupations	Actor Boxer Stuntman
Years active	1944–2000
Spouse	Pauline Wellman ​ (m. 1951)​
Children	2 sons

George Frederick Bernard Powell (15 August 1928 – 20 April 2013),^[1] credited as Nosher Powell, Freddie Powell, or Fred Powell, was an English actor, stuntman and boxer. He is best known for his work in the James Bond film series, most notably From Russia with Love (1963).^[2]

Life and career

Powell was born in

Powell had an extensive but mostly uncredited career in stunt work and acting, including as stuntman in 14 James Bond films.^[3][13] Amongst his TV work was the role of the powerful thug Lord Dorking in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), in which was first broadcast on 26 October 1969.^[14]

In 1965 he appeared in The Saint (S4,E3:episode entitled "The Crooked Ring") as 'The Angel' a cheating boxer. The finale has The Angel fighting The Saint in the ring. Simon Templar demonstrates his boxing skills and knocks him out.

In 1966, Powell played a role of a jewel thief Charlie in the series The Baron.^[7]

In 1967 he appeared in The Saint (S5,E15:episode entitled "The Persistent Patriots") as Benson a patriot heavy, involved in a plot against the Prime Minister (Edward Woodward) of an African Colony. Once again he comes off worst against Simon Templar.

In 1967 he appeared in The Avengers episode entitled "Mission ... Highly Improbable" as Henrik with Denny Powell appearing as Karl.^[15]

On 26 April 1972 he was the subject of an episode in the UK version of This Is Your Life.^[16]

Powell later became the head of a collective of people dressing as medieval knights.^[8][17] Powell began the projects because of the lack of stunt work resulting from a industry wide recession.^[8] In August 1971, Powell took part in a re-enactment of the battle at Senlac Hill in nylon armour. The event drew a crowd of ten thousand spectators.^[17] Powell and his group of knights concentrated on medieval practises such as Jousting.^[18] Powell and fellow stunt man Max Diamond also founded the British Jousting Society.^[19] In 1972, they began a British tour of the tournaments which were staged at Lichfield, Norwich, Edinburgh and the Tower of London. In the performances, Powell went by the character name of "Frederick of Gaywood".^[8] In 1975, Powell took his "Tournament of Knights" tour to the United States.^[20] He promoted his group's tour by walking through San Francisco in a jousting costume.^[18]

In 1987, Powell played a character who shared his name in the film, Eat the Rich.^[21] Powell was cast in the role by director Peter Richardson. Powell had known Richardson for some years and he wanted a stunt man who was willing to hang out of a helicopter and knew Powell would be willing.^[22] Powell later recalled that he worried the role would be recast if he could not give a good acting performance beyond his stunt work.^[22]

He also acted as a "minder" (bodyguard) for a number of celebrities, including

In 1952 Powell married Pauline Wellman, and the couple had two sons, Greg and Gary, who also grew up to become stuntmen.[9]

Powell died in his sleep on 20 April 2013 at the age of 84.^[1]

Filmography

References