Tony Beckley

Tony Beckley
Born	7 October 1927(1927-10-07) Southampton, Hampshire, England
Died	19 April 1980(1980-04-19) (aged 52) Los Angeles, California, USA
Years active	1963–1979

Tony Beckley (7 October 1927 – 19 April 1980) was an English character actor. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Beckley went onto carve out a career on film and television throughout the 1960s and 1970s often playing villainous roles, as well as being a veteran of numerous stage productions.

Film career

He made his film debut in 1965 as Ned Poins in Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight, and appeared in a number of films for director Peter Collinson: The Penthouse (1967); The Long Day's Dying (1968); and most memorably as Camp Freddie in The Italian Job (1969).

His only starring role was as the psychotic Kenny Wemys in The Fiend (1972), and he made his last film appearance in 1979 playing another psychopath in When a Stranger Calls. Other films include The Lost Continent (1968), Get Carter (1971), Assault (1971), Sitting Target (1972), Gold (1974), and Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978).

Television career

Television credits include The Saint, Z-Cars, Manhunt, Callan, Jason King, Special Branch, and perhaps most notably as the villainous Harrison Chase in the Doctor Who serial The Seeds of Doom.

Death

Beckley was terminally ill at the time of filming When a Stranger Calls in 1979, and died of cancer shortly after principal photography was completed (spring 1980).

Selected filmography

• Chimes at Midnight (1965)
• The Penthouse (1967)
• The Long Day's Dying (1968)
• The Lost Continent (1968)
• The Italian Job (1969)
• Get Carter (1971)
• Assault (1971)
• The Fiend (1972)
• Sitting Target (1972)
• Gold (1974)
• Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
• When a Stranger Calls (1979)

External links

• Tony Beckley at the Internet Movie Database