Michael Balfour (actor)
Michael Creighton Balfour was an English actor, working mainly in British films and TV, following his TV debut in the BBC's The Marvellous History of St Bernard, in 1938. He was a recognisable face, often in small character parts and supporting roles, in nearly two hundred films and TV shows, from the 1940s to the 1990s, often playing comical heavies or otherwise shady characters notable for their "loud" clothes, sometimes convincingly cast as an American.
He worked for a roll call of film directors, including Tony Richardson, Pete Walker, Billy Wilder, Lewis Gilbert, Roman Polanski, Leslie Norman, Tim Burton, John Frankenheimer, François Truffaut, John Gilling, Stanley Donen, Ken Annakin, Cavalcanti, Lance Comfort, Terence Young, Gerald Thomas, Pasolini, John Paddy Carstairs, Terence Fisher, Val Guest, Frank Launder, John Huston, Basil Dearden and Howard Hawks.
Balfour had parts in many popular TV shows of the era including Department S, Educated Evans, Mess Mates, Danger Man, The Avengers, Hancock's Half Hour, Dixon of Dock Green, Rogue's Gallery, Z-Cars, The Onedin Line, and the detective drama The Vise, playing Saber's assistant Barney O'Keefe.
In August 1958 Balfour was the passenger in a Jaguar XK140 driven by actor Bonar Colleano when it crashed, killing Colleano. Balfour's injuries required him to have 98 stitches, but he was released from hospital in time to attend Colleano's funeral.
As his screen career began to slow down in the late 1970s, Michael Balfour went on tour with European circuses, as a clown. He founded Circus Hazzard, and created his own clown character. His son later became a circus manager.
As well as performing, Balfour was a dedicated painter and sculptor, and in later years turned increasingly to sculpture and the arts, even running his own gallery for a while. For his subjects, he frequently drew on his own family career as a circus clown.
Selected filmography
Just William's Luck as JenksNo Orchids for Miss Blandish as BarneySleeping Car to Trieste as Spiegel Woman Hater as Reporter The Small Voice as FrankieWilliam Comes to Town as Stall-holderStop Press Girl as Crook Don't Ever Leave Me as Jim KennedyHelter Skelter as Barman Melody Club as MaxObsession as American sailorI Was a Male War Bride as Male Billet Sergeant Prelude to Fame as LucioCage of Gold as American Soldier Her Favourite Husband as PeteBlackout as Tom The Quiet Woman as LeftyA Case for PC 49 as Chubby Price13 East Street as Joey LongVenetian Bird as MorettoTop Secret as Jersey SailorMoulin Rouge as Dodo Hot Ice as JacobsonThree Steps to the Gallows as Carter - boxing fanGenevieve as Trumpeter The Steel Key as Sailor The Captain's Paradise as Customs official No. 2Johnny on the Run as FingersThe Red Beret as American SergeantRecoil as ParkesPark Plaza 605 as Ted BirstonThree's Company as The Drunk Albert R.N. as HankBlack 13 as JoeSmall Town Story as Turner Love in Pawn as AlaricEscape by Night as Bearded Reporter River Beat as AdamsThe Diamond as HoxieThe Scarlet Web as Coffee Stallkeeper Delayed Action as HoneyThe Belles of St. Trinian's as Bus Driver The Sea Shall Not Have Them as DrayDevil's Point as Bennett, short henchmanImpulse as Sailor Delavine Affair as SammyOne Good Turn as Boxing Booth Spectator The Gilded Cage as USAF staff Track the Man Down Barbados Quest as Barney WilsonReluctant Bride as BoxerGentlemen Marry Brunettes as Stage DoormanSecret Venture as StevensIt's a Great Day as Charlie Mead's MateThe Secret of the Forest as LenReach for the Sky as Orderly Breakaway as BarneyThe Big Money as 'Wilberforce'Hour of Decision as BarmanQuatermass 2 as HarryThe Steel Bayonet as Pvt. ThomasLight Fingers as The MajorMan from Tangier as Spade MurphyFiend Without a Face as Sgt. KasperLook Back in Anger as Picky Shopper The Flesh and the Fiends as Drunken SailorSink the Bismarck! as Able Seaman - Lookout on 'Suffolk' Carry On Constable as Matt Too Hot to Handle as Tourist guideMake Mine Mink as Rowson's ButlerSurprise Package as Oscar The Hellfire Club as John - Juggler The Monster of Highgate Ponds as BertThe Treasure of Monte Cristo as PepePit of Darkness as FisherDesign for Loving as BernieShe Always Gets Their Man as RunkleThe Fast Lady as Bandit #2The Rescue Squad as Barrow-BoyEcho of Diana as NewsagentA Stitch in Time as Workman with Mallet Five Have a Mystery to Solve as EmilioThe Sicilians as Stage Door KeeperStrangler's Web as John VichelskiThe Sandwich Man as Workman Kaleidoscope as Poker Player #4Where the Bullets Fly as Band LeaderFahrenheit 451 as Book Person: Machiavelli's 'The Prince' Press for Time as SewermanTrouble with Junia as Joe PennyworthDepartment S as EcclesThe Fixer as Boatman The Oblong Box as RuddockHoverbug as Mr. GutteridgeThe Adventurers as DetectiveThe Private Life of Sherlock Holmes as CabbyMacbeth as First MurdererMan of Violence as Cafe OwnerAll Coppers Are... as Heart Attack Victim The Canterbury Tales as The Carpenter Wreck Raisers as Mr. TrevorThe Copter Kids as Benny BakerJoseph Andrews as Ruffian Come Play with Me as NosherCandleshoe as Mr. McCressThe Stick Up as SamThe Prisoner of Zenda as LugerThe Holcroft Covenant as Hard HatBatman as Axis Chemicals scientistThe Krays as RefereeRevenge of Billy the Kid as Gyles MacDonald