British thespian Alan Badel rose to prominence after graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA),a Gold Medal winner, and made an almost instant impact on the stage with his performances in both modern and classical roles.
One of his earliest 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 achieved the same level of success on screen as he did on stage.
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.
Badel's motion picture career spanned a range of roles, including John the Baptist in Salome (1953),Richard Wagner in Magic Fire (1956),and the corrupt manager of a rugby club in This Sporting Life (1963).
On television, he was exceptional as Edmund Dantes, the Count of Monte Cristo (1964),and as the eccentric, enigmatic Count Fosco in The Woman in White (1982).
Alan Badel, who passed away 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, and fought with distinction as a platoon sergeant, seeing 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.
