Robert Powell
Birthday: 1944-06-01 Place of Birth: Salford, Manchester, England, UK
Synopsis
Robert Powell was born on June 1, 1944 in Salford, Manchester, England. In 1964, he started his acting career while attending Manchester University. In 1967, he made his film debut, and later landed his first starring role in The Italian Job (1969). Some of his well known movies include Franco Ziefirelli's "Jesus of Nazareth" (1977), Ken Russell's Tommy (1975) and Mahler (1974), the remake of The Thirty Nine Steps (1978), and the popular TV series "Doomwatch" (1970). Robert married on 29th August, 1975 to Barbara 'Babs' Lord. They now have a son and a daughter. In 1982, Robert won the Best Actor award at the Venice Film Festival for his performance in Imperative (1982). He won the best actor award at the Paris Film Festival for Harlequin (1980). For his portrayal of Jesus in Jesus of Nazareth he received best actor awards from TV Times and Italian TV Times, the international arts prize at the Fiuggi Film Festival, grand prize at the Saint-Vincent Film Festival, and a nomination as best actor from The Irish Academy of Film and Television arts. In reference to his role as Jesus in Jesus of Nazareth, Robert said, "I hope Jesus Christ will be the last in my line of sensitive young men for quite a while."
Acting
The Queen's Lost Uncle
Biography of Prince George, Duke of Kent, the controversial uncle of the Queen, who became the source of scandals during the 1930s involving The German Nazi Party, homosexual tendencies and conspiracy theories about his death.
Seven Games From Glory
A World Cup of shocks and surprises, making history from start to finish. It was the first World Cup in Asia and the first to be co-hosted by two countries. The official film captures the unique spirit of this event in 120 minutes of football - on the pitch and behind the scenes. This is one of few official films able to offer a hint of the world behind the dressing room door - Senegal's victory celebrations, Mexico's prayer and team talk and the referees debriefing.
The Detectives
The absurd adventures of two defective detectives, who - despite unbelievable incompetence - somehow manage to solve their cases (or be nearby when the cases are solved) and retain their jobs.
The First Circle
In the USSR, political prisoners who were scientists were not always sent to GULAG, but also to The First Circle (named after Dante's Inferno), a special incarceration unit near Moscow where they could work for the government.
Hannay
Hannay was a 1988 spin-off from the 1978 film version of John Buchan's novel The Thirty-Nine Steps which had starred Robert Powell as Richard Hannay.
In the series, Powell reprised the role of Hannay, an Edwardian mining engineer from Rhodesia of Scottish origin. It features his adventures in pre-World War I Great Britain. These stories had little in common with John Buchan's novels about the character, although some character names are taken from his other novels.
There were two series, the first with six episodes, the second with seven. The combined 13 episodes ran for a total of 652 minutes.
One episode, A Point of Honour, was based on a story of the same name by Dornford Yates that appeared in his 1914 book The Brother of Daphne, although Yates was not credited.
Another episode used a plot device from the Leslie Charteris Saint story The Unblemished Bootlegger, from the 1933 book The Brighter Buccaneer, again uncredited.
Shaka Zulu
Framed around Queen Victoria's decision on England's political stance towards the Zulu Nation, this mini-series details King Shaka's rise and fall with mythic detail. Prophecy is mixed with recorded fact regarding Shaka's birth, exile, innovations in warfare, assumption of the throne, building of the Zulu Empire, first contact with Europe and the events that lead to his downfall.
Shaka Zulu
South Africa, 1823. The Zulu Empire, headed by King Shaka, a brilliant but ruthless military strategist, begin to encroach on the British colony of Cape Town. A volunteer cadre of explorers, mercenaries and professional soldiers are sent to Zululand to try to make contact with Shaka and assess the real threat of his army.
Harlequin
In this modern-day version of the Rasputin story, David Hemmings plays an up-and-coming senator, Nick Rast, whose young son is terminally ill with leukaemia. A mysterious faith healer, Gregory Wolfe, appears and seems to cure the boy. Rast's wife Sandy falls in love with Wolfe, but the powerful interests behind Rast's career, represented by geriatric monster Doc Wheelan are less happy with events.
What Waits Below
The US military is running a test for a special type of radio transmitter, to be used to communicate with submarines, in a deep system of underground caves in Central America. When the signal from one of the transmitters suddenly disappears, a team of soldiers led by Major Elbert Stevens and cave specialists led by Rupert 'Wolf' Wolfsen including scientist Leslie Peterson are sent in to find out what happened. Exploring deep underground, they stumble upon a tribe of albino cave-dwellers who have apparently been isolated from the rest of the world for thousands of years. The cave-dwellers are hurt by radio frequencies and are able to see in infra-red frequencies, tracking the explorers by their body heat.
Frankenstein
A scientist who is obsessed with creating life finally does it, with tragic results.
The Jigsaw Man
Philip Kimberly, the former head of the British Secret Service who defected to Russia, is given plastic surgery and sent back to Britain by the KGB to retrieve some vital documents. With the documents in hand, he instead plays off MI6 and the KGB against each other.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Quasimodo, the hunchback bellringer of Notre Dame's cathedral, meets a beautiful gypsy dancer, Esmeralda, and falls in love with her. So does Quasimodo's guardian, the archdeacon of the cathedral, and a poor street poet. But Esmeralda's in love with a handsome soldier. When a mob mistakes her for a witch, it's up to Quasimodo to rescue her and claim sanctuary for her in the cathedral.
The Survivor
When a 747 crashes shortly after take-off, the sole survivor is the pilot. Virtually unhurt, he and the investigators look for the answers to the disaster. Meanwhile mysterious deaths occur in the community and only a psychic, in touch with the supernatural, can help the pilot unravel the mystery surrounding the doomed plane.
Jane Austen in Manhattan
Two teachers vie for the right to stage a play written by Jane Austen when she was twelve years old.
The Four Feathers
The fifth filming of the adventure classic about a British soldier in the 1880s who fights to regain his honor after being given four white feathers, symbols of cowardice.
The Thirty Nine Steps
The year is 1914 and Richard Hannay, Mining Engineer who is visiting Britain for a short time before returning to South Africa, is shocked when one of his neighbours, Colonel Scudder, bursts into his rooms one night and tells him a story that Prussian 'sleeper' agents are planning to pre-start World War I by murdering a visiting foreign minister. However, Scudder is murdered and Hannay is framed for the death by the 'sleepers'. Fleeing to Scotland Hannay attempts to clear his name and to stop the agents with the aid of Alex Mackenzie but not only is he is chased by Chief Supt Lomas for Scudder's death but by the agents who are headed by Appleton who has managed to hide himself in a high-placed position in the British Government...
Jesus of Nazareth
Dramatizes the Birth, Life, Ministry, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, largely according to the Holy Bible's New Testament Gospels.
Tommy
A psychosomatically deaf, dumb and blind boy becomes a master pinball player and the object of a religious cult.
Asylum
A young psychiatrist applies for a job at a mental asylum, and must pass a test by interviewing four patients. He must figure out which of the patients, is in fact, the doctor that he would be replacing if hired.
Mrs. Warren's Profession
Performed in 1902, after being banned by the censor for eight years, Shaw's indictment of the hypocrisy surrounding prostitution still shocked its audiences. Mrs. Warren has graduated from prostitution to opening and operating a chain of brothels throughout Europe. When her educated daughter Vivie discovers the truth about her mother's profession her reactions affect everyone around her.
Doomwatch
Doomwatch is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC, which ran on BBC 1 between 1970 and 1972. The series was set in the then present-day, and dealt with a scientific government agency led by Doctor Spencer Quist, responsible for investigating and combating various ecological and technological dangers.
The series was followed by a film adaptation produced by Tigon British Film Productions and released in 1972, and a revival TV film was broadcast on Channel 5 in 1999.
Robbery
In this fictionalised account of the Great Train Robbery, career criminal Paul Clifton plans an audacious crime: the robbery of a mail train carrying millions in cash.
