George Sewell's rough features and soft voice made him useful on either side of the law. We value his steadiness: he could give a supporting part authority, and television gave him room to lead.
Fi1m perspective
Sewell's rugged face suggests a harder voice than the one that comes out. The softness matters: his authority figures have another way of being firm besides barking, and his villains need not announce themselves with a growl. The cultivated manner is useful for an actor asked to make both policemen and criminals convincing. His early screen work included Jeff in Lindsay Anderson's This Sporting Life (1963), before crime series made authority a regular assignment.
In Mike Hodges's Get Carter (1971), Sewell plays Con, one of the criminals around whom there is little reason to relax. We were unsettled by the film because Michael Caine's Jack Carter offers no reassuring decency to soften the violence. Sewell is a reliable supporting presence here, though our high regard for the thriller does not make his part its principal attraction. Hodges keeps it tense and vicious; the treatment of women remains harder to defend, even when the cruelty is meant to repel us.
The 1970s also gave Sewell more responsibility on television. Gerry Anderson's UFO (1970) cast him as Colonel Alec Freeman, the second-in-command, while Special Branch (1973) put DCI Alan Craven at the centre. It matters that Craven was a leading role: calling Sewell a dependable supporting actor is fair, but incomplete. Mendel, Smiley's former Special Branch minder in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979), belongs to the same run of men whose professional experience makes them useful.
Rising Damp (1974) puts his Detective Constable Baker into comedy, though the pace there belongs to Leonard Rossiter and an ensemble able to match him. We value the series for the unhappiness beneath its jokes, and have reservations about lines that need the actors' help. For a fuller sense of what Sewell could carry himself, try Special Branch after Get Carter.
Biography
George Sewell (31 August 1924 – 2 April 2007) was an English actor. He appeared in the film Get Carter (1971) as Con and in the television series Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) as Mendel.
Born in Hoxton, London, Sewell left school at the age of 14. He worked in printing and building, trained as an RAF pilot, and later served in the Merchant Navy before holding various other jobs. He began acting in his mid-thirties after auditioning for Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop, appearing in productions including Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be and Oh, What a Lovely War (1963).
Sewell became known for television roles including Colonel Alec Freeman in UFO (1970–1971) and DCI Alan Craven in Special Branch. His other film credits include This Sporting Life (1963) and Barry Lyndon (1975). He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1973.
