Michael Balfour

Michael Creighton Balfour 11 February 1918 24 October 1997 was an English actor working mainly in British films and TV following his TV debut in the BBCs 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 Educated Evans Mess Mates Danger Man The Avengers Hancocks Half Hour Dixon of Dock Green Rogues Gallery ZCars The Onedin Line and the detective drama The Vise playing Sabers assistant Barney OKeefe Balfour was also known as the passenger in a Jaguar XK120 car driven by actor Bonar Colleano when it crashed killing Colleano Balfours injuries required him to have 98 stitches but he was released from hospital in time to attend Colleanos 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