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Nosher Powell

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Nosher Powell
Born
George Frederick Bernard Powell

(1928-08-15)15 August 1928
Camberwell, London, England
Died20 April 2013(2013-04-20) (aged 84)
London, England
NationalityBritish
Other namesFrederick Powell
Occupations
Years active1944–2000
Spouse
Pauline Wellman
​
(m. 1951)​
Children2 sons

George Frederick Bernard Powell (15 August 1928 – 20 April 2013),[1] credited as Nosher Powell, Freddie Powell, or Fred Powell, was an English actor, stuntman and boxer. He is best known for his work in the James Bond film series, most notably From Russia with Love (1963).[2]

Life and career

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Powell was born in Camberwell, London, England.[3] His younger brother, Dennis "Dinny" Powell (1932–2023)[4][5] followed a similar career, acting and stunt co-ordinating many films, as have his sons Greg Powell and Gary Powell.[6] Powell was given the nickname of "Nosher" while he served in the army.[7] "Nosh" means food in Cockney slang and was given to Powell due to his large physique.[8] He disliked his birth name Frederick or Freddie and chose to use Nosher Powell as his screen name.[7]

Powell began his career as a heavyweight boxing champion in the worlds of unlicensed fighting and the professional arena. He also worked as a sparring partner for Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali, amongst others.[9] The last fight of his career was against Menzies Johnson in 1960. Powell won the fight on points, over eight rounds.[9] According to his autobiography, Powell had a total of seventy-eight fights: fifty-one as a professional, with nine losses, though he was never knocked out.[10] Boxrec.com, though, lists Powell as losing sixteen times as a professional, with nine of those losses being by KO, two by TKO and five on points.[11] Powell's boxing career was ended following injuries he sustained after being hit by a lorry in Covent Garden Market, where he was working as a porter.[12] He later became a boxing instructor in Brixton.[12]

Powell had an extensive but mostly uncredited career in stunt work and acting, including as stuntman in 14 James Bond films.[3][13] Amongst his TV work was the role of the powerful thug Lord Dorking in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), in which was first broadcast on 26 October 1969.[14]

In 1965 he appeared in The Saint (S4,E3:episode entitled "The Crooked Ring") as 'The Angel' a cheating boxer. The finale has The Angel fighting The Saint in the ring. Simon Templar demonstrates his boxing skills and knocks him out.

In 1966, Powell played a role of a jewel thief Charlie in the series The Baron.[7]

In 1967 he appeared in The Saint (S5,E15:episode entitled "The Persistent Patriots") as Benson a patriot heavy, involved in a plot against the Prime Minister (Edward Woodward) of an African Colony. Once again he comes off worst against Simon Templar.

In 1967 he appeared in The Avengers episode entitled "Mission ... Highly Improbable" as Henrik with Denny Powell appearing as Karl.[15]

On 26 April 1972 he was the subject of an episode in the UK version of This Is Your Life.[16]

Powell later became the head of a collective of people dressing as medieval knights.[8][17] Powell began the projects because of the lack of stunt work resulting from a industry wide recession.[8] In August 1971, Powell took part in a re-enactment of the battle at Senlac Hill in nylon armour. The event drew a crowd of ten thousand spectators.[17] Powell and his group of knights concentrated on medieval practises such as Jousting.[18] Powell and fellow stunt man Max Diamond also founded the British Jousting Society.[19] In 1972, they began a British tour of the tournaments which were staged at Lichfield, Norwich, Edinburgh and the Tower of London. In the performances, Powell went by the character name of "Frederick of Gaywood".[8] In 1975, Powell took his "Tournament of Knights" tour to the United States.[20] He promoted his group's tour by walking through San Francisco in a jousting costume.[18]

In 1987, Powell played a character who shared his name in the film, Eat the Rich.[21] Powell was cast in the role by director Peter Richardson. Powell had known Richardson for some years and he wanted a stunt man who was willing to hang out of a helicopter and knew Powell would be willing.[22] Powell later recalled that he worried the role would be recast if he could not give a good acting performance beyond his stunt work.[22]

He also acted as a "minder" (bodyguard) for a number of celebrities, including John Paul Getty Jr. and Sammy Davis Jr.[23]

Personal life and death

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In 1952 Powell married Pauline Wellman, and the couple had two sons, Greg and Gary, who also grew up to become stuntmen.[9]

Powell died in his sleep on 20 April 2013 at the age of 84.[1]

Filmography

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Acting credits:

References

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  1. ^ a b "Official Nosher Powell Web-Site". Nosherpowell.awardspace.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 March 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  2. ^ "Nosher Powell". BAFTA. 7 May 2013. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Nosher Powell". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 28 August 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  4. ^ "Stunt expert Jon Auty remembers Dinny Powell (1932-2023)".
  5. ^ "Click here to view Dennis's obituary". 21 November 2023.
  6. ^ "The family who do stunts for James Bond"[dead link‍], The Times, 24 May 2009
  7. ^ a b c d "Baron faces tough guy on Thursday". South Bend Tribune. 29 January 1966. p. 23. Retrieved 14 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  8. ^ a b c d R. Coffey, Raymond (6 August 1972). "Film stuntmen don armour to beat recession". The Miami Herald. p. 260. Retrieved 14 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  9. ^ a b c Morton, James (26 April 2013). "Nosher Powell obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  10. ^ Powell, Nosher; Hall, William (2001). Nosher!. John Blake Publishing. pp. 93–96. ISBN 1-85782-491-1.
  11. ^ "BoxRec: Fred Powell". BoxRec. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  12. ^ a b A. N., Other (10 October 1961). "Back in business". Evening Standard. p. 30. Retrieved 14 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  13. ^ "Nosher Powell: Boxer, actor and Bond stuntman". The Independent. 29 April 2013. Archived from the original on 25 April 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  14. ^ Jeremy Summers (director), Donald James (writer) (26 October 1969). "Just for the Record". Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). Series 1. Episode 6. ITV.
  15. ^ "The Avengers Forever: Mission... Highly Improbable".
  16. ^ "*Audio Only* - This Is Your Life - Fred 'NOSHER' Powell - 26/04/72". 29 January 2023 – via YouTube.
  17. ^ a b Stuart, Malcolm (30 August 1971). "Battle of Senlac field". The Guardian. p. 16. Retrieved 14 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  18. ^ a b "Nosher Powell on a long day's journey into knight". The San Francisco Examiner. 11 April 1975. p. 54. Retrieved 14 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  19. ^ "Daring Max Diamond revives British jousting". Edmonton Journal. 15 June 1972. p. 35. Retrieved 14 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  20. ^ Fitzwalter, Marian (27 April 1975). "New flowering of knighthood spills over from movie epics". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 215. Retrieved 14 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  21. ^ a b Bunke, Joan (8 September 1988). "Consumable, but it's vulgar". The Des Moines Register. p. 53. Retrieved 14 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  22. ^ a b Hessey, Ruth (15 December 1988). "Nosher's act is food for thought". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 14. Retrieved 14 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  23. ^ "Fred ('Nosher') Powell". The Daily Telegraph. 26 April 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
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