John Bentley (actor)
| John Bentley | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
2 December 1916 Sparkhill, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, UK |
| Died | 13 August 2009 (aged 92) Petworth, West Sussex, England, UK |
| Years active | 1947-1976 |
| Spouse(s) | Joyce Bentley (? - 1955) (divorced) 1 child |
John Bentley (2 December 1916 – 13 August 2009) was a British film actor who emerged in the 1970s as Hugh Mortimer, Meg Richardson's ill-fated new husband in the soap opera Crossroads. He also starred in the jungle adventure series African Patrol (1957) as Chief Inspector Paul Derek and made various other guest appearances.
John Bentley was well known to cinema-goers in the 1950s, generally in the role of a detective/policeman/official. Mainly confined to 'B' films which were low budget productions used to support a main feature, he also had his own TV series for a while and starred in 'Crossroads' in the 1970s. He was also an accomplished singer and stage actor.
Born in Sparkhill, Birmingham in 1916 Bentley was brought up by his mother after his father, a furniture retailer, died when he was a toddler. He arrived in acting quite by chance, in his own words:
"Apart from the odd school play, I had very little interest in the theatrical world until I was sixteen and that was quite by accident. I got into the business through radio producer Martyn C. Webster. On one of his radio broadcasts he offered listeners to come to his studio and audition. Those who were good enough would be offered work at the station. I actually decided that I would be quite a good singer, so armed with a 78 record to accompany my performance, I sang for Martyn. He liked what he heard and offered me a part in a radio musical. And that is where the singing evolved into acting. Other radio dramas soon followed thankfully." As a result of singing for Webster, he was given the joint leading role in a radio musical, backed by the BBC Midland Orchestra and Chorus.
He worked for Radio Luxembourg in the late 1930s as an announcer, and in 1940 made his West End stage debut in the variety show New Faces at the Comedy Theatre with Judy Campbell and Charles Hawtrey (of Carry On fame). After the war he started his film career playing Terry O'Keefe in the low budget musical romance The Hills of Donegal in 1947. The film was produced at Nettlefold Studios in Walton-on-Thames and financed by Butcher's Film Service. Bentley went on to do several other films in the same vein with Butcher's at Nettlefold, most of them being completed in less than a week. Three based on Francis Durbridge's “Paul Temple” the amateur detective (Calling Paul Temple in 1948, Paul Temple's Triumph in 1950 and Paul Temple Returns in 1952) were released at the same time as a popular radio series. Similarly, Salute the Toff and Hammer the Toff were produced in 1952 in which Bentley played amateur sleuth Richard Rollison.
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