George Pastell

Biography

George Pastell was a Cypriot character actor in British films and television programs. His real name was Nino Pastellides. He made his film debut in Give Us This Day (1949), under his real name of Nino Pastellides, and went onto carve out a career as villains in film and television. Although Greek, he was often cast by Hammer Film Productions as Eastern characters such as Mehemet Bey in The Mummy (1959); the High Priest of Kali in The Stranglers of Bombay (1960); and Hashmi Bey in The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964). His exotic looks often saw him cast in spy movies of the sixties such as From Russia with Love (1963); Licensed to Kill (1965); A Man Could Get Killed (1966); That Riviera Touch (1966); and Deadlier Than the Male (1967). As well as these film roles he could also be seen as the villain in numerous television series of the sixties including Danger Man; The Avengers; Doctor Who; The Champions; The Saint; and Department S. Pastellides was most prolific, however, in his voice-over work, replacing hundreds of other actors' voices (some of them very famous) in films as disparate as El Cid (1961) as "Fañez"; You Only Live Twice (1967) as "Tiger Tanaka; and Doctor Zhivago (1965) as "The Girl"'s (the character played by Rita Tushingham) boyfriend, earning him the sobriquet "the 'Paul Frees (I)' of Britain."