Sydney Tafler (31 July 1916 – 8 November 1979) was an English actor who after having started his career on stage, was best remembered for numerous appearances in films and television from the 1940s to the 1970s.[3]
Personal life
Tafler was born into a
Jewish family, the son of Eva (née Kosky) and Mark Tafler, an antique dealer.[4][5] His sister, Hylda, married the film director
Lewis Gilbert. Another sister, Sheila, was also an actress.[6]
He was married to the actress
Joy Shelton from 1941 until his death[7] from cancer; they had three children – two sons, Jeremy and Jonathan, and a daughter, Jennifer, who became a child actress.
Career
After two years at the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Tafler first appeared on stage in London's West End in 1936, with Sir
Seymour Hicks in The Man in Dress Clothes. His other stage roles included the menacing character of Nat Goldberg in a production of
Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party, directed by the playwright;[8] a role he reprised in
William Friedkin's 1968 film version, alongside
Robert Shaw and
Patrick Magee.
He most commonly played
spiv characters, one notable exception being the film Reach for the Sky (1956) in which he played the sympathetic prosthetics expert to
Douglas Bader.[9] There again, he appeared briefly in a drily comic role as a uniformed policeman in the film The Cockleshell Heroes (also 1956). His film career ended with a featured role as the captain of the supertanker Liparus in the popular
James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).
Sunday-Night Theatre (1950-1957, 8 episodes) as Harry Soames / George Ware / Professor Frey / Alexander Lopakhin / Chauvelin / Petronius Arbiter / Dorn / Chauvelin