Tom at FindAGrave.com

First of all I want to apologise for not updating for a while. My computer, my beloved laptop “Nisse” (naturally my computer had a name) crashed in the beginning of this month, and being short of money, I have not yet buyed a new one, so I’m surfing at libraries and internet cafés and other public places at the moment, which is hugely annoying (and expensive at thos internet cafés) when you’re a blogger and, well, for most stuff you have to use a computer for..  which is like everything these days.

Luckily I had backup of most things and, especially, for this blog: all the Tom stuff I have, with pictures, screen caps and posters and stuff. So they are saved, I just don’t have a computer to put them in right now.. Hopefully this will change before the summer ends..

Anyway, I just spotted recently that there’s an entry for Tom at the site FindAGrave.com, you can find his page here, and I thought there were some lovely comments there, for everyone to read. Sadly (but not surprisingly) his burial place is listed as “unknown”. I have no idea where he rests, if it’s in Brighton or somewhere in or around Liverpool, if he’s buried or if his ashes were scattered somewhere (like at sea or some special place) where only his closest family know. (?) I don’t know, but somehow I can imagine this last thing, as it somehow seems like him. ;-) But if someone out there really knows, it would be nice to know.

I’ll end this post with a great photo still I found on the net featuring Tom together with Judi Dench, from 1965 film He Who Rides A Tiger. I hope you are all having a great summer!

Tom goes über-spooky in unknown short

Among Tom’s last productions, it was really cool for me to discover this - quite unknown - treasure (this appearance is not listed on his pages at IMDb or BFI, so it seems to be pretty unknown): a short film he starred in, in 2006, made by a young, aspiring British filmmaker named Scott Johnston, Birmingham. This director of this short experimental has himself posted this short film with Tom - called Kraft - on YouTube.com. You’ll find his personal YouTube-page here. I just happened to discover this wonderful little short film by chance when I searched for clips with Tom on YouTube.. Cool.!

What I’ve enjoyed much when I’ve checked up on Tom’s work is his choice to do a lot of independent and rare stuff, and how he often seemed to support young, upcoming British film directors. Especially in his last years he really seemed to enjoy working with young people and young talants. I really admire that! That’s brave and cool for an actor of his caliber to do, and generous. *:) 

I like the spooky “Halloween”, sort of, feeling that this short has. And I think it’s beautifully shot and great acted, even if I don’t get the story fully.. but I do like the atmosphere!  I have no idea who the other actors are (perhaps friends of the director?), as I only recognice Tom here. Anyway; enjoy!

Description of the film from the filmmaker at YouTube:

“A short film I made in 2006, inspired by an early short by POLANSKI,
and featuring the late, great British character actor TOM BELL (Wish
You Were Here, The Krays, The Magic Toyshop). With a fantastic
dissonant score by the experimental group PRAM. If you would like
a full-res DVD copy of the film, contact me at:
filmficciones70@aol.com ” 8-)

KRAFT (posted in two parts):

Part 1

Part 2

Cool, isn’t it?! :-) I really like the opening with Tom in the alley and the kids, and the ending where Kraft drives the poor, frightened lad back through his bizarr wooden puppets and out from the place… boooooooooo! :-D

Anyway.. this, by the way, answers my previous wonderings over Tom’s use of different accents and stuff - or not - as an actor.. I sincerely hope it didn’t escape no one that he’s got a nice, little twisted German accent-thing going on here in this short :-D, giving a bit of extra (like as if that was needed ;)) creepy-ness to this peculiar Kraft character he’s playing. Nice. :-)

Feel like writing a song

…I feel like I want to write a song about Tom when I look at this pic. Like, you know, Yo La Tengo’s Tom Courtenay  or Gorillaz Clint Eastwood or like the one about Bette Davis Eyes. In that very fan fanatic but really beautiful way. So for once I wish I was a cool person in a rock band with song writing abilities so I could do it. But then of course it’s got to be the coolest song ON EARTH or else there’s no point  - and I’m not even a crappy poet at the moment. :-/

But really. There are no speaking words available to describe this pic of Tom. First time I saw it I almost fainted over my laptop because of the total HOTshock!!!! I got. God………….

You know the British TV series Life On Mars? Yeah? Well, I can tell you the only reason I watch it is for that small chance that maybe, one day, a Pleasantville-thing will happen to ME when I watch it, so that I also could be transported back to the 70s like Sam Tyler… that’s how pathetic I am. But can you blame me?

But a Pleasantville-thing will probably never ever happen to me. Because I’ve heard those things never happen when you want it - which means I will never meet Tom with sideburns and a tight top somehwere in the 70s… Sometimes life really sucks.

But I want to write Tom a song. *:)

“I’m going to give you SUCH a spanking…!”

LOL, I love this trailer. Love this film. Preaching to the Perverted aka Spankworld - The Movie.

I heard that sex props and S & M outfits constantly ”disappeared” ;-) during the shooting of the film and that it was later banned in Ireland. :-D Wicked!! 8-)

Find the DVD and have a laugh….! :)

Gone fishing *:)

I just had to put this one up here. Cause this always cracks me up when watching the first Prime Suspect episode… xD

I don’t know if you remember, but there is a scene in the in the incident room in the first Prime Suspect where Tennison is desperately searching for a pen late at night in the room and then opens a drawer in one of the desks - supposedly Otley’s - and then, instead of finding a pen, comes a cross some crucial documents about the investigation that Otley obviously has been hiding from her. But, the best thing is, for a brief moment here we also get a glimpse of what else is in the drawer; among the things in there lies this photo. It flashes infront of the camera quickly - but long enough for everyone to see two jolly fellows having great fishing luck: DCI John Shefford & Sgt Bill Otley!!! *:)

This photo is just PRICELESS!! xD  I just laugh my ass off every single time I see this photo when I watch the episode… it’s just impossible NOT to laugh watching this!! =D

 I can’t help to muse about this photo and the taking of it!! ;) I mean they’ve obviously gone to the extent and taken a real photo showing the characters of DCI Shefford (played by John Forgeham) and Otley, all dressed up in fishing gear, in their best spirits after a fine catch and prouldy posing with the fish and a casting rod!! (probably to show the close friendship that existed between Otley & Shefford, that they were even fishing pals; to emphasize how important this friendship was for Otley and to give more depth in the series to his behaviour towards Tennison later who, as we know, steps in after Shefford in the first episode..).

Anyway, I’m laughing my ass off EVERY SINGLE TIME (!!) this photo comes up, LOL, cause it’s just SOOOO great. I’ve probably watched this episode like thirty times or something, but it doesn’t matter; I just can’t stop laughing at it… It’s absolutely HILARIOUS!!!! Tom proudly holding the fish up towards the camera and actor John Forgeham with a big thumb up!! Yeah, hahahaha, we get the point!!!! LOL. Oh, the expressions on their faces…… xD They must have had a fun time dressing up and posing for this….!! =D

I just wonder what happened to this photo?! As it obviously is a real photo… ;) Did it end up somehwere in the shooting studio in Manchester or at ITV headquaters or on one of the actor’s walls at home perhaps..? =D I’ll probably never find out but if anyone reading this know what happened to this photo later, please let me know..! I would really like to know..!! I cannot think it’s been thrown away, because it’s just TOO FUN for that…! It’s like the picture of the year. This is like one of the most funniest pictures I’ve ever seen!! =D I wish I had a copy of my own to frame and put on my wall! I mean you just cannot NOT to laugh when you look at these two boys……..! *hugs*

Holocaust series finally up for a DVD release

Spotted on Amazon.co.uk that series Holocaust - with Meryl Streep a.o. - will FINALLY get a DVD release now on May 27 ; where Tom plays Nazi criminal and SS-officer Adolf Eichmann.

I remember watching this series long ago in the late 1980s or early 90s on TV in Sweden, but I only have a few memories of it. Of scenes with Meryl Streep and Rosemary Harris (cause I recognice them and their “look” from some stills I’ve seen later). Plus my mum have told me I watched it with her, and my mum knows these stuff. 8-) I remember like a few glimpses of the series, from some scenes and stuff; but incoherent and nothing really substatial. This was long before I became a Tom Bell fan, so I did not know he was in this series at all before I read it. I remember some Nazis in uniform, but no singular actor or face, just remeber them as the ”bad guys” (I was was like nine, so..).

This series has long been pretty hard to get (atleast in Sweden) since the VHS copies are no longer in print or hard to get (and there has been no DVD release before this upcoming one, to my knowledge..), so I had a hard time finding a copy. Cause ofcourse I wanted desperately to see it when I learned that Tom was in it..! When I finally managed to locate one at a rental place in Stockholm that had it, sadly the tape was in such bad condition that my video could hardly play it. It was an old copy (probably from the 80s!) and I could only watch about an hour or so, with great difficulty before I finally gave up (because the tape jumped, rolled and flickered every now and then + the sound also came and went.. and then all this increased… grrrr!): so SADLY I only got to see Tom’s first scene. Luckily, in his first scene, the tape and sound was pretty stable so I got a good look at it. But after that it went absolutely loco (so my much awaited Tom Bell time shrank away considerably and I ended up zapping away on TV instead..).

BUT; it didn’t all come to nothing… !

Cause what I had time to notice even during this brief watching was a really cool thing about his accent here (!) - which, as far as I could tell , is TOTALLY different from his own or others I’ve heard him use. It was totally cool! I remember I instantly reacted upon this… : He sort of speaks with a very polished, cold British, upper-classity accent, and I actually don’t think I’ve EVER heard him use that kind of an accent in any of his other roles..  Wicked!! Now, I have no idea if this is a specific “posh accent” in Britain (that Brits would recognise and can identify) (?) but I can say it was definately not scouse. ;-)

It was awesome! I just looooooooved it!!!! (and it gave the proper arsy air to Nazi Eichmann!)

Actually, now when I think about it, I’m not sure Tom always speaks scouse in all his other parts.. First of all I’m from Sweden, so me and English accents are not exactly compatible. :-D But I do recognice it’s scouse he speaks in Prime Suspect.. right?! But I haven’t really thought about if he often varies accents and stuff in his parts (?) .. maybe he does, but not as pronounced so that someone like me (meaning Swedish ;-) ) would notice a different. As he was from Liverpool, I have just guessed that scouse (or whatever it is he speaks in Prime Suspect - something like it, or?) was also his natural accent..  or ? Anyway, it’s a totally HOT accent, btw -  but we’re not going down that road now… ;-) Heh.

I haven’t really thought about that one before; if he as an actor often used to variate accents in his parts… and use different English dialects. Now I must start thinking about it some more and try to listen a bit more carefully..!

Anyway, looking forward to see the WHOLE Holocaust series now on the new DVD and all Tom’s scenes - as his appeareance here is said to be really, really great (and from the one and only scene I got to see with him, I can definately say that it was, he was really good!!). Hopefully it will reach Sweden soon and not be too expensive…! =)

Here’s a rare still with Tom (as Eichmann; in the centre) from that very scene:

Some bananas…

One of these Tom Bell productions where I haven’t been able to find neither a VHS or a DVD release is BBC’s 1996 TV series No Bananas. This is sad because I enjoyed this series very much when it was shown on Swedish SVT around 1997/1998 (yes! - it was shown in Sweden! =D). Tom plays the head of one of the two main families featured in the series; the Slaters. As his wife here, Mrs Slater, we see the really wonderful actress Linda Bassett! And alongside them; great actors such as Alison Steadman, Michael Byrne and Stephanie Beacham show up - all giving great performances! In the series were also a great deal of archive clips from WW2 London and England, if I recall correctly, as a background to the drama story delivered (the son of the Slater family falls in love with and marries the girl of the a bit more posher, middle-classy Hamilton family). A really great, enjoyable series!

But no DVD or VHS release so far, as it seems. However, I managed to find the soundtrack (!) to it, or atleast a small scan of the cover of the soundtrack, which features a picture of the whole cast including Tom (with a HUGE smile, standing; back-row, out to the left). I think this is the wedding pic in the series, when the children of two families marry…

I also found this book cover, using a photo from the series…

Hopefully this is a series that will be released sometime in the future..!

*swooon*

 

When friends don’t get my Tom Bell worship ;) (I admit, it can be a bit hard if you’re only watching Tom in parts such as in Lava or The Krays.. ;)), then a picture such as this one above - with Tom Bell and Mary Peach from film A Ballad In Blue (aka Blues For Lovers) - usually does the trick and makes them shut up a bit! =)

Yeah, this is one of my *swooon* pics, definately! ;) I think he looks very boyish and cute here! It’s a publicity still for the 1964 film, which features the great Ray Charles in a rare on screen appearance from the 60s (he made some guest appearances in some films and TV shows later on; but then from the 80s and onwards, this was his first one). Cool. The film is supposed to be really bad, though. It’s got 3.4 at IMDb at the moment… ;) But hey, I could watch a film where Tom just walks past the camera in one scene without no lines whatsoever and be totally over excited, so for me it doesn’t matter. And considering his look in this photo above… well, I can’t see how I couldn’t enjoy this film… ;)

And I mean, Ray Charles is Ray Charles, people…! (so what I mean, you can just close your eyes in all the rest of the scenes where Tom doesn’t appear and then just listen to the soundtrack!!!) <— positive thinking

I have some lobby cards and stills from Ballad In Blue as well, so don’t surf too far….. ! *:)

A poster gem!

Found this rare (!) Masterpiece Theatre poster (a magazine page ad) for Sons & Lovers the other day; the BBC adaption of D.H. Lawrence’s novel that Tom starred in together with Eileen Atkins in 1981.

I can definately see Eileen Atkins in the lady here, but I must say found it harder to see a resemblance of Tom in the drawing of the man, but… ;) Great drawing and poster anyway! Would love to see this of course.. But it’s a fat chance, since 1). It’s got only 12 votes (as of now) on its IMDb page, which says A LOT about how hard-to-get this production is 2). I have found no VHS or DVD release of it (if there ever was one) that’s still available somewhere and 3). I live in Sweden, and a screening of such an old BBC mini-series is probably ruled out over here… :-/

Ah, well… I’ll just have to read the novel and picture Tom as Walter Morel!  :-) <— the budget way! ;-) So far I’ve only read Lady Chatterley’s Lover of Lawrence, and I wasn’t too impressed of that one.. (I actually thought it was kind of bad written… I wasn’t really impressed by his style of writing; I kind of felt his characters were a bit carbon-figure-like and that he always repeated himself in his description of the sex/love scenes, using the same words and phrases, sort of…). But perhaps Lawrence can win me back with this one..! =)

Prime Suspect: The Final Act - Amazing Fan Trailer

It was after I watched the MAGNIFICENT (!) last episode of the Prime Suspect-series that I learned that Tom had passed away when I surfed in on the IMDb to check up what other projects he was doing. I was definately chocked, even though I of course did noticed he looked frail in The Final Act. But of course I didn’t think he was that ill (that he must have been)… But I was just so glad too see him as Bill Otley again! Prime Suspect 3 is and will always be my favourite episode in the series, and that’s because of Tom’s part in it and the whole Otley/Tennison interaction. It brought so much to the series! And I think he was absolutely great in The Final Act episode, and once again the Tennison/Otley scenes gave so much to depth to the story. And I’ve always thought that Helen Mirren and him had the best scenes in this series. I don’t know how much he cared about the series himself, but he really couldn’t have wished for a better ending of Prime Suspect or for his own character; it was incredibly poignant, touching and strong that Otley was the one that would be there for her - and to eventually actually save her life. I’m really sad he didn’t live to see the great reviews it got (if he feared, for some reason, that it wouldn’t be good) but I hope he felt and was proud of his part! He should!! I am so extremely grateful he decided to take on the part of Otley again!!

I heard that Lynda La Plante wasn’t too happy with how the story wrapped up, or with the whole alcoholism-storyline, but I definately loved it, I think it was important and strong, and I think the high rating it’s got at IMDb, the great reviews it got by critics and fans shows how much it was liked.. It became a personal, unique ending. It was incredibly well-acted and well-directed in every aspect, and the storyline felt believable to me in the way we’ve been following Tennison’s career - and her failed relationships and non-existing private life. Top notch drama quality! I really will miss this series… it has just been an incredible privelidge to been able and get to follow a character for so long… I mean.. wow! That’s one of the uniquenesses with Prime Suspect: it has sort of lived with you and you with it.. ;) I remember watching the first episodes with my mum and dad in the 1990s (in retrospect I can’t grasp how they ever could let me watch it - I was like ten or eleven - considering the forensic and violent elements of it, especially for the time when it came along; but they did and I loved it!) and I just LOVED Tennison; she was strong, fierce, uncompromising, bitchy - but oh so wonderful! She has definately been a real icon, no question about that!!

I will be writing much more later on about the early Prime Suspect episodes, because I was just floored by Tom in these episodes 1 and 3. More so now as I’ve re-watched the whole series again. Tom is just SO fierce in his part (and he should have had that BAFTA!)!

Anyway, until then, enjoy this amazing fan made trailer of the last episode (watch out for Tom at the end…)!