Michael Balfour

Michael Balfour possessed a chubby, lived-in face which seemed to convey a perpetual state of bewilderment. The ubiquitous character actor tended to pop up in just about every second 50's or 60's British B-movie or television episode, which usually found him typecast as obtuse cabbies, wisecracking sidekicks or dumb thugs. When his screen career began to slow down in the late 70's, he went on tour with European circuses as a clown. Balfour started his acting career on the repertory stage in 1936. Sometime in the mid-40's he decided to pass himself off as a former Detroit-born child actor in order to join the cast of a London production of "Born Yesterday". From then on, the American accent and leather bomber jacket became part of his screen personae. Indeed, he was so convincing, that some reference sources still cite him to this day as being American (he was actually born in Kent). In addition to being a performer, Balfour was also an accomplished painter and sculptor.