Anthony Steel

At 80 years old, Anthony Steel has this physical status:

Anthony Maitland Steel (1920 – 21 March 2001) was an English actor and singer best known for his appearances in British war films of the 1950s, including The Wooden Horse (1950), as well as his marriage to Anita Ekberg.

"A brilliant throwback to the Golden Age of Empire... the ultimate imperial actor, born out of his time, blue-eyed, square-jawed, clean cut" was described as "a magnificent throwback to the Golden Age of Empire." "If a chunky dependable hero was expected to be portrayed under pressure in wartime or the fears of a game warden in a remote part of the empire," one writer wrote, "Steel was certain to be called on."

Personal life

Steel was married three times:

When Steel was co-starring in Something Money Can't Buy in 1952, they had an affair with actress Patricia Roc, which culminated in the birth of Michael, his son. Both Steel and Roc were married at the time, he to Juanita Forbes and she to André Thomas, but Thomas decided to bring up Michael as his own. Anne Hanson, a young boy who was then 35, was engaged to his secretary, age 20, in 1954. Penelope Steel was their one daughter. At the time, his involvement and subsequent marriage to Ekberg were widely publicized.

Ekberg later claimed he hit her

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Early life and career

Anthony Steel was born in Chelsea, the son of an Indian army officer Edward Edward (1897–1965) who later became an actor and Kathleen Yate Lee (d. 1962).

Steel spent the majority of his childhood in India (in Lahore) and was not educated until he was 14 years old at Alexander House Prep School, Broadstairs, Kent. He continued his studies at home with a tutor before attending Trinity College, Cambridge.

When the Second World War broke out, Steel had only been at Cambridge for a year. He joined the Grenadier Guards at the age of 18 and was evacuated from Dunkirk in May 1940. He was granted a commission and spent time in the Middle East, where he was seriously wounded on patrol. He qualified as a parachutist and made nine operational leaps. He was ranked among the top players in the war.

Steel decided to become an actor after demobilization. He worked with a pick and shovel at Clapham Junction for a week. According to a filmink review, "Nature gave him height, beauty, a full head of hair, and a natural speaking voice; he didn't have much natural talent, but the first four things are often more important when it comes to finding acting jobs."

He began to appear on stage, including opposite Margaret Lockwood in Roses for Her Pillow, a stage version of 'Tote a Dream's special performance by Rank contract artists. He was dating a niece of J. Arthur Rank, who introduced Steel to her uncle at a party. Rank has since been committed to a long-term contract with his company.

Steel was educated at Rank's "charm academy" and was given a slow buildup with small roles in several films, beginning with Saraband's Dead Lovers (1948). He appeared in A Piece of Cake (1948), Portrait of Life (1948), Once Upon a Dream (1949), Marry Me! (1949), Quartet (1948), The Blue Lamp (1949), Trottie True (1949), Poet's Pub (1949), Don't Ever Leave Me (1949), Christopher Columbus (1949), and The Chiltern Hundreds (1949). In repertory at Aldershot and Worthington, he appeared on stage.

He applied unsuccessfully for a part of Walt Disney's Treasure Island (1950).

Later career

In a 1974 episode of Thriller (I'm The Girl He Wants To Kill), he appeared on television as Mr Burton (I'm The Girl He Wants To Kill). He appeared in Crossroads for more than four weeks as a conman. He also appeared on shows such as Bergerac, Robin of Sherwood, and the hard-hitting police drama The Female Factor, in which he played Sir Charles Milvern, a government minister who is snared in a honey trap.

Fiona Richmond made two softcore films: Hardcore (1977) and Let's Get Laid (1977). "In hindsight, Steel may have been most convincing cast on a long-running series in which he played a man of authority, such as a silver fox doctor or a chief inspector on a detective show," one writer wrote. It didn't happen."

In the 1980s, he appeared on stage, and his last appearance was in Cinderella, a pantomime at Birmingham's Alexandra Theatre in 1989. He lived in a tiny apartment in Northolt, west London, for a number of years.

His then agent, David Daly, said that:

Sir John Mills attempted to rehouse him in 1995 through the Actors Benevolent Fund, but Steel refused.

Steel told a journalist in 1997:

Daly has arranged for him to move into Denville Hall, a London retirement home for actors. He appeared in the television series The Broker's Man just a few years before his death.

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