Michael Craig

Born in India to a British military officer, Michael Craig was in his teens when he entered films in 1949 as an extra, or, as Leslie Halliwell so euphemistically put it, a "crowd artist." That same year, Craig made his inaugural stage appearance in The Merchant of Venice. Groomed for stardom by the Rank Organisation, he began receiving speaking parts in 1954. On the whole, his stage work, which consisted largely of Shakespeare, was more rewarding than his film efforts. As leading man in such films as Upstairs and Downstairs (1959) and Mysterious Island (1961), Craig was required to do little more beyond looking handsome and dependable. One of his few movie roles of substance was in The Angry Silence (1960), which he co-wrote (he would later contribute to the script of 1981's The Killing of Angel Street). Michael Craig was seen to better advantage in later years as a character actor.