
Acting
John Bentley
Born — Died
1916-12-02 — 2009-08-13
Place of birth
Sparkhill, Birmingham, England, UK
Known for
Acting
Credits
48 titles
John Bentley was born on December 2, 1916 in Sparkhill, Birmingham, England. He was an actor, known for Calling Paul Temple (1948), Final Appointment (1954) and Salute the Toff (1952). He was married to Patricia Smith. He died on August 13, 2009 in Petworth, West Sussex, England.
Known for
5.5Crossroads is a British television soap opera set in a fictional motel near Birmingham, England. Created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling, the commercial ITV network originally broadcast the series between 1964 and 1988. Produced by ATV and later by Central it became a byword for cheap production values, particularly in the 1970s and early 1980s. The series was revived in a glossier version by Carlton Television in 2001, but was again cancelled in 2003. The original theme tune was composed by Tony Hatch, and notably covered by Paul McCartney & Wings on their 1975 album Venus and Mars. A new version, which was first aired in 1987 when the series was relaunched as Crossroads, Kings Oak, was composed by Raf Ravenscroft and Max Early.
Crossroads
1964
7.2The adventures of Interpol policemen Duval and Mornay as they fought against international drug-running, homicide, robbery and forgery.
Interpol Calling
1959
7.2No synopsis available yet.
The Third Man
1959
8.0A half-hour 1950s detective television series that took different forms and titles during its run. From October 1951 to June 1954, ABC Mystery Theater stars Tom Conway as the titular character, a plainclothes English detective working with the NYPD Homicide Division. The Vise (seasons 1–4): Donald Gray portrays Saber as a one-armed private detective based in London. Broadcast on ABC from October 1954 to June 1957. Saber of London (seasons 5–7): Gray reprises his role in this final iteration, broadcast on NBC from September 1957 to May 1960.
Mark Saber
1954
Thursday Theatre is a British television anthology programme produced by and aired on the BBC from 1964–1965. The productions ranged in duration from 75 to 95 minutes. Out of the 23 episodes, 13 are believed lost, and one is incomplete.
Thursday Theatre
1964
Armchair Mystery Theatre is a 60-minute United Kingdom television anthology mystery series. Thirty-four episodes aired from 1960-65. It was hosted by Donald Pleasence and produced by Leonard White.
Armchair Mystery Theatre
1960
Film credits
1960s · 7 titles
A reporter feigns death, in order to trap a fugitive and uncover a spy ring.
The Fur Collar
1962
6.4A Roman Catholic priest defies a Mexican bandit whose gang kills villagers in alphabetical order.
The Singer Not the Song
1961
NRA Christmas TV special in which Alice does not go through a looking glass, but through a TV set.
Alice Through the Looking Box
1960
10.0When a corpse is found in the Thames, the only clue is that the dead man was killed by a karate or judo expert.
The Sinister Man
1961
6.9Water is a scarce and sometimes dangerous resource in the Swiss Mountain Village. Anytime the wooden pipe is damaged and the supply breaks, one man from the village is determined by "unlucky" draw to take on the life-threatening repairs.
Sacred Waters
1960
4.0A theatrical impresario tries to win a bet with a psychiatrist over the production of a perfect baby.
Mary Had a Little...
1961
5.2Steve, newly arrived in Trieste, saves Tina from being shot in her own night-club. She engages him as a bodyguard come detective, giving him a list of names and a map she has inherited. Steve discovers that her father was blackmailing a group of traitors and the map locates money hidden in Somaliland with evidence of their guilt. Having contacted all the names, they leave for Africa taking Nadia in place of her father who is killed. Michael tries to persuade her to join him against the others and escapes when she refuses. Later, in the caves he re-appears and in the ensuing fight falls over a cliff edge after the money. Steve throws the incriminating document after him. Melodrama involving a treasure hunt and an old blackmail system during the war, which is cleared up by a bodyguard.
Shadow of Treason
1963
1950s · 29 titles
6.0A suspected diamond smuggler returns to Istanbul and finds the lady love he thought was dead...or does he?
Istanbul
1957
6.1A pair of reporters try to discover the link between three unsolved, seemingly isolated murders. The only connection between them is they all took place on the same day in three successive years. The police don't trust their instincts - but as 10th July nears again, a solicitor has started receiving threatening letters...
Final Appointment
1954
9.0A husband-and-wife detective team look into the murder of one of her friends, whose father--a prominent scientist--has been kidnapped. They find themselves up against a sinister crime organization headed by a mysterious figure known only as "Z".
Paul Temple's Triumph
1950
6.7Nutbourne College, an old established, all-boys, boarding school is told that another school is to be billeted with due to wartime restrictions. The shock is that it's an all-girls school that has been sent. The two head teachers are soon battling for the upper hand with each other and the Ministry. But a crisis (or two) forces them to work together.
The Happiest Days of Your Life
1950
6.3A falling-out between thieves over the proceeds of a stickup results in several deaths and a priest being marked for murder because of a confession he receives from one of the gang members.
Confession
1955
As her friend suffers from a violent appendicitis attack, Ellen takes her to a London hospital in the dead of night. Despite the night nurse's reticence, her friend is taken into care. Two surgeons are on call this night and one of them performs the operation. But Ellen's relief is short-lived for, while leaving the hospital, she surprises an alarming conversation about what the hospital's real activities are. Feeling threatened, she takes refuge in the room of a patient and to her horror she realizes the man is dead! Worse, he has just been operated on by one of the two surgeons on duty. Obviously one of them is a manic killer but which one?
White Corridors
1956
6.5A chance photograph may reveal a murderer's identity - and someone's after the photographer!
Double Exposure
1954
John Bentley stars as a man who returns home to claim his inheritance. He soon learns his half brother has spent his fortune and is mixed up with jewel thieves
Bait
1950
8.0The organising force of a family of musical prodigies, Robert Mansell is a frustrated composer in seach of one thing personal happiness. This search, however, has landed him in the divorce courts and the judge's summary does not paint him in a favourable light.
The Woman's Angle
1952
7.0A story of two brothers, both writers of crime novels, one a fine, upstanding gentleman and the other a moody, neurotic, psychopath. The other is determined to create a 'faked' version of a perfect crime he intends to commit when an ex-convict visits them. They are both in love with their shared-stenographer-secretary.
Torment
1950
5.1For his first command in the Pacific war a by-the-book officer is ordered to take his submarine on a reconnaissance mission to locate a fleet of Japanese fighting ships the Allies have lost track of. At first, the rest of the crew resent his distant manner and the way he keeps avoiding taking on the Japs.
Submarine Seahawk
1958
6.1A serial killer terrorizes London. Each victim is found with a telegram signed "The Marquis." There seems to be no other common thread between the victims, and Scotland Yard is baffled. Novelist and amateur sleuth, Paul Temple, is warned to stay away from the case, but he and his glamorous wife Steve can never refuse a good mystery.
Paul Temple Returns
1952
5.7Story of a chorus girl who is "discovered" and finds romance during the unraveling of a mystery in a once derelict theatre.
Tread Softly
1952
4.9Caught in a loveless marriage, Dr. John Winnington (Ronald Howard) can't stop himself from falling for his wife's (Mary Laura Wood) younger sister, Christine (Olga Edwardes). But when he suddenly becomes the prime suspect in his wife's tragic murder, John relies on his friend Eric (John Bentley) to clear his name. This classic murder mystery encourages viewers to evaluate all of the clues and guess the killer's identity.
Black Orchid
1953
4.5An ex-GI wakes up with blood on his clothes in a strange hotel room. He can't remember the night before but he later finds out that a man he got into a fight with earlier in the night was murdered.
The Big Frame
1952
5.7The Toff solves the mystery of a missing employer. One of the BFi's most wanted films.
Salute the Toff
1952
Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.
A Christmas Carol
1950
6.3British diamond smugglers use the radiowoman (Phyllis Kirk) from a freighter docked on the Thames to unwittingly "mule" their swag, hidden in cigarettes, past customs, not knowing that she has befriended an Inspector for the Thames River Patrol.
River Beat
1954
6.5In colonial Kenya, chief's son believes he must kill another tribe's chief in ancient ritual before he can claim father's throne; district officer and female reporter try to stop him before he breaks colonial law.
The Scarlet Spear
1954
10.0No synopsis available yet.
Escape in the Sun
1956
10.0A clerk in a law office investigates a murder, and finds that nearly all her colleagues at work have a motive.
She Shall Have Murder
1950
4.9A man tells his wife that the police are after him for having killed a bookie during an alcoholic binge, but that he is innocent and is being framed for the murder. The wife and her brother hide him and try to find out who the real killer was. The more they investigate, the more holes they begin to find in the husband's story.
Dial 999
1955
An adventure story dealing with the building of a railway in Africa at the turn of the century.
Men Against the Sun
1953
6.0A race car driver marries a woman for her money and plans to murder her. An old suitor steps in to help her but the driver takes steps to eliminate the rival. But there's a flaw in the driver's plans.
The Flaw
1955
6.0A Hungarian Secret Service official attempts to defect the country and earn political asylum in the West.
Flight from Vienna
1956
6.4A detective proves that a Robin Hood-type crook did not steal a metal formula.
Hammer the Toff
1952
6.0Set amid the magnificent scenery of the Kenyan bush, this safari adventure from 1954 depicts the many dangers faced by a group of British settlers in East Africa during the last decade of the nineteenth century.
Golden Ivory
1954
The editor of a magazine falls in love with the publisher's daughter. The only trouble is that the publisher's wife quite fancies him as well. Then he's accused of embezzling funds.
Profile
1954
5.8Henry Crossley is an artist whose wife is spending a week's holiday with her aunt. But when her aunt comes to see him, worried because her niece has not arrived, a police investigation into her disappearance begins. It seems that Henry was fully occupied at the time his wife went missing; but is his alibi completely truthful?
Stolen Assignment
1955
1940s · 3 titles
4.5Eileen Hannay (Dinah Sheridan) is the singing star of an Irish operatic society but gives up to marry Terry O'Keefe (John Bentley).
The Hills of Donegal
1947
6.7Paul Temple is called in to help Scotland Yard track down a serial killer who has murdered several wealthy women.
Calling Paul Temple
1948
Ten people are invited to a summer party on an island oft the Devon coast. They are an extremely varied group from a blustering major to a frigid spinster. The only thing they have in common is that they were each involved in a case of unexpected death. They soon find something very odd about their invitations, and then they start to die, one by one. But who is the murderer and where is he hiding.
Ten Little Indians
1949
Series credits
5.5Crossroads is a British television soap opera set in a fictional motel near Birmingham, England. Created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling, the commercial ITV network originally broadcast the series between 1964 and 1988. Produced by ATV and later by Central it became a byword for cheap production values, particularly in the 1970s and early 1980s. The series was revived in a glossier version by Carlton Television in 2001, but was again cancelled in 2003. The original theme tune was composed by Tony Hatch, and notably covered by Paul McCartney & Wings on their 1975 album Venus and Mars. A new version, which was first aired in 1987 when the series was relaunched as Crossroads, Kings Oak, was composed by Raf Ravenscroft and Max Early.
Crossroads
1964
7.2The adventures of Interpol policemen Duval and Mornay as they fought against international drug-running, homicide, robbery and forgery.
Interpol Calling
1959
7.2No synopsis available yet.
The Third Man
1959
8.0A half-hour 1950s detective television series that took different forms and titles during its run. From October 1951 to June 1954, ABC Mystery Theater stars Tom Conway as the titular character, a plainclothes English detective working with the NYPD Homicide Division. The Vise (seasons 1–4): Donald Gray portrays Saber as a one-armed private detective based in London. Broadcast on ABC from October 1954 to June 1957. Saber of London (seasons 5–7): Gray reprises his role in this final iteration, broadcast on NBC from September 1957 to May 1960.
Mark Saber
1954
Thursday Theatre is a British television anthology programme produced by and aired on the BBC from 1964–1965. The productions ranged in duration from 75 to 95 minutes. Out of the 23 episodes, 13 are believed lost, and one is incomplete.
Thursday Theatre
1964
Armchair Mystery Theatre is a 60-minute United Kingdom television anthology mystery series. Thirty-four episodes aired from 1960-65. It was hosted by Donald Pleasence and produced by Leonard White.
Armchair Mystery Theatre
1960
Inspector Paul Derek is based in Nairobi, Kenya but travels throughout the colonial territory solving crimes. The nature of the bad behavior is often unique to the African locale. The phone number at the office is 1356.
African Patrol
1958


