Nosher Powell

Frederick Powell (15 August 1928 – 20 April 2013),[1] credited as Nosher Powell, Freddie Powell, or Fred Powell, was an English actor, stuntman, and boxer.

Powell on the front of his 1999 book Nosher!

Life and career

Powell was born in Camberwell, London, England.[2] His younger brother, Dinny Powell (Dennis Powell, born 1932 in Camberwell) followed a similar career, acting and stunt co-ordinating many films, as have his sons Greg Powell and Gary Powell.[3]

Powell had an extensive but mostly uncredited career in stunt work and acting, including as stuntman in 14 James Bond films.[2][4] Amongst his TV work, was the role of the powerful thug Lord Dorking in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), in 1969.[5] On 26 April 1972 he was guest of honour in an episode in the UK version of This Is Your Life.[6]

Apart from his acting career, Powell was a heavyweight boxing champion in the worlds of unlicensed fighting and the professional arena. He also worked as a sparring partner for Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali, amongst others.[7] The last fight of his career was against Menzies Johnson in 1960. Powell won the fight on points, over eight rounds.[7]

According to his autobiography, Powell had a total of seventy-eight fights: fifty-one as a professional, with nine losses, though he was never knocked out.[8] Boxrec.com, though, lists Powell as losing sixteen times as a professional, with nine of those losses being by KO, two by TKO and five on points.[9]

He also acted as a "minder" for a number of celebrities, including John Paul Getty Jr. and Sammy Davis, Jr.[10]

Death

Powell died in his sleep on 20 April 2013.[1] The news was reported via the official Nosher Powell website and actress Françoise Pascal on Facebook.

Filmography

References
  1. "Official Nosher Powell Web-Site". Nosherpowell.awardspace.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 March 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  2. "Nosher Powell". BFI.
  3. "The family who do stunts for James Bond", The Times, 24 May 2009
  4. "Nosher Powell: Boxer, actor and Bond stuntman". The Independent. 29 April 2013.
  5. "CTVA UK - "Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased)" (ITC)(1969-70) starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope, Annette Andre". ctva.biz.
  6. "Life in the Ring". www.bigredbook.info.
  7. Morton, James (26 April 2013). "Nosher Powell obituary" – via www.theguardian.com.
  8. Powell, Nosher; Hall, William (2001). Nosher!. John Blake Publishing. pp. 93–96. ISBN 1-85782-491-1.
  9. "BoxRec: Fred Powell". boxrec.com.
  10. "Fred ('Nosher') Powell". Daily Telegraph. 26 April 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
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