Sydney Tafler


Sydney Tafler was an English actor remembered for numerous appearances in films and on British television from the 1940s to the 1970s.

Personal life

Tafler was born into a Jewish family, the son of Eva and Mark Tafler, an antique dealer. His sister, Hylda, married the film director Lewis Gilbert. Another sister, Sheila, was also an actress.
He was married to the English film actress Joy Shelton from 1941 until his death from cancer; they had three children – two sons, Jeremy and Jonathan, and a daughter, Jennifer.

Career

After two years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Tafler first appeared on stage in London's West End in 1936, with Sir Seymour Hicks in The Man in Dress Clothes. His other stage roles included Goldberg in a production of Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party, directed by the playwright, a role he later took in the 1968 film version.
On British television he appeared alongside Sid James in Citizen James. His other television work included Angel Pavement, The Gentle Killers, The Infernal Machine, Focus, Dixon of Dock Green and Hadleigh. He appeared in many films from 1947 to 1977. He most commonly played spiv characters, one notable exception being the film Reach for the Sky in which he played the prosthetics expert to Douglas Bader. There again, he appeared briefly in a drily comic role as a uniformed policeman in the film The Cockleshell Heroes. His film career ended with a role as the captain of the supertanker Liparus in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.

Selected filmography

Film