Eddie Powell (March 9, 1927 – August 11, 2000) was an English stunt performer and actor who portrayed the Alien Warriors in the 1986 film Aliens. He also portrayed the Alien in the 1979 film Alien in the scenes where Brett and Dallas are attacked, although he was not credited for this role. Other notable films Powell appeared in include Where Eagles Dare (1968), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Batman (1989), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) and multiple films in the James Bond series.
Work[]
Alien[]
- "The other, um, sci-fi film I'm known for is a film that Ridley Scott did on the Alien, and I was brought in to play the Alien. Um, the original person pulled out right at the very beginning, didn't want to know about it, so I took over. And, um, I said to the producer three-quarters of the way through the film that, uh, I hope I'm going to get the main credit for this. [...] I just got it for the action for the Alien, which really upset me."
- ―Powell in the 1995 documentary Dalekmania[1]
When it was still planned to have the Alien costume be transparent, Powell donned one of the prototype costumes. Plaster casts of Powell were also made, presumably to construct a costume that fit him. For Powell (and main Alien actor Bolaji Badejo), putting on the Alien costume was a "terrible ordeal", taking at least an hour to get ready. Additionally, Powell couldn't "see a thing" once inside the suit.[2]
Powell in the Alien costume.[3]
Powell portrayed the Alien during Brett (Harry Dean Stanton)'s death scene. Wearing a steel wire rig, Powell was strung up above the Nostromo's landing gear. Scenes filmed with Powell included him being curled up, dangling above Brett and then slowly unfolding himself in a "Christ-like" fashion, close-ups of the Alien "admiring" and then attacking Brett and close-ups of the Alien's head. Director Ridley Scott made the scene be reshot numerous times until he was satisfied with the results, making Powell have to endure being hung upside down constantly and quickly hoisted up into the air.
In addition to Brett's death scenes, Powell portrayed the Alien when it attacked Dallas inside the ship's air ducts, as Badejo was too large to fit in the ducts, and in the scene where it is finally incinerated in the Narcissus' engines.[4]
Although the "Christ-like" shots of Powell in the Alien costume were cut from the 1979 theatrical release of the film, one of them was reinstated in the 2003 Director's Cut and the rest made it as extra footage on the Alien Quadrilogy box set. As Scott only wanted to show glimpses of the Alien, the additional close-ups of the Alien were also cut from the theatrical release.
Filmography[]
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1958 | The Vikings | Uncredited |
| 1959 | The Mummy | Uncredited |
| 1961 | The Guns of Navarone | Uncredited |
| 1963 | A Place to Go | Uncredited |
| Jason and the Argonauts | Uncredited | |
| From Russia with Love | Uncredited | |
| 1964 | The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb | |
| 1965 | She | Uncredited |
| 1966 | Dracula: Prince of Darkness | Uncredited |
| Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. | ||
| 1967 | You Only Live Twice | Uncredited |
| The Mummy's Shroud | ||
| 1968 | The Devil Rides Out | Uncredited |
| The Lost Continent | ||
| Dracula Has Risen from the Grave | Uncredited | |
| Where Eagles Dare | Uncredited | |
| 1970 | Taste the Blood of Dracula | Uncredited |
| Kelly's Heroes | Uncredited; with Harry Dean Stanton | |
| Scars of Dracula | Uncredited | |
| 1971 | Diamonds Are Forever | Uncredited |
| 1972 | Dracula A.D. 1972 | Uncredited |
| 1973 | Live and Let Die | Uncredited; with Yaphet Kotto |
| 1974 | The Mutations | |
| The Man with the Golden Gun | Uncredited | |
| 1976 | To the Devil a Daughter | Uncredited |
| 1977 | The Spy Who Loved Me | Uncredited; with Clive Curtis, Nick Gillard and Roy Scammell |
| 1978 | The Boys from Brazil | |
| 1979 | Dracula | |
| Alien | ||
| 1980 | The Sea Wolves | Uncredited |
| Flash Gordon | With John Lees and Roy Scammell | |
| 1981 | For Your Eyes Only | Uncredited; with Clive Curtis, Charles Dance, Nick Gillard, John Lees and Roy Scammell |
| 1983 | Octopussy | Uncredited; with William H. Burton, Jr., Clive Curtis and Tip Tipping |
| Never Say Never Again | Uncredited; with Clive Curtis and Tip Tipping | |
| Krull | Uncredited; with Nick Gillard and Tip Tipping | |
| 1984 | Top Secret! | With Clive Curtis and Mac McDonald |
| 1985 | Howling II: Stirba - Werewolf Bitch | |
| A View to a Kill | Uncredited; with Simon Crane, Clive Curtis and Trevor Steedman | |
| Enemy Mine | ||
| Legend | Uncredited; with Nick Gillard, directed by Ridley Scott | |
| 1986 | Aliens | |
| Half Moon Street | Uncredited; with Andy Lucas, Mac McDonald and Sigourney Weaver | |
| 1987 | The Living Daylights | Uncredited; with Nick Gillard |
| 1988 | Buster | With Ralph Brown, Vincenzo Nicoli and Tip Tipping |
| High Spirits | ||
| Willow | With Simon Crane, Nick Gillard, Roy Scammell and Tip Tipping | |
| 1989 | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade | With Simon Crane, Nick Gillard, Paul Maxwell and Tip Tipping |
| Batman | With Carl Chase, Simon Crane, Clive Curtis, Christopher Fairbank, Leon Herbert, Mac McDonald, Mark Anthony Newman and Tip Tipping | |
| Erik the Viking | Uncredited | |
| 1990 | Nuns on the Run | With Roy Scammell |
| Shipwrecked | ||
| 1991 | The Miracle | Uncredited |
| Robin Hood | Uncredited; with Danny Webb | |
| A Kiss Before Dying | ||
| Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves | With Simon Crane, Clive Curtis, Nick Gillard, Mark Anthony Newman, Denise Ryan, Tip Tipping and Michael Wincott | |
| 1996 | Daylight | With Dan Hedaya, John Lees, Mark Anthony Newman and Mark Rolston |
Trivia[]
- Owing to the relatively small pool of talented stuntmen in Great Britain during the 1980s and early 1990s, Simon Crane, Clive Curtis, Nick Gillard, Mark Anthony Newman, Eddie Powell, Roy Scammell, Trevor Steedman and Tip Tipping often worked together on high-profile action films made in the UK during that time. Many of these films were shot at Pinewood Studios.
Gallery[]
![A picture of the Alien signed by Powell.[5]](/wiki/File:Eddie_Powell_signed_picture.jpg "Eddie Powell signed picture.jpg (47 KB)")
![Eddie Powell in Dalekmania.[1]](/wiki/File:Eddie_Powell_in_Dalekmania.png "Eddie Powell in Dalekmania.png (1.14 MB)")
![Ditto.[1]](/wiki/File:Eddie_Powell_in_Dalekmania_2.png "Eddie Powell in Dalekmania 2.png (1.21 MB)")
External Links[]
- Eddie Powell at the Internet Movie Database
- Eddie Powell on Wikipedia
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Kevin Davies (director). Dalekmania (1995), Amity Productions [DVD].
- ↑ Cinfantastique, p. 36 (Autumn 1979), Frederick S. Clarke.
- ↑ http://imgur.com/a/VWsI3
- ↑ Ridley Scott, Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett, H. R. Giger, Ivor Powell. The Alien Legacy (1999), Sharpline Arts [DVD].
- ↑ http://smg.photobucket.com/user/BigJim73/media/Autographs/EddiePowellAlien1979ALIENwithCOA_zps576d6e8a.jpg.html