Murray Melvin

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Murray Melvin
as Billis Manger in Torchwood (2006)
Born	1932 London
Notable roles	Geoffrey in A Taste of Honey

Murray Melvin (born 1932, London, England) is a British stage and film actor.

He is best known for having created the role of Geoffrey on stage in the Shelagh Delaney play A Taste of Honey, a role which he recreated opposite Rita Tushingham in the 1961 film of the same name. In 1962 he won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for his performance, and was also nominated for the BAFTA Most Promising Newcomer award.

Melvin joined Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop company at the Theatre Royal Stratford East while still a student^[1]. In 1958, he appeared in productions of Brendan Behan's The Hostage and A Taste of Honey. In 1963, he was in the original cast of Oh! What a Lovely War.

He appeared in the very first episode of the cult television series The Avengers in 1960. Melvin's other film appearances have included roles in Alfie, and since 1964, regular appearances in the films of director Ken Russell, beginning with Diary of a Nobody and continuing withThe Devils (film). He also had an important role in Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon (1975). In 2004 he appeared as Monsieur Reyer, the musical director and conductor of the Opera Populaire, in the Joel Schumacher adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom of the Opera.

More recently, Melvin has returned to the Theatre Royal in Stratford as a trustee and archivist. He also appeared as the sinister Bilis Manger in the Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood.