John Swindells
Birthday: Born in 1931-06-22 in Liverpool, England, UK
Deathday: Alive
John Swindells, a Liverpool native and former student of Quarry Bank Grammar School and Liverpool College of Art, established his international career in the arts. Settled in Victoria, B.C., since 1973, he's known for leading roles across UK stages, Toronto, Canadian theatres, and even in New York and US regional theatres. His work spans television, including 65 episodes of “Z.Cars” as Sgt Ted Bowman (BBC, 1970-1973) and a role as Inspector Ted Bowman in CBC’s “Side Street” (1977-1980). He portrayed J.E.H. McDonald in CBC’s “The Passionate Canadians,” which focused on the "Group of Seven" artists. He made a guest appearance in “B.L. Stryker” (US). Swindells notably played First Technician in Stanley Kubrick's landmark film “2001: A Space Odyssey”. His biography is included in “Who’s Who in the Theatre, Contemporary Stage, Film, and Television” (1983).
TV Credits
Shadows of Fear
Character: Postman
Anthology series in which characters find themselves in weird and scary situations. Not evoked by the supernatural but by other people....
Sidestreet
Character: Inspector Ted Bowman (1976-78)
Sidestreet was a Canadian television drama, which aired Sundays on CBC from 1975 to 1978. It starred Sean McCann and Donnelly Rhodes as police working the mean streets of 1970s Toronto. The producers of "Sidestreet:" wanted to feature community service officers instead of ordinary detectives. They aimed to concentrate on issues such as blockbusting, strikebreaking, rape, poverty, and the problems of the elderly in the city, instead of major crimes....
Movie Credits
The Women of Windsor
Character: Police Instructor
Sisters-in-law Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, and Diana Spencer, the Duchess of Windsor, lead glamorous, often tumultuous lives under the watchful eye of their mother-in-law, the Queen....
2001: A Space Odyssey
Character: TMA-1 Site Technician #1 (uncredited)
Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer....
Passion and Paradise
Character: Col. R.A. Erskine Lindop
Sir Harry Oakes, a wealthy British aristocrat is murdered by his son-in-law, revealing international intrigue and deception in the Bahamas before World War II....
Friends, Lovers, & Lunatics
Character: Ned
An artist fired from his job comes home and discovers that his wife is having an affair and that she is leaving with her lover. He then sets off in pursuit of them, but in the process runs into another woman who is on the run from her crazed lover who is chasing her as much to get his stolen motorcycle back as he is to actually find her....
Age of Innocence
Character: Griffen
A British schoolteacher finds trouble in a conservative Canadian town....
Assault
Character: Desk Sergeant
After a schoolgirl is raped while taking a short cut through the local woods, and another murdered a few days later, the police are baffled. With the help of a reporter, and against the wishes of a local psychologist, a young schoolteacher uses herself as bait to lure the perpetrator out....
The Donor
Character: Armand Perris
A man on a mountain vacation with two friends goes home with a woman he's never met. He wakes up to find that one of his kidneys has been surgically removed. He spends the rest of the film trying to find out who did it....