Deaths 2022

Deaths 2021

Deaths 2020

Deaths 2019

Deaths 2018

Deaths 2017

Deaths 2016

Deaths 2015

Deaths 2014

Deaths 2013

Deaths 2012

Deaths 2011

Deaths 2010

Deaths 2009


Full list by date of death

John Bentley

Actor

Born - 2 December 1916, Birmingham, England
Died - 13 August 2009

Although he started as a radio singer in the 1930s, debonair John Bentley, with his dark, bequiffed hair and easy smile, will be remembered by filmgoers as the raincoated hero of a fistful of 'B' thrillers (he played sleuths-of-fiction Paul Temple and The Toff several times) in the 1950s, and by TV viewers as both the hero of the series African Patrol and (later, with the hair turned to silver) a star of the hit soap Crossroads. There were several Africa-set film adventures before the TV series, too, including Men Against the Sun (1952), The Scarlet Spear (1953), Golden Ivory (1954) and Escape in the Sun (1956). He made his film debut in The Hills of Donegal (1947) and much later also starred in the Hollywood movies Istanbul (1957) and Submarine Seahawk (1958). His last feature film was Shadow of Treason (1963) and, after his Crossroads stint ended in 1977, he retired to Sussex, where he ran an antiques shop.