English actor Robert Powell began his career in the mid-1960s and appeared in TV movies like ‘L'enfance du Christ’ (1964), ‘Jock on the Go’ (1967) and ‘Tower of London: The Innocent’ (1969) as well as TV series like ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ (1966), ‘City '68’ (1968) and ‘Z Cars’ (1969). In films, he first played uncredited parts in films like ‘Robbery’ and ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ (both 1967) and thereafter, had small roles in ‘The Italian Job’ and ‘Walk a Crooked Path’ (both 1969). He then bagged his first leading role in the BBC's science fiction series ‘Doomwatch’ (1970). The series, which had him in the role of scientist Toby Wren, became a cult hit and made him a household name. Following this, he bagged starring roles in the television miniseries ‘Sentimental Education’ (1970) and ‘Jude the Obscure’ (1971). In the former, he played the role of Frederic Moreau while in the latter, he was seen in the role of Jude Fawley.
The next few years saw Robert Powell acting in movies like ‘Secrets’ (1971), ‘The Asphyx’ (1972), ‘Asylum’ (1972) and ‘Running Scared’ (1972) as well as TV series like ‘The Wide World of Mystery’ (1973), ‘Thriller’ (1973, 1974) and ‘Crown Court’ (1974). He was also seen in the TV movie ‘Shelley’ (1972) and TV miniseries ‘The Edwardians’ (1972). In 1974, he played the role of Austro-Bohemian composer Gustav Mahler in the biographical film ‘Mahler’ and the next year portrayed the role of Group Captain Walker in the fantasy drama film ‘Tommy’. Both films were written and directed by Ken Russell. The year 1975 saw him in the lead role of Frank Clancy in TV series ‘Looking for Clancy’.
Robert Powell was then roped in to play the role of Jesus in Franco Zeffirelli’s four-part miniseries ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ (1977). The series became a massive success and his powerful portrayal of Jesus earned him appreciation as well as a ‘BAFTA Award’ nomination for Best Actor. Later, in 2017, he hosted the four-part TV series documentary ‘The Real Jesus of Nazareth’ in which he took a journey to the Holy Land to explore the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
In 1978, he played the role of a fictional secret agent Richard Hannay in the Don Sharp's directed thriller film 'The Thirty Nine Steps'. The film, based on John Buchan's 1915 novel of the same name, became one of the most popular movies of the year. Later, in 1988-1989, Robert Powell reprised his role in ITV’s 13 episode hit adventure drama TV series ‘Hannay’. In 1980, he played the role of Gregory Wolfe in the Australian thriller film ‘Harlequin’ and in 1982, was seen in the part of Augustin in the German drama film ‘Imperative’. While the first movie won him Best Actor Award at the ‘Paris Film Festival’ the second one bagged him the Best Actor award at the ‘Venice Film Festival’. He then played the role of Dr. Henry Fynn in the biographical action-drama miniseries ‘Shaka Zulu’ (1986). For the series, he also turned narrator.
In the 1990s, Robert Powell became a part of several television series including ‘Merlin of the Crystal Cave’ (1991), ‘The Legends of Treasure Island’ (1993), ‘Fantomcat’ (1995-1996) and ‘The Detectives’ (1993-1997). The first one had him in the role of Ambrosius while in the next two he lent his voice to the roles of Dr. Livesey and Fantomcat respectively. The last series, in which he was in the role of a bumbling detective constable named David Briggs, continued for 5 seasons and became very popular. In films, he was seen as Sgt Maj Frank Smith in the New Zealand World War I film ‘Chunuk Bair’ (1992) and as Jasper in the mystery drama ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’ (1993).
He then joined the cast of the British medical drama television series ‘Holby City’ and portrayed the regular part of Mark Williams. He first appeared on the show in 2005 and continued with it for six years till 2011, for around 249 episodes. In 2008-2009, he became the series announcer for BBC4’s quiz show ‘The Book Quiz’ and a few years later, in 2013, narrated the television miniseries titled ‘The Bible’.
Over the years, Robert Powell has acted in several other films like ‘Beyond Good and Evil’ (1977), ‘Jane Austen in Manhattan’ (1980), ‘The Survivor’ (1981), ‘The Jigsaw Man’ (1983), ‘What Waits Below’ (1984), ‘Love Sins’ (1987), ‘Down There in the Jungle’ (1988), ‘Hey Mr DJ’ (2003) and ‘Color Me Kubrick’ (2005). His television movies include ‘The Four Feathers’ (1978), ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ (1982), ‘Frankenstein’ (1984), ‘Pasternak’ (1990), ‘The First Circle’ (1991), ‘The Golden Years (1992) and ‘Pride of Africa’ (1997). In 2004, he acted in an episode of TV series ‘Marple’ and the following year worked in a couple of episodes of another TV series ‘Dalziel and Pascoe’.
Robert Powell is extremely well-known for his voiceover works as well. He has narrated several documentaries and read many audiobooks. Some of TV series/miniseries documentaries that he has narrated include ‘The World About Us’ (1978-1985, 6 episodes), ‘Memories of 1970-1991’ (1991, 22 episodes), ‘Great Crimes and Trials of the Twentieth Century’ (1992-2000, 78 episodes), ‘Secrets of World War II’ (1998, 26 episodes), ‘Gladiators of World War II’ (2002, 13 episodes), ‘Heroes of World War II’ (2004, 10 episodes), ‘Churchill's Bodyguard’ (2005, 13 episodes), ‘Infamous Assassinations’ (2007, 26 episodes), ‘World War II in Colour’ (2009, 13 episodes)  and ‘Hitler's Bodyguard’ (2010, 13 episodes). From 1997 to 2001, he narrated 25 episodes of TV Series documentary short ‘Great Romances of the 20th Century’.
Apart from these, Robert Powell turned narrator for various other TV series/miniseries/movie documentaries too. Amongst these are ‘Walkabout to Hollywood’ (1980), ‘The Wandering Company’ (1984), ‘Arabia: Sand, Sea and Sky’ (1990), ‘Arena’ (1993), ‘The Century of Warfare’ (1993), ‘True Action Adventures of the Twentieth Century’ (1996), ‘Escape’ (1998), ‘Great Mysteries and Myths of the Twentieth Century’ (1998), ‘Seven Games from Glory’ (2002), ‘Great SAS Missions’ (2004), ‘H Side Story’ (2005), ‘International Terrorism Since 1945’ (2009) and ‘The Forgotten Children of Congo’ (2012).
