Sir Stanley Baker (28 February 1928 – 28 June 1976) was a Welsh actor and film producer.
William Stanley Baker was born in Ferndale, Rhondda Valley, Wales. In the mid-1930s his parents moved to London, where Baker spent most of his formative years. He made his film debut as a teenager in the Ealing Studios 1943 film Undercover, about the Yugoslav guerrillas in Serbia. He served in the Royal Army Service Corps from 1946-1948. His first role as an adult was in All Over the Moon (1949).
At first Baker was usually cast as a villain - tough, gritty and fiery. In private life, he was a close friend and drinking companion of another Welsh actor, Richard Burton. Although it has been said that both men had been taught at school by the same teacher, who encouraged their theatrical abilities, the fact is that Baker was taught, guided and mentored by Glyn Morse in Ferndale while Burton was mentored by Philip Burton. Notable among his early roles was as the unpleasant and somewhat cowardly Bennett in The Cruel Sea (1953). Laurence Olivier selected him to play Henry Tudor in Richard III (1955). He played a major role as Achilles in Helen of Troy (1956). He also starred with Patrick McGoohan in
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