Martin Stephens


Martin Stephens

Biography

For decades, Martin Stephens has been a perfectly blameless architect, but in the minds of horror fans he'll forever be remembered as the satanic child villain of two films. A theatrically trained child actor, Stephens took the lead part in the musical Charles Dickens adaptation "Oliver!" at the age of 12, but became famous for two much more threatening roles. After a series of undisting...

Biography

For decades, Martin Stephens has been a perfectly blameless architect, but in the minds of horror fans he'll forever be remembered as the satanic child villain of two films. A theatrically trained child actor, Stephens took the lead part in the musical Charles Dickens adaptation "Oliver!" at the age of 12, but became famous for two much more threatening roles. After a series of undistinguished parts in British television and film--most notably portraying Charles Dickens' autobiographical alter-ego David Copperfield for the BBC in 1959--Stephens became a briefly famous child star in two productions. In the 1960 horror film "Village Of The Damned," Stephens' dead-eyed innocence made him creepily persuasive as the ringleader of a gang of children whose intent was unknowable yet sinister. The following year, Stephens was one of governess Deborah Kerr's ambiguously threatening charges in the Henry James adaptation "The Innocents," based on the classic short story "The Turn of the Screw." Altogether, Stephens' career as a child star barely lasted a decade. Never impressed by his talent or infatuated with the entertainment industry, he treated his roles as just a job to support his family and eventually dropped out of acting altogether, studying meditation for a while before turning to his current career as an architect.

Life Events

Videos

Movie Clip

Innocents, The (1961) -- (Movie Clip) Your Turn To Hide Beckoned by one of her new charges, Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) enters a dark room, where she's surprised by Miles (Martin Stephens) then Flora (Pamela Franklin), then told to hide, meets Quint (Peter Wyngarde), then runs to Mrs. Grose (Megs Jenkins), in Jack Clayton's The Innocents, 1961.
Innocents, The (1961) -- (Movie Clip) More Than Anything Hard to turn away from the opening and first scene, with Deborah Kerr and Michael Redgrave, from director Jack Clayton's now-celebrated adaptation of Henry James' The Turn Of The Screw, The Innocents, 1961, screenplay by Truman Capote and William Archibald.
Innocents, The (1961) -- (Movie Clip) I've Been Quite Alone New governess Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) having increasingly odd experiences on the grounds, spies a figure in the tower and rushes up to find Miles (Martin Stephens), having noticed nothing, in Jack Clayton's The Innocents, 1961, screenplay by Truman Capote and William Archibald.
Village Of The Damned (1960) -- (Movie Clip) Credits, Can't Get Through Second sequence, with credits, in Village Of The Damned, 1960, in which military official Alan (Michael Gwynn) seeks permission to visit fictional Midwich, where something's gone wrong.
Village Of The Damned (1960) -- (Movie Clip) It's All My Fault! Anthea (Barbara Shelley) is the innocent mom walking odd young David (Martin Stephens) when he meets up with some of his fellow maybe-demonic-alien playmates, who get even with a clumsy motorist in Village Of The Damned, 1960.
Village Of The Damned (1960) -- (Movie Clip) He's Only One Year Old Everyone already less-alarmed than they might be about the accelerated development of children throughout the town, Gordon (George Sanders) demonstrates to his military official brother-in-law Alan (Michael Gwynn) their remarkable prowess, led by his own David (Martin Stephens) in director Wolf Rilla's Village Of The Damned, 1960.
Battle Of The Villa Fiorita, The (1965) -- (Movie Clip) I'll Call My Solicitor Tight direction by Delmer Daves, as Moira (Maureen O'Hara) has just told husband Darrell (Richard Todd), home from a summer abroad, that she's fallen for the visiting Italian composer (Rosanno Brazzi), neighbors gossiping and children (Martin Stephens, Elizabeth Dear) worrying, in The Battle Of The Villa Fiorita, 1965.

Bibliography