Badel's earliest film role was as
John the Baptist in the
Rita Hayworth version of
Salome (1953), a version in which the story was altered to make Salome a Christian convert who dances for
Herod in order to save John rather than have him condemned to death. He portrayed
Richard Wagner in
Magic Fire (1955), a
biopic about the composer. He also played the role of Karl Denny, the impresario, in the film
Bitter Harvest (1963). Around the same time he played opposite
Vivien Merchant in a television version of
Harold Pinter's play
The Lover (also 1963) and as
Edmond Dantès in a BBC television adaptation of
Alexandre Dumas'
The Count of Monte Cristo (1964). Looking very Peter Sellers-esque, Badel also played the villainous sunglasses-wearing Najim Beshraavi in
Arabesque (1966) with
Gregory Peck and
Sophia Loren. He played the French Interior Minister in
The Day of the Jackal (1973), a political thriller about the attempted assassination of President
Charles de Gaulle. In the political television drama
Bill Brand (1976) he played David Last, the government's Employment Minister, a left-wing former backbench MP who had recently joined the front bench after 30 years in the
House of Commons. One of his last roles was that of Baron
Nicolas de Gunzburg in the
Paramount film
Nijinsky (1980). A television adaptation for the BBC of
The Woman in White (1982) by
Wilkie Collins, in which Badel played the role of Count Fosco, was shown posthumously. ==Personal life==