Adam Faith - Film and Television Career

Film and Television Career

In 1961, Faith made What a Whopper, with Sid James, Spike Milligan, Wilfred Brambell, Carole Lesley and others well known at the time. A film about a writer, a group of Englishmen and the Loch Ness "monster", it was written by Terry Nation, and had music by John Barry; Faith sang the title song and "The Time Has Come". Faith's teen pop became less popular in the mid-1960s in competition with The Beatles. After a final single in 1968 he parted company with EMI and concentrated on acting. While a musician he had appeared in films such as Beat Girl (1960), Never Let Go (1960), and television dramas such as the Rediffusion/ITV series No Hiding Place but now he concentrated on repertory theatre. After a number of small parts, he was given a more substantial role in the play Night Must Fall, playing opposite Dame Sybil Thorndike. In 1962 he co-starred opposite Donald Sinden and Anne Baxter in the film Mix Me a Person, a thriller which was rated X-certificate (the modern equivalent would be a UK 18-certificate) by the British Board of Film Censors. In autumn 1969, he took the lead in a touring production of Billy Liar.

In the 1970s, he went into music management, managing Leo Sayer among others. Sayer claimed in an interview with British newspaper The Daily Telegraph that "He handled everything for me, but although he was a very good mentor, he was less trustworthy with my money. In the end, Adam Faith made more out of Leo Sayer than I did."

He starred as the eponymous hero in the 1970s television series Budgie (LWT/ITV), about an ex-convict, but his career declined after a motor car accident in which he almost lost a leg. He restarted with a role as the manipulative manager of rock star David Essex, in Stardust. He was nominated for a BAFTA award. In 1980 he starred with Roger Daltrey in McVicar and appeared with Jodie Foster in Foxes.

He played the role of James Crane in the 1985 TV movie Minder on the Orient Express - part of the Minder franchise.

From 1992 to 1994, he appeared in another TV series, Love Hurts, starring with Zoë Wanamaker, and in 2002 he appeared in the BBC series The House That Jack Built. In 2003, he appeared in an episode of Murder in Mind.