BLOCKBUSTER movies such as Tomb Raider and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone made Angelina Jolie and Daniel Radcliffe household names.

But you may not have noticed Radley-based actor Ian Bellnam, who appeared as an extra in these and more than 100 other films and TV productions.

The 48-year-old actor now has another film to add to his CV, after filming at Blenheim Palace last month with A-list stars Alec Baldwin and Tom Cruise for the next installment of the Mission Impossible franchise.

Mr Bellnam said: “It was all very secretive, almost like a military operation.

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“I’ve filmed at Blenheim Palace before and previously you could just drive up there and walk onto the film shoot but with this production all the extras were picked up in a coach at an Oxford park- and-ride. When we got onto the shoot it was like a pop-up village.”

Having spent 23 years working as an extra in film and TV productions in Oxford, Mr Bellnam has got used to the whims of temperamental actors.

In the new Mission Impossible movie, Mr Bellnam will be in a scene with Alec Baldwin. He said: “At my agency the saying is less is more.

“Actors don’t want people coming up to them asking for pictures or praising their work, they just want to be treated like normal people.”

Although he has worked in film and TV his whole life, Mr Bellnam never planned on getting into the industry.

He said: “In 1992 I moved back to Thame with my parents. I was out of work and a bit depressed so my mother flagged up that they were looking for extras to be in Shadowlands.”

Oxford Mail:

Mr Bellnam at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire in 1996 when he played an academic in the film Gulliver’s Travels

After turning up to the casting call at the Old Fire Station in 1992, Mr Bellnam was given a role in the Richard Attenborough period drama where Sir Anthony Hopkins plays Oxford author CS Lewis.

Talking about the film industry in Oxford, Mr Bellnam said: “It used to be a lot easier to get roles in the 90s but with the recession fewer films are being shot in Oxford. You do still get big period dramas who use the surroundings like the Sheldonian and the Radcliffe Camera.

“The best production I’ve probably been involved in though was Inspector Morse, it meant so much to Oxford.”


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