Olaf Pooley

Who is Olaf Pooley?

Olaf Pooley is an English actor and writer. He was born in Parkstone, Poole, Dorset, England, of an English father and Danish mother.

Pooley married actress Irlin Hall in 1946 and together they had a daughter, the actress Kirstie Pooley and son comedian Seyton Pooley. In 1982, he married director Gabrielle Beaumont, although they are now separated.

He wrote and appeared in the film The Corpse, starring Michael Gough, and wrote, directed and appeared in The Johnstown Monster. He also wrote the screenplay for a film version of Bernard Taylor's The Godsend. Beaumont directed the film. Pooley's other writing credits include the 1982 TV film Falcon's Gold and being an uncredited writer on the 1985 sci-fi horror film Lifeforce.

Pooley's TV guest appearances since the 1950s include Dixon of Dock Green, Paul Temple, Jason King, MacGyver and Star Trek: Voyager. He played Professor Stahlman and his parallel Earth counterpart Director Stahlmann in the Doctor Who serial Inferno. He also played Lars Torvik in the first episode of The Sandbaggers, entitled First Principles.

His other appearances include the 1958 BBC radio play Ambrose In Paris and Sebastian in a 1956 film production of The Tempest. Pooley had a major career in West End theatre appearing in such notable productions such as Noël Coward's Peace In Our Time and Shakespeare's The Tempest and Othello.