Eddie Powell

Eddie Powell (March 9, 1927 – August 11, 2000) was an English stunt performer and actor who portrayed the Alien Warriors in the 1986 film Aliens. He also portrayed the Alien in the 1979 film Alien in the scenes where Brett and Dallas are attacked, although he was not credited for this role. Other notable films Powell appeared in include Where Eagles Dare (1968), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Batman (1989), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) and multiple films in the James Bond series.

Work

Alien

When it was still planned to have the Alien costume be transparent, Powell donned one of the prototype costumes. Plaster casts of Powell were also made, presumably to construct a costume that fit him. For Powell (and main Alien actor Bolaji Badejo), putting on the Alien costume was a "terrible ordeal", taking at least an hour to get ready. Additionally, Powell couldn't "see a thing" once inside the suit.^[2]

Powell portrayed the Alien during Brett (Harry Dean Stanton)'s death scene. Wearing a steel wire rig, Powell was strung up above the Nostromo's landing gear. Scenes filmed with Powell included him being curled up, dangling above Brett and then slowly unfolding himself in a "Christ-like" fashion, close-ups of the Alien "admiring" and then attacking Brett and close-ups of the Alien's head. Director Ridley Scott made the scene be reshot numerous times until he was satisfied with the results, making Powell have to endure being hung upside down constantly and quickly hoisted up into the air.

In addition to Brett's death scenes, Powell portrayed the Alien when it attacked Dallas inside the ship's air ducts, as Badejo was too large to fit in the ducts, and in the scene where it is finally incinerated in the Narcissus' engines.^[4]

Although the "Christ-like" shots of Powell in the Alien costume were cut from the 1979 theatrical release of the film, one of them was reinstated in the 2003 Director's Cut and the rest made it as extra footage on the Alien Quadrilogy box set. As Scott only wanted to show glimpses of the Alien, the additional close-ups of the Alien were also cut from the theatrical release.

Filmography

Trivia

• Owing to the relatively small pool of talented stuntmen in Great Britain during the 1980s and early 1990s, Simon Crane, Clive Curtis, Nick Gillard, Mark Anthony Newman, Eddie Powell, Roy Scammell, Trevor Steedman and Tip Tipping often worked together on high-profile action films made in the UK during that time. Many of these films were shot at Pinewood Studios.

Gallery

External Links

• Eddie Powell at the Internet Movie Database
• Eddie Powell on Wikipedia

References