Don Fellows Biography
Don Fellows was an American actor known for his roles in British theater and television. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, Fellows served in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II. He was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and a member of the Actors Studio. He moved to London in 1973 to further his stage career.
Fellows' TV appearances included Space: 1999, Z Cars, Lillie, The Sandbaggers, The Citadel, The Beiderbecke Tapes, The Bill and Inspector Morse. His film appearances included The Naked Civil Servant, Spy Story, The Omen, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Eye of the Needle and Velvet Goldmine. He featured alongside fellow American expatriate actor Ed Bishop in the radio series The BBC Presents: Philip Marlowe.
Throughout his life, Fellows suffered from a stutter, which he was able to suppress while acting. He died in 2007, at the age of 84.
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Don Fellows Quotes
Expertise and Comfort in Conversation
Maj. Eaton:
Dr. Jones, we've heard a great deal about you.
Jones:
Have you?
Maj. Eaton:
Professor of Archaeology, expert on the occult and, how does one say it...obtainer of rare antiquities?
Jones:
That's one way of saying it. Why don't you sit down? You'll be more comfortable.
Col. Musgrove:
Thank you. Yes, you're a man of many talents. Now, you studied under Professor Ravenwood at the University of Chicago?
Jones:
Yes, I did.
Maj. Eaton:
And you have no idea of his present whereabouts?
Jones:
Uh, just rumours, really. Somewhere in Asia, I think. I haven't spoken to him for ten years. We were friends, but we...had a bit of a falling out, I'm afraid.
Col. Musgrove:
Now, Dr. Jones, you must understand this is all...strictly confidential.
Jones:
I understand.
Col. Musgrove:
Yesterday afternoon, our European section intercepted a German communiqué that was sent from Cairo to Berlin. Now-
Maj. Eaton:
You see, over the last two years, the Nazis have had teams of archaeologists running around the world looking for all kinds of religious artifacts. Hitler's a nut on the subject. He's crazy. He's obsessed with the occult, and right now, apparently, there's some kind of German archaeological dig going on in the desert outside of Cairo.
Col. Musgrove: [reads the communiqué; [w:Tanis|Tanis]
Now we've got some information here, but we can't make anything out of it, and maybe you can. ] development proceeding. Acquire headpiece, Staff of Ra, Abner Ravenwood, U.S.
Jones:
The Nazis have discovered Tanis.
Maj. Eaton:
Just what does that mean to you, uh, "Tanis"?
Brody:
Well it-
Jones: [interrupts him]
The city of Tanis is one of the possible resting places of the Lost Ark.
Col. Musgrove:
The Lost Ark?
Jones: [[w:Ark of the Covenant|Ark of the Covenant; [Ten Commandments]
Yeah, the ]. The chest the Hebrews used to carry around the ].
Maj. Eaton:
What do you mean, the commandments? You're talking about the Ten Commandments?
Jones: [[Moses; [w:Mount Horeb|Mount Horeb]
Yes, the actual Ten Commandments. The original stone tablets ] brought down from ] and smashed, if you believe in that sort of thing. Didn't either of you guys ever go to Sunday school?
Col. Musgrove:
Well, uh, I-
Jones: [[w:Canaan|Canaan; [w:Temple of Solomon|Temple of Solomon]
Look, the Hebrews took the broken pieces and put them in the Ark, and when they settled in ], they put the Ark in a place called the ].
Brody: [[w:Jerusalem|Jerusalem]
In ].
Jones:
Where it stayed for many years. Until, all of a sudden, whoosh, it's gone.
Maj. Eaton:
Where?
Jones:
Well nobody knows where, or when.
Brody:
However, an Egyptian pharaoh...
Jones: [[w:Shishak|Shishak]
].
Brody: [[w:Well of Souls|Well of Souls]
Yes...invaded the city of Jerusalem around about 980 B.C. and he may have taken the Ark back to the city of Tanis and hidden it in a secret chamber called the ].
Maj. Eaton:
Secret chamber?
Brody:
However, about a year after the pharaoh had returned to Egypt, the city of Tanis was consumed by the desert in a sandstorm that lasted a whole year. Wiped clean by the wrath of God.
Col. Musgrove:
Well, obviously we've come to the right men. Now, you seem to know all about this Tanis.
Jones:
No, no, not really. Ravenwood's the real expert. Abner did the first serious work on Tanis. Collected some of its relics. It was his obsession, but he never found the city.
Maj. Eaton:
Frankly, we're somewhat suspicious of Mr. Ravenwood. An American being mentioned so prominently in a secret Nazi cable.
Brody:
Oh, rubbish. Ravenwood's no Nazi.
Col. Musgrove:
Well what do the Nazis want him for, then?
Jones:
Well obviously the Nazis are looking for the headpiece to the Staff of Ra and they think Abner's got it.
Maj. Eaton:
What exactly is the headpiece to the Staff of Ra?
Jones: [gestures with his hands to convey the length of the staff; draws a diagram on a blackboard; contemplates the enormity of such a potential discovery]
Well the staff is just a stick, I don't know, about this big, nobody really knows for sure how high. And it's... it's capped with an elaborate headpiece in the shape of the sun with a crystal in the center. And what you did was you took the staff to a special room in Tanis, a map room with a miniature of the city all laid out on the floor, and if you put the staff in a certain place, at a certain time of day, the sun shone through here and made a beam that came down on the floor here... and gave you the exact location of the Well of the Souls.
Col. Musgrove:
Where the Ark of the Covenant was kept?
Jones:
That's exactly what the Nazis are looking for!
Maj. Eaton:
Well what does this Ark look like?
Jones: [opens an old leatherback Bible to an illustration showing the Israelites holding the Ark above them, with great beams of light emanating from the Ark, piercing the ranks of the opposing army surrounding them, with the soldiers in various states of agony and death]
Uh, there's a...picture of it right here. That's it.
Maj. Eaton:
Good God!
Brody:
Yes, that's just what the Hebrews thought.
Col. Musgrove: [pointing to the firebolts]
Uh, now, what's that supposed to be coming out of there?
Jones:
Lightning...fire...the power of God or something.
Maj. Eaton:
I'm beginning to understand Hitler's interest in this.
Brody: [he exchanges a grim look with Indy]
Oh yes. The Bible speaks of the Ark leveling mountains and laying waste to entire regions. An army which carries the Ark before it...is invincible.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
