Biography
British stage actor John Salew made the transition to films in 1939. The manpower shortage during WWII enabled the stout, balding Salew to play larger and more important roles than would have been his lot in other circumstances. He usually played suspicious-looking characters, often Germanic in origin. His screen assignments include such parts as William Shakespeare (yes, that William Shakespeare) in the comedy-fantasy
Time Flies (1944), Grimstone in the Gothic meller
Uncle Silas (1947), and the librarian in the psychological thriller
Night of the Demon (1957). John Salew was active into the TV era, playing the sort of parts that
John McGiver essayed in the U.S. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide