by Hal Erickson
biography
Handsome, British stage actor John Bentley entered London's film industry in 1946, where he was immediately put to work grinding out inexpensive detective melodramas. He was seen as radio hero Paul Temple in an entertaining Boy's-Own-Adventure film series, then starred as John Creasey's gentleman sleuth "The Toff" in a brace of second features. Occasionally, Bentley ventured into "A"-picture territory, notably the 1956 Errol Flynn vehicle Istanbul (1956). In 1957, John Bentley starred as Inspector John Derek in the Kenya-filmed TV detective series African Patrol.
