Sydney Tafler (31 July 1916 – 8 November 1979) was an English actor best remembered for numerous appearances in films and on British television from the 1940s to the 1970s. His father was an antiques dealer. After two years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he first appeared on stage in London’s West End in 1936, with Sir Seymour Hicks in The Man in Dress Clothes. On British television he appeared alongside Sid James and Tony Hancock in the early 1960s. His other television work included Angel Pavement, The Gentle Killers, The Infernal Machine, Focus, Citizen James, Dixon of Dock Green and Hadleigh. He appeared in many films from 1947 to 1977. Sydney Tafler most commonly played spiv characters, one notable exception being the 1956 film Reach for the Sky in which he played the prosthetics expert to Douglas Bader. His film career ended with a role as the captain of the supertanker Liparus in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.  His final film role was in 1977, as the captain in “The Spy Who Loved Me”, with Roger Moore as James Bond. He was married to the English film actress Joy Shelton from 1944 until his death from cancer; they had three children – two sons Jeremy and Jonathan and a daughter Jennifer.