[1] Bell was born 1 November 1940 in Newcastle, New South Wales,[2] to a bank manager father and elocutionist mother.
[3] At age 9 or 10, he moved with his family to the town of Maitland, New South Wales[4] where he was educated at the Marist Brothers College.
[9] In 1963, the year after his university graduation, Bell joined the Old Tote Theatre Company, where he played the title role in Hamlet.
[10][11] Bell relocated to the United Kingdom in 1964, after winning a scholarship from the British Council, and was invited to join the Royal Shakespeare Company.
His own roles for the company include Shylock, Richard III, Macbeth, Malvolio, Coriolanus, Leontes, Prospero, King Lear and Ulysses.
[20] The lectures demonstrate the relevance of Shakespeare's works to today's issues of need for good governance, the danger of political self interest, and the need for gender inequality.
[22] In 2003 the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, presented Bell with the Cultural Leader of the Year Award.
His achievements in theatre have been acknowledged by the Universities of Newcastle (1994), Sydney (1996) and New South Wales, all of whom have awarded him honorary Doctor of Letters degrees.
[36] Bell met Polish-born Australian actress and NIDA graduate Anna Volska in 1963, when they performed in a production of The Cherry Orchard together.