Donald Pleasence

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Biography

Balding, quietly-spoken, of slight build and possessed of piercing blue eyes -- often peering out from behind round, steel-rimmed glasses -- Donald Pleasence had the necessary physical attributes which make a great screen villain. In the course of his lengthy career, he relished playing the obsessed, the paranoid and the purely evil. Even the Van Helsing-like psychiatrist Sam Loomis in the _Halloween . Whether eccentric, sinister or given to pathos, Donald Pleasence was always great value-for-money and his performances have rarely failed to engage.

  • Primary profession
  • Actor·writer·soundtrack
  • Country
  • United Kingdom
  • Nationality
  • British
  • Gender
  • Male
  • Birth date
  • 05 October 1919
  • Place of birth
  • Worksop
  • Death date
  • 1995-02-02
  • Death age
  • 76
  • Place of death
  • Saint-Paul-de-Vence
  • Children
  • Angela Pleasence
  • Education
  • Ecclesfield School
  • Knows language
  • English language

Music

Movies

TV

Books

Awards

Trivia

His portrayal of Ernst Stavro Blofeld in You Only Live Twice will always be an influence of the Dr. Evil character in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me . Both Dr. Evil (Mike Myers ) and Pleasences Blofeld have a large facial scar.

Father of Angela Pleasence , Jean Pleasence, Polly Jo Pleasence , Lucy Pleasance and Miranda Pleasence.

He had elocution lessons as a child.

The only actor to have appeared in both The Great Escape and its television sequel The Great Escape II: The Untold Story . Ironically, he played one of the would-be great escapees in the first film and one of the German executioners in the second. Strangely he even played the role of the SS and Gestapo chief, Reichsfhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler , in the film The Eagle Has Landed . Heinrich Himmler was the one who ordered the secret murder of "the 50" POWs. Thus, Pleasence is likely to be one of only a few actors to have ever portrayed all three roles of murder conspirator, executioner, and victim (although technically he was not among the 50. His character died earlier.).

Was originally chosen to play Blair in The Thing , but a scheduling conflict prevented him from doing so. Therefore, the role went to Wilford Brimley.

When Moustapha Akkad asked Donald Pleasence how many more Halloween films he was planning to make, Donald replied "I stop at twenty-two!"

Married four times and had five daughters. Angela Pleasence and Jean Pleasence were born from his marriage to actress Miriam Raymond ; Lucy Pleasance and Polly Jo Pleasence were the products of his union with actress/singer Josephine Crombie and Miranda Pleasence was conceived during his marriage to singer Miera Shore.

Shortly before his death in 1995, he was scheduled to star in a production of "King Lear" that would have featured daughters Angela Pleasence , Polly Jo Pleasence and Miranda Pleasence.

His father was a stationmaster.

He was initially a conscientous objector during World War II, but later changed his mind and joined the British Royal Air Force. His plane was shot down and was taken prisoner of war by the Nazis until his release in 1945.

Was held at Stalag Luft I, near the Baltic Sea. While a POW during World War II, he organized a theatre company in order to pass the time. His productions included "The Petrified Forest", in which he played the Leslie Howard role opposite a 6 1" Canadian who played the Bette Davis part.

Played Loomis in Innocent Bystanders , Dr. Sam Loomis in most of the first six Halloween movies ( Halloween III: Season of the Witch was not a "Michael Myers" movie) and Father Loomis in Prince of Darkness .

One of the stars of The Great Escape to have actually been a World War II prisoner of war (Hannes Messemer , who played Colonel Lugo the camp commander, was a German soldier in World War II and was captured by American troops and held in a POW camp until the end of the war). He was also a POW in Russia. When he kindly offered advice to director John Sturges , he was politely asked to keep his "opinions" to himself. Later, when another star from the film informed Sturges that Pleasence had actually been an RAF officer in a World War II German POW camp, Sturges requested Pleasances technical advice and input on historical accuracy from that point forward.

Was nominated for four Tony Awards as Best Actor : in 1962 for "The Caretaker", a part he recreated in the film version also titled The Caretaker ; in 1965 for "Poor Bitos"; in 1969 for "The Man in the Glass Booth" and, in 1972 for "Wise Child" - but he never won.

He was a wireless operator in Lancaster bombers in 166 Squadron, Royal Air Force.

Often joked to friends and family that, before Halloween came out, he was typecast as villains and psychopaths, never having been given the chance to play a good guy or hero. However, after his portrayal of the heroic, Van Helsing-like Dr. Sam Loomis in Halloween, he had the exact opposite problem in that no one wanted to see him play bad guys anymore, that the only parts offered to him were avengers and heroes.

He was flying in a Lancaster NE112 "AS-M" when it was shot down on September 9, 1944.

Is Carrie Anderson s great-uncle.

Daughter, Jean, is an occupational therapist at a psychiatric hospital.

He was good in school plays and won prizes.

Among the possible actors for the role of Fallanda in Lifeforce . Frank Finlay won the role.

He was considered for many guest roles in "Doctor Who" - General Grugger in "Meglos", Richard Mace in "The Visitation", Griffiths in "Attack of the Cybermen", Shockeye in "The Two Doctors" and De Flores in "Silver Nemesis". He was also considered for Borusa in Doctor Who before the character was dropped from the script.

He and his The Greatest Story Ever Told co-stars Telly Savalas and Max von Sydow all later played the Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld: Pleasence in You Only Live Twice , Savalas in On Her Majestys Secret Service and von Sydow in Never Say Never Again .

He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1994 Queens New Year Honours List for his services to drama.

Was known for his eye for details and authenticity, including in regards to his costumes. He arrived in Sydney for the filming of Wake in Fright with a beard suggestive of the kind favored by bushrangers and immediately rejected the costume that was assigned to him, opting to purchase his own clothes from a Vinnies thrift shop.

Quotes

I treat all film roles one way - very seriously.

Loomis in the original Halloween (1978) , he gave me the,opportunities that might have been missed had I stayed a stereotypical,madman. That casting against type is what made,Prince of Darkness (1987) such a lovely bit of business for me.

People were walking into the theaters expecting me to be bad, and I,ended up representing all the good in the universe.

[on Fantastic Voyage (1966) ] I remember being amazed the first,day I walked onto the shoot and saw these outsize sets that simulated,the human body. I enjoyed that film because, even though my character,was the villain, I got to play him as a much gentler person. Of course,he richly deserved to be swallowed by the antibodies at the end.

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