StatsBorn: 5 October 1919 Died: 2 February 1995 Country of origin:  United Kingdom Height: 5' 6" Ethnicity: White / Caucasian Relationship Status: Married Partner: Linda Kentwood
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Balding, quietly-spoken, of slight build and possessed of piercing blue eyes -- often peering out from behind round, steel-rimmed glasses -- Donald Henry Pleasance 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 his Van Helsing-like psychiatrist Sam Loomis in the Halloween (1978) franchise seems only marginally more balanced than his prey. An actor of great inten
Balding, quietly-spoken, of slight build and possessed of piercing blue eyes -- often peering out from behind round, steel-rimmed glasses -- Donald Henry Pleasance 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 his Van Helsing-like psychiatrist Sam Loomis in the Halloween (1978) franchise seems only marginally more balanced than his prey. An actor of great intensity, Pleasance excelled on stage as Shakespearean villains. He was an unrelenting prosecutor in Jean Anouilh's "Poor Bitos" and made his theatrical reputation in the title role of the seedy, scheming tramp in Harold Pinter's "The Caretaker" (1960). On screen, he gave a perfectly plausible interpretation of the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, in The Eagle Has Landed (1976). He was a convincingly devious Thomas Cromwell in Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972), disturbing in his portrayal of the crazed, bloodthirsty preacher Quint in Will Penny (1968); and as sexually depraved, alcohol-sodden 'Doc' Tydon in the brilliant Aussie outback drama Wake in Fright (1971). And, of course, he was Blofeld in You Only Live Twice (1967). These are some of the films, for which we may remember Donald Pleasance, but there was a great deal more to this fabulous, multi-faceted actor.
Donald was born to a family of railway men in Worksop, England in 1919. His grandfather had been a signal man and both his brother and father were station masters. When Donald failed to get a scholarship at RADA, he joined the family occupation, running the station in Swinton, Yorkshire. He was at last able to break out of the rut by finagling an assistant stage manager's job on the island of Jersey. On the eve of World War II, he made his theatrical debut in "Wuthering Heights". In 1942, he played Curio in "Twelfth Night", but his career was then interrupted by military service in the RAF. He was shot down over France, incarcerated and tortured in a German POW camp. Once repatriated, Donald returned to the stage in Peter Brook's 1946 London production of "The Brothers Karamazov", followed by a stint on Broadway with Laurence Olivier's touring company in "Caesar and Cleopatra" and "Anthony and Cleopatra". Upon his return to England, he won critical plaudits for his performance in "Hobson's Choice". In 1952, Donald began his screen career, rather unobtrusively, in small parts. He was only really noticed once having found his métier as dastardly, sneaky Prince John in "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1955). It took several more years, until international recognition came his way: first, through the filmed adaptation of The Caretaker (1963); and, secondly, with his blind forger in The Great Escape (1963), a role imbued with added conviction due to his own wartime experience.
Some of his best acting Donald reserved for the small screen. In 1962, the producer of "The Twilight Zone: The Original Series" (1959), Buck Houghton, brought Donald to the U.S. ('damn the expense'!) to guest star in the third season episode "The Changing of the Guard". He was given a mere five days to immerse himself in the part of a gentle school teacher, Professor Ellis Fowler, who, on the eve of Christmas is forcibly retired after fifty-one years of teaching. Devastated, and believing himself a failure who has made no mark on the world, he is about to commit suicide when the school's bell summons him to his classroom. There, he is confronted by the spirits of deceased students who exhort him to consider that his lessons have had fundamental effects on their lives, even leading to acts of great heroism. Upon hearing this, Fowler is now content to graciously accept his retirement. Managing to avoid maudlin sentimentality, Donald's performance was intuitive and, arguably, one of the most poignant ever accomplished in a thirty-minute television episode. Once again, against type, he was equally delightful as the mild-mannered Reverend Septimus Harding in Anthony Trollope's "The Barchester Chronicles" (1982). Whether eccentric, sinister or given to pathos, Donald Pleasance was always great value-for-money and his performances have rarely failed to engage.
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Onion Jack added this to a list 1 week, 6 days ago
 My Husband Says That I Must Be A Serial Killer (132 person items)"William Hare
The Flesh and the Fiends
(1960)
Other portrayals:
Michael Ripper, Glyn EdwardsWILLIAM HARE
(Serial Killer)
Born: 1792/1804 - Poyntzpass, Northern Ireland
Died: Possibly 1858
Cause of death: Unknown
Accomplices: William Burke, Helen McDougal, Margaret Laird
Number of victims: 16
Span of killings: 1828
Sentence: Granted immunity after testifying against William Burke
"
Leo added this to a list 6 months, 3 weeks ago
Nattkrypet added this to a list 11 months, 2 weeks ago
Bad☆Alice added this to a list 1 year, 7 months ago
 Rest in peace, Legend. (68 person items)"
Pleasence was well-known as the James Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld from “You Only Live Twice”, a character that is the obvious inspiration for Mike Myer’s Austin Powers villain Dr. Evil, but Pleasence is probably even more well-known for his ties to a different Mike Myers."
Dan added this to a list 1 year, 11 months ago
 30 People (by dan) (30 person items)"22 - Most overrated actor
Halloween's fans use to love him but I really think he was a weak actor, even playing a great character."
E-Mies added this to a list 4 years, 3 months ago
 Bond Bad Guys (20 person items)"Ernst Stravo Blofeld
You Only Live Twice, also appears in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (actor Telly Savalas), Diamonds Are Forever (actor Charles Gray) and For Your Eyes Only
Megalomaniac leader of SPECTRE and Bond's archenemy. Got big scar on his right eye and got also a pet, white cat. Speaks meticulously and dress precisly.
"Yes. Give him his cigarettes. It won't be the nicotine that kills you, Mr. Bond."
"
 Bond Villains (77 person items)"Finnaly, after four films and five years of waiting, Ernest Stavro Blofeld shows himself. He's bald and has a scar on the left side of his face. But now, the magic and the mystery are gone. Donald Pleasence is a great actor, but I think he was not the ideal choise to be the face of such a mysterious character. Not scary or threatning enough maybe.
"
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