Acting
Feb 12, 1938
Wimbledon, London, England, UK
Oliver Reed
Acting
Biography
Robert Oliver Reed (February 13, 1938 – May 2, 1999) was an English actor known for his "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his notable films include The Trap (1966), playing Bill Sikes in the 1968 Best Picture Oscar winner Oliver! (a film directed by his uncle Carol Reed), Women in Love (1969), Hannibal Brooks (1969), The Devils (1971), portraying Athos in The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974); the lover and stepfather in Tommy (1975), Funny Bones (1995) and Gladiator (2000). For playing Antonius Proximo, the old, gruff gladiator trainer in Ridley Scott's Gladiator, in what was his final film, Reed was posthumously nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 2000. At the peak of his career, in 1971, British exhibitors voted Reed fifth most popular star at the box office. The British Film Institute (BFI) stated that "partnerships with Michael Winner and Ken Russell in the mid-60s saw Reed become an emblematic Brit-flick icon", but from the mid-1970s his alcoholism began affecting his career, with the BFI adding "Reed had assumed Robert Newton's mantle as Britain's thirstiest thespian".
Feature Films (122)
After the death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, his devious son takes power and demotes Maximus, one of Rome's most capable generals who Marcus preferred. Eventually, Maximus is forced to become a gladiator and battle to the death against other men for the amusement of paying audiences.
Gladiator
After a series of scientific experiments directed towards freeing the inner man and controlling human personalities, the kindly, generous Dr Henry Jekyll succeeds in freeing his own alter ego, Edward Hyde, a sadistic, evil creature whose pleasure is murder.
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll
Private eye Philip Marlowe investigates a case of blackmail involving the two wild daughters of a rich general, a pornographer and a gangster.
The Big Sleep
In 17th century France, young D'Artagnan wants to join the King's Musketeers, but instead befriends three legendary musketeers—Athos, Porthos, and Aramis—and together, they become embroiled in the political intrigue surrounding King Louis XIII and his adversaries, particularly the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.
The Three Musketeers
An Italian prison official's wife is kidnapped, and the kidnappers demand that a notorious prisoner be released in order for the man to get his wife back. He gets the man released - but then kidnaps him himself, in order to ensure that the man's colleagues don't kill his wife. Enraged, the gang sets out to free their compatriot and kill the man who took him.
Revolver
Ten people are invited to a hotel in the Iranian desert, only to find that an unseen person is killing them one by one. Could one of them be the killer?
And Then There Were None
In 1943, Nazi Germany suffers heavy losses at the Eastern Front and an order for all-out retreat is ultimately issued. The 27th Penal Panzer Regiment, consisting solely of those convicted of various real or political crimes ranging from incest to dissidence, has just returned from Stalingrad where German forces were decimated by the Soviets after a brutal, year-long fight.
The Misfit Brigade
Tom Canty is a poor English boy who bears a remarkable resemblance to Edward, Prince of Wales and son of King Henry VIII. The two boys meet and decide to play a joke on the court by dressing in each other's clothes, but the plan goes awry when they're separated and each must live the other's life.
The Prince and the Pauper
Dany Longo is red-haired, beautiful, disturbed, passionate--and nearsighted. As she speeds through the south of France in a purloined Thunderbird on an errand for her employer and his wife, no one, including Dany herself, knows where she is headed--or why she is going there.
The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun
After a series of traumatic childhood events, a psychosomatically deaf, dumb and blind boy becomes a master pinball player and the object of a religious cult.
Tommy
International terrorists attempt to kidnap a wealthy couple's child. Their plan comes unstuck, however, when a deadly Black Mamba, sent by mistake instead of a harmless snake, escapes and terrorizes both them and their hostages.
Venom
In 1634 France, charismatic Father Urbain Grandier becomes the target of sexually depraved Sister Jeanne's accusations of witchcraft, which corrupt officials of church and state are all too happy to exploit.
The Devils
Television & Series (16)
Simon Templar is The Saint, a handsome, sophisticated, debonair, modern-day Robin Hood who recovers ill-gotten wealth and redistributes it to those in need.
The Saint
After returning the body of Gus McCrae to Lonesome Dove, Woodrow Call takes on the challenge of driving a herd of wild mustangs 2500 miles north to the Hat Creek Ranch in Montana. But tragedy, triumph, despair and deceit will greet him before he ever gets there.
Return to Lonesome Dove
R3 is a British television series produced by the BBC between 1964 and 1965. Full title was Ministry of Research Centre No.3. It was a 50-minute show, and the series starred John Robinson as Sir Michael Gerrard, Jeremy Young as Wilson, David Blake Kelly as Captain Rogers, and was set in a scientific research facility at the Ministry of Research. R3 is also notable for providing early TV exposure for a young Oliver Reed, cast as one of the scientists on the ministry staff, Dr. Richard Franklin. In "Experiment in Death", written by N J Crisp, Undersea exploration becomes an experiment in survival in a bathysphere. That show starred Edward Judd as Peters, Brigit Forsyth as a secretary, Donald Hoath as Turner and Stephen John as a meteorologist. It was produced by John Robins and directed by Paul Bernard.
R3
Masquerade is an American espionage television series that aired for a few months on ABC in the spring of 1983.
