Oliver Reed
Actor
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".
Filmography
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
as Vulcan 1988
The Brood
as Dr. Hal Raglan 1979
Oliver!
as Bill Sikes 1968
The Devils
as Father Urbain Grandier 1971
Tommy
as Frank 1975
The Three Musketeers
as Athos 1973
Burnt Offerings
as Ben Rolf 1976
The Four Musketeers
as Athos 1974
Lion of the Desert
as Gen. Rodolfo Graziani 1981
The Curse of the Werewolf
as Leon Corledo 1961
The Return of the Musketeers
as Athos 1989
Treasure Island
as Billy Bones 1990
The Pit and the Pendulum
as Cardinal 1991
Condorman
as Krokov 1981
Two of a Kind
as Beasley 1983
Women in Love
as Gerald Crich 1969