Early life

Pleasence was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, the son of Alice (née Armitage) and Thomas Stanley Pleasence, a railway stationmaster. He was brought up as a strict Methodist in the small village of Grimoldby, Lincolnshire. Pleasence attended Ecclesfield Grammar School, in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, and subsequently dropped out to work as a railway clerk, while looking for a job as an actor. During the Second World War Pleasence was initially a conscientious objector, but later changed his stance and was commissioned into the Royal Air Force, serving with 166 Squadron, RAF Bomber Command. His Lancaster NE112 was shot down on 31 August 1944, during a raid on Agenville. He was taken prisoner and placed in the German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft I, where he produced and acted in plays. He would later play Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe in The Great Escape where much of the story takes place inside a German POW camp.

Career

Stage

In 1939 Pleasence started working in repertory theatre as an assistant stage manager with Jersey Repertory, making his acting debut with the company as Hareton in Wuthering Heights. He subsequently worked in repertory theatre in Birmingham and Bristol before making his London stage debut as Valentine in Twelfth Night in 1942.

In the 1950s Pleasence's stage work included performing as Willie Mossop in a 1952 production of Hobson's Choice at the Arts Theatre and as Dauphin in Jean Anouilh's The Lark (1956).

In 1960 Pleasence won acclaim as the tramp in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker at the Arts Theatre, a part he would again play in a 1990 revival. Other stage work in the 1960s included Anouilh's Poor Bitos (1967) and Robert Shaw's The Man in the Glass Booth (1967), for which he won the London Variety Award for Stage Actor of the Year in 1968.

Pleasence's later stage work included performing in a double bill of Pinter plays, The Basement and Tea Party, at the Duchess Theatre in 1970.

Television

Pleasence made his television debut in I Want to Be a Doctor in 1946. In 1954 he received critical acclaim as Syme in a BBC adaptation of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The adaptation was by Nigel Kneale and also starred Peter Cushing, another British actor who would go on to find fame in many horror-film roles.

Pleasence played Prince John in several episodes of the ITV series The Adventures of Robin Hood (1956-1958). He appeared twice with Patrick McGoohan in the British spy series, Danger Man, in episodes "Position of Trust" (1960) and "Find and Return" (1961). Pleasence's first appearance in America was in an episode of The Twilight Zone, playing an aging teacher at a boys' school in the episode "The Changing of the Guard" (1962). In 1963, he appeared in an episode of The Outer Limits entitled "The Man With the Power".

In 1973 Pleasence played the murderer in an episode of Columbo, in which Lt. Columbo took actual pity on, entitled "Any Old Port in a Storm". He also had the distinction of playing a culprit captured by Mrs. Columbo in "Murder is a Parlour Game" (1979). In 1978, he played a scout, Sam Purchas in James A. Michener's Centennial. Pleasence starred as the Reverend Septimus Harding in the BBC's 1982 TV series The Barchester Chronicles. In this series has daughter Angela Pleasence played his onscreen daughter Susan.

He hosted the 1981 Halloween episode of Saturday Night Live with music guest Fear.

In 1986, Pleasence joined Ronald Lacey and Polly Jo Pleasence for the television thriller Into the Darkness.

Film

Pleasence made his big-screen debut with The Beachcomber (1954). Some notable early roles include Parsons in 1984 (1956), his second Orwell film, and minor roles opposite Alec Guinness in Barnacle Bill (1957) and Dirk Bogarde in The Wind Cannot Read (1958). In Tony Richardson's film of Look Back in Anger (1959) he plays a vindictive market inspector opposite Richard Burton. In the same year, Pleasence starred in the horror film, Circus of Horrors directed by Sidney Hayers, playing the role of Vanet, the owner of a circus.

Endowed with a shiny bald head, a penetrating stare, and an intense voice, usually quiet but capable of a piercing scream, he specialised in portraying insane or evil characters, including the title role in Dr Crippen (1962), the double agent Dr. Michaels in the (1966) sci-fi hit "Fantastic Voyage", the violent alcoholic Doc Tydon in Wake in Fright (1971), the mad Doctor in the Bud Spencer-Terence Hill film Watch Out, We're Mad (1974), Heinrich Himmler in The Eagle Has Landed (1976), and the Bond arch-villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in You Only Live Twice (1967), the first film in which the villain's face is clearly seen. His interpretation of the character has become predominant in popular culture considering the popularity of the comic villain, Dr. Evil in the successful Austin Powers film series, which primarily parodies it. In the crime drama Hell is a City (1960) he starred opposite Stanley Baker. The film was shot on location in Manchester.

He appeared as the POW forger Colin Blythe in the 1963 film The Great Escape, who discovers that he is slowly going blind, but nonetheless participates in the mass break-out, only to be shot down by German soldiers because he is unable to see them. In The Night of the Generals (1967), he played another uncharacteristically sympathetic role, this time as an old-school German general involved in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler. In 1971, he returned to the realm of the deranged, delivering a tour de force performance in the role of an alcoholic Australian doctor in Ted Kotcheff's nightmarish outback drama Wake in Fright.

Pleasence played Lucifer in the religious epic The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). His character taking on many dark, shadowy human disguises throughout the film was unprecedented in breathing life into the Luke 4:13 phrase "... he left Him until an opportune time ..." He was one of many stars who were given cameos throughout the film.

He also acted in Roman Polanski's Cul-de-sac (1966), in which he portrayed the love-sodden husband of a much younger French wife (Françoise Dorléac). In 1968, he ventured successfully into American cowboy territory, playing a sadistic self-styled preacher who goes after stoic Charlton Heston in the Western Will Penny.

In his later years he portrayed Lucas Deranian in Walt Disney's Escape to Witch Mountain (1975), Dr. Loomis in Halloween (1978), Dr. Kobras in The Pumaman (1980) and the President in Escape from New York (1981). The distinctive, rather sinister accent which Pleasence employed in this and other films may be credited to the elocution lessons that he had as a child. He reprised his Dr. Loomis role in Halloween II (1981), Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988), Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995).

Pleasence admired Sir Laurence Olivier, with whom he worked on-stage in the 1950s, and later on the 1979 film version of Dracula. Two years earlier, Pleasence did an amusingly broad impersonation of Olivier in the guise of a horror-film actor called "Valentine De'ath" in the film The Uncanny.

Spoken records and voiceovers

During the early 1960s, Pleasence recorded several children's-story records on the Atlas Record label. These were marketed as the Talespinners series in the UK. They were also released in the United States as Tale Spinners For Children by United Artists. The stories included Don Quixote and the Brave Little Tailor.

Pleasence provided the voice-over for the British Public Information Film, The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water in 1973. The film, intended to warn children of the dangers of playing near water, attained notoriety for allegedly giving children nightmares.

Books

Pleasence was the author of the 1977 children's book Scouse the Mouse (London: New English Library), which was animated by Canadian animator/film director Gerald Potterton (a friend of the actor, who directed him in the 1973 Canadian film The Rainbow Boys, retitled The Rainbow Gang for VHS release in the United States) and also adapted into a children's recording (Polydor Records, 1977) with Ringo Starr voicing the book's title character, Scouse the Mouse.

In his book British Film Character Actors (1982), Terence Pettigrew described him as 'a potent combination of eyes and voice. The eyes are mournful but they can also be sinister or seedy or just plain nutty. He has the kind of piercing stare which lifts enamel off saucepans.'

Awards

Pleasence was nominated four times for the Tony Award for best performance by a leading actor in a Broadway play: in 1962 for Harold Pinter's The Caretaker, in 1965 for Jean Anouilh's Poor Bitos, in 1969 for Robert Shaw's The Man in the Glass Booth, and in 1972 for Simon Gray's Wise Child.

Pleasence was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his services to the acting profession by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.

Personal life

Pleasence married four times and had five daughters from his first three marriages. He had Angela and Jean with Miriam Raymond (m. 1941-1958); Lucy and Polly with Josephine Martin Crombie (m. 1959-1970); and Miranda with Meira Shore (m. 1970-1988). His last marriage to Linda Kentwood (m. 1988-1995; his death)

Death

In 1995, Pleasence died at the age of 75 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, from complications of heart failure following heart valve replacement surgery. His body was cremated.

Legacy

Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later and Halloween Resurrection were both dedicated to the memory of Pleasence.

Dr. Evil, the character played by Mike Myers in the Austin Powers comedy films (1997-2002) and Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget are parodies of Pleasence's performance as Blofeld in You Only Live Twice.

Donald's grandson Jack O'Hare (Jak O'Hare) is a director in London, UK.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1954	The Beachcomber	Tromp
1954	Orders Are Orders	Corporal Martin	Credited as Donald Plesance
1955	Value for Money	Limpy
1956	1984	R. Parsons
1956	The Black Tent	Ali
1956	The Adventures of Robin Hood	Prince John	TV series (4 episodes)
1957	The Man in the Sky	Crabtree	(titled Decision Against Time in the U.S.)
1957	Manuela	Evans
1957	Barnacle Bill	Cashier	(titled All at Sea in the U.S.)
1958	A Tale of Two Cities	John Barsad
1958	Heart of a Child	Spiel
1958	The Wind Cannot Read	Doctor
1958	The Man Inside	Organ-grinder
1958	The Two-Headed Spy	General Hardt
1959	The Scarf	Detective Inspector Harry Yates	TV series (6 episodes)
1959	Look Back in Anger	Hurst
1959	Killers of Kilimanjaro	Captain
1959	The Battle of the Sexes	Irwin Hoffman
1960	The Shakedown	Jessel Brown
1960	The Flesh and the Fiends	William Hare
1960	Sons and Lovers	Pappleworth
1960	Hell Is a City	Gus Hawkins
1960	Circus of Horrors	Vanet
1960	The Hands of Orlac	Graham Coates
1961	What a Carve Up!	Everett Sloane
1961	No Love for Johnnie	Roger Renfrew
1961	A Story of David	Nabal
1961	Spare the Rod	Mr. Jenkins
1962	The Inspector	Sergeant Wolters
1962	Dr. Crippen	Dr. Crippen
1963	The Great Escape	RAF Flt. Lt. Colin Blythe, "The Forger"
1963	The Outer Limits	Prof. Harold Finley	TV series (episode: "The Man With the Power")
1965	The Hallelujah Trail	Oracle Jones
1965	The Greatest Story Ever Told	The Dark Hermit, Satan
1966	Fantastic Voyage	Dr. Michaels
1966	Cul-de-sac	George
1966	Eye of the Devil	Pere Dominic
1967	You Only Live Twice	Ernst Stavro Blofeld
1967	The Night of the Generals	General Kahlenberge
1967	Matchless	Gregori Andreanu
1968	The Other People	Clive
1968	Will Penny	Preacher Quint
1969	Arthur? Arthur!	Arthur Brownjohn
1969	The Madwoman of Chaillot	The Prospector
1970	Soldier Blue	Isaac Q. Cumber
1971	THX 1138	SEN 5241
1971	Wake in Fright	Doc Tydon
1971	Kidnapped	Ebenezer Balfour
1972	The Pied Piper	The Baron
1972	Death Line	Inspector Calhoun
1972	Innocent Bystanders	Loomis
1972	Henry VIII and His Six Wives	Thomas Cromwell
1972	The Jerusalem File	Major Samuels
1972	Wedding in White	Jim Dougall
1973	Tales That Witness Madness	Professor Tremayne
1973	Malachi's Cove	Malachi
1973	Columbo	Adrian Carsini
1974	Watch Out, We're Mad	The Doctor
1974	From Beyond the Grave	Jim Underwood	Segment: "An Act of Kindness"
1974	House of the Damned	Martin Zayas	Original title: La loba y la Paloma
1974	The Mutations	Professor Nolter
1974	The Black Windmill	Cedric Harper
1974	Barry Mckenzie Holds His Own	Count Plasma
1975	Escape to Witch Mountain	Lucas Deranian
1975	The Count of Monte Cristo	Baron Danglars
1975	I Don't Want to Be Born	Dr. Finch
1975	Journey into Fear	Kuvelti
1975	Hearts of the West	A.J. Neitz	Alternate title: Hollywood Cowboy
1976	Land of the Minotaur	Father Roche	Alternate title: The Devil's Men
1976	The Eagle Has Landed	Himmler
1976	Trial by Combat	Sir Giles Marley	Alternate title: Dirty Knights' Work
1976	The Last Tycoon	Boxley
1976	The Passover Plot	Pontius Pilate
1977	The Uncanny	Valentine De'ath	Segment: "Hollywood 1936"
1977	Oh, God!	Dr. Harmon
1977	Telefon	Nikolai Dalchimsky
1977	Jesus of Nazareth	Melchior	TV miniseries
1978	Halloween	Dr. Loomis
1978	Blood Relatives	James Doniac
1978	Night Creature	Axel MacGregor	Alternate title: Out of the Darkness
1978	The Bastard	Solomon Sholto	TV miniseries
1978	Tomorrow Never Comes	Dr. Todd
1978	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band	B.D. Hoffler/B.D. Brockhurst
1978	Power Play	Blair
1978	Centennial	Sam Purchas	TV miniseries
1978	L'Ordre et la sécurité du monde	Rothko	Alternate title: Last In, First Out
1979	Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff	Dr. Steiner
1979	Dracula	Dr. Jack Seward
1979	All Quiet on the Western Front	Kantorek	TV film
1979	Jaguar Lives!	General Villanova
1979	The French Atlantic Affair	Max Dechambre	TV miniseries
1980	The Pumaman	Dr. Kobras
1980	The Monster Club	Pickering
1980	Halloween: Extended Edition	Dr. Loomis	Appeared in additional footage (filmed during the production of Halloween II) not included in the original film but featured in the NBC television broadcast.
1981	Halloween II	Dr. Loomis
1981	Race for the Yankee Zephyr	Gilbert "Gibbie" Carson
1981	Escape from New York	Mr. President
1981	Saturday Night Live	Himself-Guest host	10/31/81 Halloween show with musical guest punk rock band Fear. John Belushi makes a guest appearance in the opening sketch. This would be Belushi's last SNL appearance.
1982	Alone in the Dark	Dr. Leo Bain
1982	The Barchester Chronicles	Reverend Septimus Harding	TV series
1983	Warrior of the Lost World	Prossor
1983	The Devonsville Terror	Dr. Warley
1983	Where Is Parsifal?	Mackintosh
1984	A Breed Apart	J.P. Whittier
1984	The Ambassador	Eretz
1984	Frankenstein's Great Aunt Tillie	Baron Victor Frankenstein
1985	Black Arrow	Oliver Oates	TV film
1985	Arch of Triumph	Haake
1985	Treasure of the Amazon	Klaus von Blantz
1985	Phenomena	John McGregor
1985	Nothing Underneath	Inspector Danesi
1986	Operation Nam	Father Lenoir	Alternate title: Cobra Mission
1987	Django 2	Gunn
1987	Specters	Professor Lasky
1987	Prince of Darkness	Priest
1987	Ground Zero	Prosper Gaffney
1988	The Great Escape II: The Untold Story	Dr. Absalon	TV film
1988	Hanna's War	Captain Thomas Rosza
1988	Phantom of Death	Inspector Datti
1988	Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers	Dr. Loomis
1988	Vampire in Venice	Don Alvise
1988	Der Commander (de)	Henry Carlson
1988	Last Platoon	Colonel B. Abrams
1989	Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers	Dr. Loomis
1989	Ten Little Indians	Judge Lawrence Wargrave
1989	River of Death	Heinrich Spaatz
1989	Casablanca Express	Colonel Bats
1990	Buried Alive	Dr. Schaeffer
1991	Shadows and Fog	Doctor
1992	Dien Bien Phu	Howard Simpson
1993	The Thief and the Cobbler	Phido the Vulture (voice)
1993	The Big Freeze	Soup slurper
1993	The Hour of the Pig	Pincheon
1995	Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers	Dr. Loomis	The film was dedicated to his memory.
1996	Fatal Frames	Prof. Robertson

[ Source: Wikipedia ]