Oliver Reed | |
|---|---|
 Reed in 1968 | |
| Born | Robert Oliver Reed (1938-02-13)13 February 1938 Wimbledon, London, England |
| Died | 2 May 1999(1999-05-02) (aged 61) Valletta, Malta |
| Burial place | Bruhenny Graveyard,Churchtown, County Cork, Ireland |
| Education | Ewell Castle School |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1955–1999 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (grandfather) Sir Carol Reed (uncle) |
Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor, known for his upper-middle class, macho image[1] and his heavy-drinking, "hellraiser" lifestyle.[2][3] His screen career spanned over 40 years, between 1955 and 1999. At the peak of his career, in 1971, British exhibitors voted Reed fifth-most-popular star at the box office.[4]
After making his first significant screen appearances inHammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his notable film roles included La Bete inThe Trap (1966),Bill Sikes inOliver! (a film directed by his uncleCarol Reed that won the 1968Academy Award for Best Picture), Gerald inWomen in Love (1969), the title role inHannibal Brooks (1969),Urbain Grandier inThe Devils (1971),Athos inThe Three Musketeers (1973) andThe Four Musketeers (1974), Uncle Frank inTommy (1975), Dr. Hal Raglan inThe Brood (1979), Dolly Hopkins inFunny Bones (1995) and Antonius Proximo inGladiator (2000).
For playing the old, gruff gladiator trainer inRidley Scott'sGladiator, in what was his final film, Reed was posthumously nominated for theBAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and aScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture in 2000.
TheBritish Film Institute (BFI) stated that "partnerships withMichael Winner andKen Russell in the mid-[19]60s saw Reed become an emblematic Brit-flick icon", but from the mid-1970s his alcoholism began affecting his career, with theBFI adding: "Reed had assumedRobert Newton's mantle as Britain's thirstiest thespian".[5]
Robert Oliver Reed was born on 13 February 1938 at 9 Durrington Park Road,[6]Wimbledon, southwest London, to Peter Reed, a sports journalist, and Marcia (née Napier-Andrews).[7] He was the nephew of film directorSir Carol Reed, and grandson of the actor-managerSir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and his mistress, Beatrice May Pinney (who later assumed the name 'Reed'),[8] she being "the only person who understood, listened to, encouraged and kissed Oliver".[9] Reed claimed to have been a descendant (through an illegitimate step) ofPeter the Great, Tsar of Russia.[10] Reed attended 14 schools,[11] includingEwell Castle School in Surrey. "My father thought I was just lazy," Reed later said. "He thought I was adunce."[12]
Reed claimed he had worked as a boxer, a bouncer, a taxi driver and a hospital porter. He then did his compulsory army service in theRoyal Army Medical Corps.[13] "The army helped," he said later. "I recognized that most other people were actors as well. I was in the peacetime army and they were all telling us youngsters about the war."[12]
Reed began his acting career as an extra in films. He appeared uncredited inKen Annakin's filmValue for Money (1955) andNorman Wisdom's filmThe Square Peg (1958). Uncredited television appearances included episodes ofThe Invisible Man (1958),The Four Just Men (1959) andThe Third Man. He appeared in the documentaryHello London (1958).
Reed's first break was playingRichard of Gloucester in a six-partBBC TV seriesThe Golden Spur (1959). It did not seem to help his career immediately: He was not credited in the filmsThe Captain's Table (1959),Upstairs and Downstairs (1959), directed byRalph Thomas,Life Is a Circus (1960),The Angry Silence (1960),The League of Gentlemen (1960) orBeat Girl (1960). He played a bouncer inThe Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960) forHammer Films with which he would become associated; the director wasTerence Fisher. Reed was then inThe Bulldog Breed (1960), another Wisdom film, playing the leader of a gang ofTeddy Boys roughing up Wisdom in a cinema.[14]
Reed got his first significant role in Hammer Films'Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960), again directed by Fisher. He went back to small roles forHis and Hers (1961), aTerry-Thomas comedy;No Love for Johnnie (1961) for Ralph Thomas; andThe Rebel (1961) withTony Hancock. He played the role of Sebastian in the ITV seriesIt's Dark Outside, which was popular with teenagers, making him an idol for the first time.
Reed's first starring role came when Hammer cast him as the central character inTerence Fisher'sThe Curse of the Werewolf (1961). Hammer liked Reed and gave him good supporting roles in the swashbucklerThe Pirates of Blood River (1962), directed byJohn Gilling;Captain Clegg (1962), a smugglers tale withPeter Cushing;The Damned (1963), a science fiction film directed byJoseph Losey;Paranoiac (1963), a psycho thriller for directorFreddie Francis; andThe Scarlet Blade (1963); a swashbuckler set during theEnglish Civil War, directed by Gilling, with Reed as aRoundhead.[15]
During this time, he appeared in someITVPlayhouse productions, "Murder in Shorthand" (1962) and "The Second Chef" (1962), and guest-starred in episodes ofThe Saint. He also had the lead in a non-Hammer horror,The Party's Over (made 1963, released 1965), directed byGuy Hamilton.
In 1964, he starred in the first of six films directed byMichael Winner,The System (known asThe Girl-Getters in the US). The film was seen byKen Russell who then cast Reed in the title role ofThe Debussy Film (1965), a TV biopic of French composerClaude Debussy.[16] Reed said this was crucial to his career because "That was the first time I met Ken Russell and it was the first part I had after I'd had my face cut in a fight and no one would employ me. Everybody thought I was a cripple."[12] It was also the first time he broke away from villainous roles. "Until that time they thought I was a neolithic dustbin," said Reed.[17] Reed later said "Hammer films had given me my start and Michael Winner my bread then Ken Russell came on the screen and gave me my art."[18]
He narrated Russell's TV movieAlways on Sunday (1965). Reed returned to Hammer forThe Brigand of Kandahar (1965), playing a villainous Indian in an imperial action film for Gilling. He later called it the worst film he ever made for Hammer.[19] He guest-starred in episodes ofIt's Dark Outside andCourt Martial, the latter directed bySeth Holt. He had a regular role in the TV seriesR3 (1965). Reed was the lead in a Canadian-British co-production,The Trap (1966), co-starring withRita Tushingham.
Reed's career stepped up another level when he starred in the popular comedy filmThe Jokers (1966), his second film with Winner, alongsideMichael Crawford. After playing a villain in a horror movie,The Shuttered Room (1967), he did a third with Winner,I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967), co-starring withOrson Welles. Reed was reunited with Russell for another TV movie,Dante's Inferno (1967), playingDante Gabriel Rossetti.[19]
"Richard Burton,Richard Harris, Oliver Reed andPeter O'Toole were among the four greatest actors of their generation. Onstage, they brought new vigour toShakespeare andShaw. Onscreen, they madeBritish cinema sexy in classic films includingLawrence of Arabia,Oliver!,Becket andThis Sporting Life."
Reed's star rose further as a result of playingBill Sikes inOliver! (1968), alongsideRon Moody,Shani Wallis,Mark Lester,Jack Wild andHarry Secombe, in his uncleCarol Reed's screen version of the successful stage musical. It was a huge hit, winning theAcademy Award for Best Picture, with Reed receiving praise for his villainous performance.[20]
He was in theblack comedyThe Assassination Bureau (1969) withDiana Rigg andTelly Savalas, directed byBasil Dearden;[21] and a war film for Winner,Hannibal Brooks (1969).[22]
More successful than either was his fourth film with Russell, a film version ofWomen in Love (1969), in which he wrestled naked withAlan Bates in front of a log fire.[23] In 1969, Interstate Theatres awarded him their International Star of the Year Award.[24]
Take a Girl Like You (1970) was a sex comedy withHayley Mills based on a novel byKingsley Amis;[25]The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun (1970) was a thriller directed byAnatole Litvak.[26] The following year, Reed appeared in the controversial filmThe Devils (1971), directed by Russell withVanessa Redgrave.[27]
An anecdote holds that Reed could have been chosen to playJames Bond. In 1969, Bond franchise producersAlbert R. Broccoli andHarry Saltzman were looking for a replacement forSean Connery and Reed (who had recently played a resourceful killer inThe Assassination Bureau) was mentioned as a possible choice for the role, withTimothy Dalton andRoger Moore as the other choices.[28] Whatever the reason, Reed was never to play Bond. After Reed's death, theGuardian Unlimited called the casting decision, "One of the great missed opportunities of post-war British movie history."[29]
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He made a series of action-oriented projects:The Hunting Party (1971), a Western shot in Spain withGene Hackman;Sitting Target (1972), a tough gangster film; andZ.P.G. (1972), a science fiction film withGeraldine Chaplin. In March 1971, he said he would make a film,The Offering, which he would co-write and produce, but it was not made.[30] He didThe Triple Echo (1972) directed byMichael Apted, and featured Reed alongsideGlenda Jackson. Reed also appeared in a number of Italian films:Dirty Weekend (1973), withMarcello Mastroianni;One Russian Summer (1973) withClaudia Cardinale; andRevolver (1973) withFabio Testi.
He had great success playingAthos inThe Three Musketeers (1973) andThe Four Musketeers (1974) for director Richard Lester from a script byGeorge MacDonald Fraser. Reed had an uncredited bit-part in Russell'sMahler (1974), was the lead inBlue Blood (1973) andAnd Then There Were None (1974), produced byHarry Alan Towers. His next project with Ken Russell wasTommy, where he plays Tommy's stepfather, based onThe Who's 1969 concept album,Tommy, and starring its lead singerRoger Daltrey.Royal Flash (1975) reunited him with Richard Lester andGeorge MacDonald Fraser, playingOtto von Bismarck. He had a cameo in Russell'sLisztomania (1975).
Reed appeared inThe New Spartans (1975), then acted alongsideKaren Black,Bette Davis, andBurgess Meredith in theDan Curtis horror film,Burnt Offerings (1976). He was inThe Sell Out (1976) andThe Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday (1976) withLee Marvin. AfterAssault in Paradise (1977), he returned to swashbuckling inCrossed Swords (UK titleThe Prince and the Pauper) (1977), as Miles Hendon alongsideRaquel Welch and a grown-up Mark Lester, who had worked with Reed inOliver!, from a script co-written by Fraser.
Reed didTomorrow Never Comes (1978) for Peter Colinson andThe Big Sleep (1978) with Winner. He and Jackson were reunited inThe Class of Miss MacMichael (1978), then he made a film in Canada,The Mad Trapper, that was unfinished. Reed returned to the horror genre as Dr. Hal Raglan inDavid Cronenberg's 1979 filmThe Brood and ended the decade withA Touch of the Sun (1979), a comedy with Peter Cushing.[31]
After the 1970s, Reed's films had less success. He did a comedy forCharles B. Griffith,Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype (1980) and played Gen.Rodolfo Graziani inLion of the Desert (1981), which co-starredAnthony Quinn and chronicled theSenussids resistance to Italian occupation ofLibya. On 20 January 2016,ISIS used a clip ofLion of the Desert as part of a propaganda video threatening Italy with terrorist attacks.[32]
Reed was a villain in Disney'sCondorman (1981) and did the horror filmVenom (1981). He was a villain inThe Sting II (1983) and appeared inSex, Lies and Renaissance (1983). He also starred as Lt-ColGerard Leachman in the Iraqi historical filmClash of Loyalties (1983), which dealt with Leachman's exploits during the 1920 revolution inMesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). Reed was inSpasms (1983),Two of a Kind (1983),Masquerade (1984),Christopher Columbus (1985),Black Arrow (1985) andCaptive (1986). He says he was contemplating quitting acting whenNicolas Roeg cast him inCastaway (1986) as the middle-agedGerald Kingsland, who advertises for a "wife" (played byAmanda Donohoe) to live on a desert island with him for a year.[12]
Reed was the subject ofThis Is Your Life in 1986 when he was surprised byEamonn Andrews at Rosslyn Park rugby club in west London.[33] Reed was inThe Misfit Brigade (1987),Gor (1987),Master of Dragonard Hill (1987),Dragonard (1987),Skeleton Coast (1988),Blind Justice (1988),Captive Rage (1988), andRage to Kill (1988). Most of these wereexploitation films produced by the impresarioHarry Alan Towers filmed in South Africa and released straight to video.
He was inTerry Gilliam'sThe Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) (as the godVulcan);The Lady and the Highwayman (1989) withHugh Grant;The House of Usher (1989);The Return of the Musketeers (1990) with Lester and Fraser;Treasure Island (1990) withCharlton Heston;A Ghost in Monte Carlo (1990);Hired to Kill (1990);Panama Sugar (1990);The Revenger (1990);The Pit and the Pendulum (1991);Prisoner of Honor (1991) for Russell; andSevered Ties (1993).
Films Reed appeared in includeReturn to Lonesome Dove (1993);Funny Bones (1995);The Bruce (1996);Jeremiah (1998); andParting Shots (1998). His final role was the elderly slave dealer Proximo inRidley Scott'sGladiator (2000), in which he played alongsideRichard Harris,[34] an actor whom Reed admired greatly both on and off the screen.[35] The film was released after his death with some footage filmed with a double,[36] digitally mixed with outtake footage.[37] The film was dedicated to him.[38] In addition to his posthumousBAFTA recognition, he shared the film's nomination for theScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture with the rest of the principal players.[39]
In addition to acting, Reed released several singles in the popular music vein, though with limited success. These included "Wild One"/"Lonely for a Girl" (1961), "Sometimes"/"Ecstasy" (1962), "Baby It's Cold Outside" (duet withJoyce Blair) and "Wild Thing" (1992) (duet with snooker playerAlex Higgins). Reed also later narrated a track called "Walpurgis Nacht" by the Italianheavy metal bandDeath SS.[40]
In 1959, Reed married Kate Byrne.[41] The couple had one son, Mark, before their divorce in 1969. While filming his part ofBill Sikes inOliver! (1968), he met Jacquie Daryl, a classically trained dancer who was also in the film.[42] They became lovers and subsequently had a daughter, Sarah. In 1985, he married Josephine Burge, to whom he remained married until his death. When they met in 1980, she was 16 years old and he was 42.[43] In his final years, Reed and Burge lived inChurchtown, County Cork, Ireland.
In December 1974, Reed appeared onBBC Radio 4'sDesert Island Discs, a show where the guest, a "castaway", talks about their life and chooses eight favourite songs and the reasons for their choices. He named "Jardins sous la pluie" by French composerClaude Debussy as his favourite piece of music, and when asked what book and inanimate luxury item he would take with him on a desert island Reed choseWinnie-the-Pooh byA. A. Milne and an inflatable rubber woman.[44]
In 1964, Reed was in the Crazy Elephant nightclub inLeicester Square and got into a dispute at the bar with a couple of men that ended with Reed walking away with a dismissive remark. They waited until he went to the toilet, followed him in and attacked him with broken bottles.[45] He received 63 stitches in one side of his face, was left with permanent scarring, and initially thought his film career was over. According to his brother, subsequent to the attack, when arguing, the burly Reed would bring his hands up in a gesture that was defensive but many men found very intimidating.
In 1993, Reed was unsuccessfully sued by his former stuntman, stand-in and friend Reg Prince, for an alleged spinal injury incurred by the latter while on location for the filming ofCastaway.[46]
He claimed to have turned down a major role in the Hollywood movieThe Sting (although he did appear in the 1983 sequelThe Sting II).[citation needed] When the 1970s UK government raised taxes on personal income, Reed initially declined to join the exodus of major British film stars toHollywood and other more tax-friendly locales. In the late 1970s, Reed relocated toGuernsey as atax exile. He had sold his large house,Broome Hall, between the Surrey villages ofColdharbour andOckley, and initially lodged at the Duke of Normandie Hotel inSaint Peter Port.[47]
Reed often described himself as a British patriot and preferred to live in the United Kingdom over relocating toHollywood. He supported British military efforts during theFalklands War. According toRobert Sellers, Reed tried reenlisting, at age 44, in the British Army following the outbreak of the conflict but was turned down.[48][49]
In 2013, the writerRobert Sellers publishedWhat Fresh Lunacy Is This? – The Authorised Biography of Oliver Reed.[50]
Reed was known for his alcoholism andbinge drinking.[51] Numerous anecdotes exist, such as Reed and 36 friends drinking, in one evening: 60 gallons of beer, 32 bottles of scotch, 17 bottles of gin, four crates of wine, and a bottle ofBabycham. Reed subsequently revised the story, claiming he drank 106 pints of beer on a two-day binge before marrying Josephine Burge: "The event that was reported actually took place during an arm-wrestling competition inGuernsey, about 15 years ago; it was highly exaggerated." In the late 1970s,Steve McQueen told the story that, in 1973, he flew to the UK to discuss a film project with Reed, who suggested that the two of them visit a London nightclub.[52] They ended up on a marathonpub crawl throughout the night, during which Reed got so drunk that he vomited on McQueen.[52]
Reed became a close friend and drinking partner ofthe Who's drummerKeith Moon in 1974, while working together onthe film version ofTommy.[53] With their reckless lifestyles, Reed and Moon had much in common, and both cited the hard-drinking actorRobert Newton as a role model.[54]Sir Christopher Lee, a friend and colleague of Reed, commented on his alcoholism in 2014, saying "when he started, after [drink] number eight, he became a complete monster. It was awful to see."[55]
Reed was often irritated that his appearances on television chat shows concentrated on his drinking feats rather than his acting career and latest films. On 26 September 1975, while Reed was interviewed byJohnny Carson onThe Tonight Show,Shelley Winters, angered by derogatory comments Reed had made aboutfeminists and women's liberation, poured a cup of whiskey over his head on-camera.[56]
Reed was held partly responsible for the demise ofBBC1'sSin on Saturday after some typically forthright comments on the subject of lust, the sin featured on the first programme. The series had many other issues, and a fellow guest revealed that Reed recognised this when he arrived, and virtually had to be dragged in front of the cameras. Near the end of his life, he was brought onto some television series specifically for his drinking; for example,The Word put bottles of vodka in his dressing room so he could be secretly filmed getting drunk. According to Reed the whole thing was a stunt ("I knew all about the 'secret' camera, and the vodka was water"), and that he was paid to "act drunk".[57] Reed left the set of theChannel 4 television discussion programmeAfter Dark after arriving drunk and attempting to kiss feminist writerKate Millett, uttering the phrase, "Give us a kiss, big tits."[58]
Evil Spirits, a biography of Reed that was written by Cliff Goodwin, offered the theory that Reed was not always as drunk on chat shows as he appeared to be, but rather was acting the part of an uncontrollably sodden former star to liven things up, at the producers' behests. In October 1981, Reed was arrested inVermont, where he was tried and acquitted ofdisturbing the peace while drunk. He pleaded no contest to two assault charges and was fined $1,200.[59] In December 1987, Reed, who was overweight and already suffered fromgout,[60] became seriously ill with kidney problems as a result of his alcoholism, and had to abstain from drinking for over a year, on the advice of his doctor.
During the filming ofRenny Harlin'sCutthroat Island (1995), he was cast in a cameo role as Mordechai Fingers. Due to his arriving extremely intoxicated, having already been in trouble for a bar fight, before attempting to "expose himself" to lead actressGeena Davis, he was fired and replaced with British character actorGeorge Murcell.[61]
In his final years, when he lived in Ireland, Reed was a regular in the one-roomed O'Brien's Bar inChurchtown, County Cork, close to the 13th-century cemetery in the heart of the village where he would be buried.[62][63]
During a break from filmingGladiator inValletta on the afternoon of 2 May 1999, Reed died from a sudden heart attack at the age of 61.[64][65] According toGladiator screenwriterDavid Franzoni, Reed had encountered a group ofRoyal Navy sailors fromHMSCumberland who were onshore leave at a bar and challenged them to a drinking match.[66] He fell ill during the match and collapsed,[67] dying in the ambulance en route to the hospital despite resuscitation efforts by his friends.[64]
Despite his outspoken British patriotism, a funeral for Reed was held in the Irish village ofChurchtown, where he had lived during the last years of his life.[68] His body was interred in the village's Bruhenny Graveyard, a short distance from the pub he would frequent.[69] Theepitaph on his gravestone reads, "He made the air move."[70][71]
In 2016, Reed'sGladiator co-starOmid Djalili said of his death, "[Reed] hadn't had a drink for months before filming started... everyone said he went the way he wanted, but that's not true. It was very tragic. He was in anIrish bar and was pressured into a drinking competition. He should have just left, but he didn't."[72] Reed had promisedGladiator directorRidley Scott prior to filming, that he would not drink during production, which he worked around by only drinking on weekends when filming was not under way. AnotherGladiator co-star,David Hemmings, was a long-time friend of Reed; Scott stated in 2020, "[David] promised to look after him and said to me [upon his death] 'I'm really sorry, old boy'."[73]
As a result of his death, Reed's remaining scenes inGladiator had to be completedusing a body double andcomputer-generated imagery (CGI) techniques.[74] Despite this, he was posthumously nominated for aBAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.[75]
