Denholm Elliott | |
|---|---|
 Elliott in 1985 | |
| Born | Denholm Mitchell Elliott (1922-05-31)31 May 1922 Kensington,Middlesex, England |
| Died | 6 October 1992(1992-10-06) (aged 70) Santa Eulària des Riu,Ibiza, Spain |
| Education | Malvern College |
| Alma mater | Royal Academy of Dramatic Art |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1949–1992 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
Denholm Mitchell Elliott (31 May 1922 – 6 October 1992) was an English actor. He appeared in numerous productions on stage and screen, receiving BAFTA awards forBest Actor in a Supporting Role forTrading Places (1983),A Private Function (1984) andDefence of the Realm (1986),[a] and a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Mr. Emerson inA Room with a View (1985). He is also known for his performances inAlfie (1966),A Doll's House (1973),A Bridge Too Far (1977),Maurice (1987),September (1987), andNoises Off (1992). He portrayedMarcus Brody inRaiders of the Lost Ark (1981) andIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). On television, Elliott won theBAFTA Award for Best Actor in 1981 and was nominated for a second forHotel du Lac (1986).[1]
The American film criticRoger Ebert described Elliott as "the most dependable of all Britishcharacter actors."[2]The New York Times called him "a star among supporting players" and "an accomplished scene-stealer".[3] He was appointed aCBE by QueenElizabeth II in 1988.
Elliott was born 31 May 1922, inKensington, London,[4] the son of Nina (née Mitchell; 1893–1966) and Myles Layman Farr Elliott,MBE (1890–1933),[4] abarrister who had read law and Arabic atCambridge before fighting with theGloucestershire Regiment onGallipoli and inMesopotamia. In 1930, Myles Elliott was appointed solicitor-general to theMandatory Government in Palestine. Three years later, following a series of controversial government prosecutions, he was assassinated outside theKing David Hotel and buried in theProtestant Cemetery on Mount Zion.[5]Elliott's elder brother Neil Emerson Elliott (1920–2003) was aland agent toLady Anne Cavendish-Bentinck.
Elliott attendedMalvern College and joined theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.[6] He was asked to leave after one term. As Elliott later recalled, "They wrote to my mother and said, 'Much as we like the little fellow, he's wasting your money and our time. Take him away!'"[7]
In theSecond World War, he joined theRoyal Air Force, training as a wireless operator/air gunner and serving withNo. 76 Squadron RAF under the command ofLeonard Cheshire.[8] On the night of 23/24 September 1942, hisHandley Page Halifax DT508[9] bomber took part in an air raid on theU-boat pens atFlensburg, Germany. The aircraft was hit byflak and subsequently ditched in theNorth Sea nearSylt, Germany. Elliott and four of his crewmen survived, and he spent the rest of the war inStalag Luft VIIIb, aprisoner-of-war camp in Lamsdorf (nowŁambinowice),Silesia. While imprisoned, he became involved in amateur dramatics. He formed a theatre group that was so successful it toured other POW camps playingTwelfth Night.[10][11]
After making his film debut inDear Mr. Prohack (1949) Elliott went on to play a wide range of parts, including an officer inThe Cruel Sea (1953), and often ineffectual and occasionally seedy characters, including the criminal abortionist inAlfie (1966) and the washed-up film director inThe Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974). Elliott andNatasha Parry played the main roles in the 1955television playThe Apollo of Bellac.[12] He took over for an illMichael Aldridge for one season ofThe Man in Room 17 (1966).
Elliott made many television appearances, which included plays byDennis Potter such asFollow the Yellow Brick Road (1972),Brimstone and Treacle, (1976) andBlade on the Feather (1980). He starred in the BBC's adaptation ofCharles Dickens's short storyThe Signalman (1976). He also co-starred withJack Palance in the Canadian-American television filmThe Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968).
In the 1980s, Elliott won three consecutiveBritish Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards forBest Supporting Actor, for playing the butler toDan Aykroyd andEddie Murphy in the American comedy filmTrading Places (1983), Dr. Swaby in the British comedy filmA Private Function (1984), and the drunken journalist Vernon Bayliss in the British political thriller filmDefence of the Realm (1986). He received anAcademy Award nomination for playing Mr. Emerson inA Room with a View (1985). He also playedDr. Marcus Brody, an academic and friend ofIndiana Jones, inRaiders of the Lost Ark (1981) andIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). A photograph of his character appears inIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), and a reference is made to Brody's death. A statue was also dedicated to Brody outside Marshall College, the school where Indiana Jones teaches. In 1988 Elliott played the Russianmole Povin, around whom the entire plot revolves, in the television miniseriesCodename: Kyril.
Having filmedMichael Winner'sThe Wicked Lady (1983), Elliott was quoted in aBBC Radio interview as saying thatMarc Sinden and he "are the only two British actors I am aware of who have ever worked with Winner more than once, and it certainly wasn't for love. But curiously, I never, ever saw any of the same crew twice." (Elliott inYou Must Be Joking! (1965) andThe Wicked Lady and Sinden inThe Wicked Lady andDecadence). Elliott had worked with Sinden's father,Donald Sinden, inThe Cruel Sea.[13] He co-starred withKatharine Hepburn andHarold Gould in the television filmMrs. Delafield Wants to Marry (1986) and withNicole Kidman inBangkok Hilton (1989).
In 1988, Elliott was appointed a Commander of theOrder of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to acting. His career included many stage performances, including with theRoyal Shakespeare Company, and an acclaimed turn as the twin brothers inJean Anouilh'sRing Round the Moon. His scene-stealing abilities ledGabriel Byrne, his co-star inDefence of the Realm, to say, "Never act with children, dogs, or Denholm Elliott."[14]
Described by theBritish Film Institute'sScreenonline as an actor of "versatile understanding and immaculate technique,"[15] Elliott described himself as an instinctive actor and was a critic ofStanislavski's system of acting, saying, "I mistrust and am rather bored with actors who are of the Stanislavski school who think about detail."[16]
Elliott married twice and was secretlybisexual.[17] He was first married to actressVirginia McKenna from 1954 to 1957.[18] In 1962, he married American actress Susan Robinson, 20 years his junior, with whom he would have anopen marriage and two children.[19]
Elliott was diagnosed withHIV in 1987[17] and died ofAIDS-relatedtuberculosis at his home in Santa Eulària des Riu on Ibiza, on 6 October 1992, aged 70. Tributes were paid by actorsDonald Sinden andPeter Ustinov, the dramatistDennis Potter, and Virginia McKenna. Sinden said: "He was one of the finest screen actors and a very special actor at that. He was one of the last stars who was a real gentleman. It is a very sad loss." Ustinov said: "He was a wonderful actor and a very good friend on the occasions that life brought us together." Potter called him "a complicated, sensitive, and slightly disturbing actor" and "a dry, witty, and slightly menacing individual." McKenna added, "It is absolutely dreadful, but the person I am thinking of at the moment more than anybody is his wife. It must be terrible for her."[20]Ismail Merchant described Elliott as "an all-giving person, full of life ... He had an affection and feeling for other actors, which is very unusual in our business."[21]
Elliott's widow set up a charity, the Denholm Elliott Project, and collaborated on his biography.[22] She worked closely with theUK Coalition of People Living with HIV and AIDS. She died on 12 April 2007, aged 65, in a fire in her flat in Hornsey, London.[17] Their daughter Jennifer died by suicide in Ibiza in 2003.[19] In 1995,News of the World had published an article exposing her addiction to heroin and alleging that she was a beggar and prostitute, a piece which the tabloid's former deputy features editor Paul McMullan later admitted had "totally humiliated and destroyed her."[23]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Jack Lyons | Season 3 Episode 34: "The Crocodile Case" |
| 1959 | John Manbridge | Season 4 Episode 21: "Relative Value" | |
| 1963 | Hancock | Peter Dartford | 1 episode |
| 1965 | Danger Man | Basil Jordan | Season 3 Episode 18:The Hunting Party |
| 1966 | The Man in Room 17 | Defraits | 13 episodes |
| Mystery and Imagination | Roderick Usher | Episode:The Fall of the House of Usher | |
| 1968 | The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | George Devlin | TV film |
| 1968 | Mystery and Imagination | Count Dracula | Episode:Dracula |
| 1972 | The Persuaders! | Roland | Episode:A Death in the Family |
| Follow the Yellow Brick Road | Jack Black | TV play | |
| 1975 | Thriller | Dr. Frank Henson | Episode:The Crazy Kill |
| 1976 | Brimstone and Treacle | Mr. Tom Bates | TV play:Play for Today |
| Clayhanger | Tertius Ingpen | 9 episodes | |
| The Signalman | The Signalman | TV play | |
| 1977 | Ripping Yarns | Mr. Gregory | Episode:Across The Andes by Frog |
| 1980 | Hammer House of Horror | Norman Shenley | Episode:Rude Awakening |
| 1980 | Blade on the Feather | Jack Hill | TV film |
| 1980 | Tales of the Unexpected | Harold | TV Series, Season 3 ep 7, 'The Stinker' |
| 1982 | Marco Polo | Niccolò Polo | 8 episodes |
| 1983 | The Hound of the Baskervilles | Dr. Mortimer | TV film |
| 1984 | Camille | Count de Noilly | TV film |
| 1985 | Bleak House | John Jarndyce | 7 episodes |
| 1986 | Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry | George Parker | TV film |
| 1987 | Hotel du Lac | Phillip Neville | TV film |
| Scoop | Mr. Salter | TV film | |
| A Child's Christmas in Wales | Old Geraint | TV film | |
| The Happy Valley | Sir Henry 'Jock' Delves Broughton | TV film | |
| 1988 | Codename: Kyril | Povin | 4 episodes |
| The Ray Bradbury Theater | Tom Cotter | Episode:The Coffin | |
| The Bourne Identity | Dr Geoffrey Washburn | TV mini-series | |
| Noble House | Alastair Struan | 4 episodes | |
| 1989 | Bangkok Hilton | Hal Stanton | 3 episodes |
| 1990 | A Green Journey | James O'Hannon | TV film |
| 1991 | A Murder of Quality | George Smiley | TV film |
| One Against the Wind | Father LeBlanc | TV film | |
| The Black Candle | William Filmore | TV film |
| Year | Title | Role(s) | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | The Guinea Pig | West End debut | [25] | |
| 1950 | Venus Observed | Edgar | [26] | |
| 1950 | Ring Round the Moon | Frederic, Hugo | Broadway debut | [27] |
| 1951 | The Green Bay Tree | Julian | [28] | |
| 1951 | A Sleep of Prisoners | [29] | ||
| 1953 | The Confidential Clerk | [30] | ||
| 1957 | Monique | Fernand Ravinel | [31][32] | |
| 1958 | Traveller Without Luggage | [33] | ||
| 1960 | The Merchant of Venice | Bassanio | [34] | |
| 1960 | The Two Gentlemen of Verona | Valentine | [35] | |
| 1960 | Troilus and Cressida | Troilus | [36] | |
| 1961 | Write Me a Murder | The Hon. Clive Rodingham | [37] | |
| 1964 | The Seagull | Trigorin | [38] | |
| 1964 | The Crucible | Reverend John Hale | [39] | |
| 1967 | The Imaginary Invalid | Dr. Diaforus | [40] | |
| 1967 | A Touch of the Poet | Cornelius Melody | [41] | |
| 1967 | Tonight at 8.30 | Alec Harvey | [42] | |
| 1970 | Come As You Are | [43] | ||
| 1975 | The Return of A. J. Raffles | A. J. Raffles | [44] | |
| 1977 | The New York Idea | [45] | ||
| 1977 | Three Sisters | [46] | ||
| 1989 | A Life in the Theatre | Robert | [47] |
| Year | Award | Category | Nomination | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actor | A Room with a View | Nominated |
| 1973 | British Academy Film Awards | Best Supporting Actor | A Doll's House | Nominated |
| 1979 | Saint Jack | Nominated | ||
| 1981 | Raiders of the Lost Ark | Nominated | ||
| 1983 | Trading Places | Won | ||
| 1984 | A Private Function | Won | ||
| 1985 | Defence of the Realm | Won | ||
| 1986 | A Room with a View | Nominated | ||
| 1981 | British Academy Television Awards | Best Actor | BBC2 Playhouse:Gentlefolk &In Hiding Blade on the Feather | Won |
| 1986 | Screen Two:Hotel du Lac | Nominated |
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