Donald Henry Pleasence (; 5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor. He was known for his "bald head and intense, staring eyes," and played more than 250 stage, film, and television roles across a nearly 60-year career.
Pleasence began his career on stage in the West End before having a screen career, which included starring in a 1954 BBC adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, before playing numerous supporting and character roles, developing a reputation for playing "nervy, unstable characters" including Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe in The Great Escape (1963), the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967), SEN 5241 in THX 1138 (1971), and the deranged Clarence "Doc" Tydon in Wake in Fright (1971). He also maintained an acclaimed career on the Broadway stage.
Pleasence starred as psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis in Halloween (1978) and four of its sequels, a role for which he was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actor. The series' popularity and critical success led to a resurgent career for Pleasence, who appeared in numerous American and European-produced horror and thriller films. He collaborated with Halloween director John Carpenter twice more, as the President of the United States in Escape from New York (1981) and as the Priest in Prince of Darkness (1987).
For his stage work, Pleasence won a Drama Desk Award and was nominated for four Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Play. He was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his services to drama by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.
Early life
Pleasence was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, the son of Alice (née Armitage) and Thomas Stanley Pleasence, a railway station master. His grandfather was a railwayman who lived at Portland Place in Worksop, where Donald developed an interest in cricket.
He received his formal education at Crosby Junior School, known as Doncaster Road School, in Scunthorpe. He lived at 111 Frodingham Road for nine years. Aged seven he took part in his first play, in Scunthorpe called Passers By.
He was brought up as a strict Methodist in the small village of Grimoldby, Lincolnshire, from the age of nine. He was in the local Scouts, the 4th United Methodist in Louth. He produced the school Christmas concert, in Louth, in his early teens.
His father was the stationmaster at Grimoldby railway station for five years, on the Mablethorpe loop railway. His parents were in the temperance society, and his mother was in the Grimoldby and Manby Women's Institute.
By early 1934 he had moved from Lincolnshire, where his father had been the LNER stationmaster from around early 1929. His father was the stationmaster at Ecclesfield. His father would die aged 77 in around 1965, after moving to Teddington in the late 1950s.
He attended Ecclesfield Grammar School near Sheffield, which he said changed his life. Mr Clay was head of English, and with the headmaster, encouraged him, saying 'I owe virtually everything to them'. He developed his acting in Mr Clay's 'Wednesday Club' drama society. He has said that he was good at English but 'not much else'. Donald's father asked the headmaster to persuade his son to not choose to be an actor. A class friend Sam Hemingfield, would become a teacher, and later head of the sixth form at Ecclesfield School. Another friend was John Bertram, who would become a teacher, and head of English at Bradfield School.
For 18 months he worked as a booking clerk at Swinton railway station, with LNER and decided that he wanted to be a professional actor, taking up a placement with the Jersey Repertory Company in 1939. His first professional play at the Playhouse, in Jersey in July 1939 was as assistant stage manager with the Kent-Naismith Rep Company, where he played Hareton Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights.
Until 1941, he worked in repertory theatre. Until leaving rep, he had a rebellious nature, and often upset theatre directors and managers, leading to him being dismissed.
Second World War
In December 1939, Pleasence initially refused conscription into the British Armed Forces, registering as a conscientious objector, but changed his stance in autumn 1940, after the attacks upon London by the Luftwaffe, and volunteered with the Royal Air Force.
He served as aircraft wireless-operator with No. 166 Squadron in Bomber Command, with which he flew almost sixty raids against the Axis Powers over occupied Europe, from RAF Kirmington.
On 31 August 1944, his Lancaster NE112 was shot down during an attack on Agenville, France, and he was captured and imprisoned in the German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft I. He had been shot down on his 19th operation, bombing a V-1 flying bomb site.
Pleasence produced and acted in many plays for the entertainment of his fellow captives. In 1955 he said that 'joining the RAF was almost like being posted home'. Ten days before VE day, he was liberated by the Russians. The camp had mostly Americans.
After the war and his release, he was discharged from the RAF in 1946 as a Flight lieutenant.
Years later, he used his experiences in POW camps in his role in The Great Escape. While filming, Pleasence kindly offered advice to director John Sturges, to which he was politely asked to keep his "opinions" to himself. Later, when James Garner on set informed Sturges that Pleasence had been imprisoned in a German POW camp, Sturges requested his technical advice and input on historical accuracy from that point forward.
Acting career
Returning to acting after the war, Pleasence resumed working in repertory theatre companies in Birmingham and Bristol.
His first production was The Brothers Karamazov, where he played the interrogator Mavriky, when one of the actors was ill at the Lyric Theatre (Hammersmith). It was his first 'unpleasant' acting role. He joined Birmingham Rep, where stayed for two years, then the Bristol Old Vic. He toured the US in 1950.
In the 1950s, Pleasence's stage work included performing as Willie Mossop in a 1952 production of Hobson's Choice at the Arts Theatre, London and as Dauphin in Jean Anouilh's The Lark (1956).
Pleasence played Prince John in several episodes of the ITV series The Adventures of Robin Hood (1956–1958), starring Richard Greene in the title role. 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 the United States was in an episode of The Twilight Zone,
He also portrayed a murderer captured by Mrs. Columbo in "Murder Is a Parlor Game" (1979). which costar Christopher Reeve explained as not being a remake of the 1963 original film and being based on Paul Brickhill's non-fiction account The Great Escape.
Film
thumb|Pleasence in the trailer for the film [[Eye of the Devil (1966).]]
Pleasence made his big-screen debut with The Beachcomber (1954).
Characterised by a bald head, a penetrating stare, and an intense voice, usually quiet but capable of a piercing scream, he specialised in portraying insane, fanatical, or evil characters; In 1959, he was awarded Best Actor by the Society of Film and Television Arts Television Awards for his work the previous year.
He played the title role in Dr Crippen (1962),
Pleasence played Lucifer in the religious epic The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). and the Ozploitation cycle, earning praise from contemporary critics for Kotcheff's direction and the cast's performances.
Pleasence portrayed SEN 5241 in THX 1138 (1971), The film was a major success and was considered the highest grossing independent film of its time, earning accolades as a classic of the horror genre. He also played the teacher, Kantorek in All Quiet on the Western Front (1979), where Pleasence portrayed a wheelchair-using forensic entomologist. Although Austin Trunick of Under the Radar criticised Connelly for not being an active heroine, he cited "a lot of nice interaction between Connelly and Pleasence's eccentric character" as a positive tradeoff. Later that year, Pleasence played a retiring inspector who investigates the disappearance of the sister of Tom Schanley's character in Nothing Underneath.
JA Kerswell called Pleasence's role "clichéd" for the actor while also praising his presence as "a welcome bonus." The reviewer from Horror Society wrote of liking Schanley and Pleasence "but the story is the main focus here and not the cast which is a bit of a shame because both did fantastic jobs." Operation Nam was Pleasence's sole film appearance in 1986, playing "a minor part as a priest" who services Vietnam soldiers.
Pleasence collaborated with Carpenter again when he starred in Prince of Darkness (1987), Though mixed about the film, Starburst praised Pleasence's performance, admitting that to them, "there are very few sights in genre cinema as marvelous as seeing Pleasence delivering an intense, slightly erratic monologue, and he gets plenty to sink his teeth into here." Megan Summers asserted that Pleasence brought "his standard emotional prowess and psychological stability to his role" in the film, and Michael Wilmington declared Pleasence and Victor Wong as "both fine; these two know how to make the most of shallow excess."
In 1988, Pleasence played a priest in the Italian horror film Vampire in Venice, with whom he worked on-stage in the 1950s, and later on the film version of Dracula (1979). 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 (1977).
Books
Pleasence was the author of the children's book Scouse the Mouse (1977) (London: New English Library), which was animated by Canadian animator/film director Gerald Potterton (a friend of the actor, who directed him in the Canadian film The Rainbow Boys (1973), 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 describes Pleasence 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."
Honours
Pleasence was appointed an Officer of the 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, including Angela. His last marriage was to Linda Kentwood (m. 1988–1995; his death).
In the late 1970s, he lived near the eastern side of Kew Bridge. He lived in the south of France for a number of years, up until his death.
Death
On 2 February 1995, Pleasence died at age 75 at his home in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, from complications of heart failure following heart valve replacement surgery. His body was cremated.
Legacy
The 1995 film Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers was dedicated to Donald Pleasence. The 1998 film Halloween H20: 20 Years Later also features a dedication to Pleasence in the end credits, with voice actor Tom Kane providing a voice-over for Loomis in the film. In the 2018 film, Halloween, comedian Colin Mahan voiced Loomis. In the 2021 film Halloween Kills, Tom Jones, Jr. played Loomis, wearing prosthetic make-up to resemble Pleasence. Loomis' voice was again provided by Mahan.
Dr. Evil, the character played by Mike Myers in the Austin Powers comedy films (1997–2002), and Doctor Claw from Inspector Gadget are parodies of Pleasence's performance as Blofeld in You Only Live Twice.
Filmography
|-
| 1988
| The Ray Bradbury Theater
| George Hill
| Episode: "Punishment Without Crime"
|-
| 1992
| Lovejoy
| Karel Redl
| Episode: "The Prague Sun"
|-
| 1993
| Screen Two
| Victor Harty
| Episode: "Femme Fatale"
|}
TV films and miniseries
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
|-
| 1952
| The Dybbuk
| 2nd Batlon
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1954
| Montserrat
| Juan Alvarez
|-
| The Face of Love
| Alex
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1958
| I Spy
| Mr. Frute
|-
| Granite
| A Nameless Man
|-
|1959
| The Traitor
| Grantley Caypor
|-
| 1967
| The Diary of Anne Frank
| Mr. Dusseli
|-
|1973
| Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
| Fred Smudge
|-
| 1974
| Occupations
| Christo Kabak
|-
| 1975
| The Count of Monte Cristo
| Baron Danglars
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1977
| Jesus of Nazareth
| Melchior
|-
| The Dark Secret of Harvest Home
| Narrator
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1978
| The Defection of Simas Kudirka
| Captain Vladimir Popov
|-
| The Bastard
| Solomon Sholto
|-
| 1978–79
| Centennial
| Sam Purchas
|-
| rowspan="4" |1979
| All Quiet on the Western Front
| Kantorek
|-
| Gold of the Amazon Women
| Clarence Blasko
|-
| The French Atlantic Affair
| Max Dechambre
|-
| Better Late Than Never
| Colonel Riddle
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1980
| The Ghost Sonata
| The Old Man
|-
| Blade on the Feather
| Professor Jason Cavendish
|-
| 1982
| Witness for the Prosecution
| Mr. Myers
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1984
| Master of the Game
| Salomon Van der Merwe
|-
| Arch of Triumph
| Haake
|-
| 1985
| Black Arrow
| Sir Oliver Oates
|-
| 1987
| Scoop
| Lord Copper
|-
|1988
| The Great Escape II: The Untold Story
| Dr. Absalon
|-
| 1989
| Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery
| Jason Rafiel
|-
| 1991
| Women in Arms
| Dreyfuss
|-
| 1995
| Signs and Wonders
| Cornelius Van Damm
|}
Bibliography
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Award !! Year !! Category !! Work !! Result !! Ref.
|-
|Australian Film Institute Awards
|1987
|Best Actor in a Supporting Role
|Ground Zero
|
|
|-
|Society of Film and Television Arts Television Awards
|1959
|Best Actor
|
|
|
|-
|Primetime Emmy Awards
|1978
|Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special
|The Defection of Simas Kudirka
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |Saturn Awards
|1980
|Best Supporting Actor
|Dracula
|
|