Hammer liked Reed and gave him good supporting roles in the swashbuckler The Pirates of Blood River (1962), directed by John Gilling Captain Clegg (1962), a smugglers tale with Peter Cushing The Damned (1963), a science fiction film directed by Joseph Losey Paranoiac (1963), a psycho thriller for director Freddie Francis and The Scarlet Blade (1963) a swashbuckler set during the English Civil War, directed by Gilling, with Reed as a Roundhead.ĭuring this time, he appeared in some ITV Playhouse productions, "Murder in Shorthand" (1962) and "The Second Chef" (1962), and guest-starred in episodes of The Saint. Reed's first starring role came when Hammer cast him as the central character in Terence Fisher’s The Curse of the Werewolf (1961). He went back to small roles for His and Hers (1961), a Terry-Thomas comedy No Love for Johnnie (1961) for Ralph Thomas and The Rebel (1961) with Tony Hancock. Reed got his first significant role in Hammer Films' Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960), again directed by Fisher. Reed was then in The Bulldog Breed (1960), another Wisdom film, playing the leader of a gang of Teddy Boys roughing up Wisdom in a cinema. Jekyll (1960) for Hammer Films with whom he would become associated the director was Terence Fisher. He played a bouncer in The Two Faces of Dr. It did not seem to help his career immediately: He was not credited in the films The Captain's Table (1959), Upstairs and Downstairs (1959), directed by Ralph Thomas, Life Is a Circus (1960), The Angry Silence (1960), The League of Gentlemen (1960) and Beat Girl (1960). Reed's first break was playing Richard of Gloucester in a six-part BBC TV series The Golden Spur (1959). He appeared in the documentary Hello London (1958). Uncredited television appearances included episodes of The Invisible Man (1958), The Four Just Men (1959) and The Third Man. and Norman Wisdom's film The Square Peg (1958). He appeared uncredited in Ken Annakin's film Value for Money (1955). Reed began his acting career as an extra in films. I was in the peacetime army and they were all telling us youngsters about the war." Career Early years "I recognized that most other people were actors as well. He then did his compulsory army service in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Reed claimed he had worked as a boxer, a bouncer, a taxi driver and a hospital porter. "My father thought I was just lazy," Reed later said. Oliver's brother Simon Reed, a sports journalist, works for British Eurosport. Reed attended 14 schools, including Ewell Castle School in Surrey. Reed claimed to have been a descendant (through an illegitimate step) of Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia. He was the nephew of film director Sir Carol Reed, and grandson of the actor- manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and his mistress, Beatrice May Pinney (who later assumed the name 'Reed'), she being "the only person who understood, listened to, encouraged and kissed Oliver". Reed was born on 13 February 1938 at 9 Durrington Park Road, Wimbledon, southwest London, to Peter Reed, a sports journalist, and Marcia (née Napier-Andrews). The 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 impacting his career, with the BFI adding "Reed had assumed Robert Newton's mantle as Britain's thirstiest thespian". At the peak of his career, in 1971, British exhibitors voted Reed fifth most popular star at the box office. His notable films include The Trap (1966), playing Bill Sikes in the Best Picture Oscar winner Oliver! (1968), Women in Love (1969), Hannibal Brooks (1969), The Devils (1971), Revolver (1973), portraying Athos in The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974) the lover/stepfather in Tommy (1975), The Brood (1979), Lion of the Desert (1981), Castaway (1986), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), Funny Bones (1995) and Gladiator (2000).įor 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. Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – ) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle.
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