Oliver Reed
Acting • Born 1938-02-13 – Died 1999-05-02
Biography
Robert Oliver Reed (February 13, 1938 – May 2, 1999) was an English actor known for his "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his notable films include The Trap (1966), playing Bill Sikes in the 1968 Best Picture Oscar winner Oliver! (a film directed by his uncle Carol Reed), Women in Love (1969), Hannibal Brooks (1969), The Devils (1971), portraying Athos in The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974); the lover and stepfather in Tommy (1975), Funny Bones (1995) and Gladiator (2000). For 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. At the peak of his career, in 1971, British exhibitors voted Reed fifth most popular star at the box office. The British Film Institute (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 affecting his career, with the BFI adding "Reed had assumed Robert Newton's mantle as Britain's thirstiest thespian".
Filmography
136 credits
Gladiator
Movie • 2000
Proximo
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll
Movie • 1960
Nightclub Bouncer (uncredited)
The Big Sleep
Movie • 1978
Eddie Mars
The Three Musketeers
Movie • 1973
Athos
Revolver
Movie • 1973
Vito Cipriani
And Then There Were None
Movie • 1974
Hugh Lombard
The Misfit Brigade
Movie • 1987
The General
The Prince and the Pauper
Movie • 1977
Miles Hendon
The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun
Movie • 1970
Michael Caldwell
Tommy
Movie • 1975
Frank
Venom
Movie • 1981
Dave Averconnelly
The Devils
Movie • 1971
Father Urbain Grandier
The Four Musketeers
Movie • 1974
Athos
Jeremiah
Movie • 1998
General Safan
Two of a Kind
Movie • 1983
Beasley
Hannibal Brooks
Movie • 1969
Brooks
Treasure Island
Movie • 1990
Billy Bones
Lion of the Desert
Movie • 1981
General Rodolfo Graziani
Burnt Offerings
Movie • 1976
Ben Rolf
Funny Bones
Movie • 1995
Dolly Hopkins
The Brood
Movie • 1979
Dr. Hal Raglan
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Movie • 1988
Vulcan
The Party's Over
Movie • 1965
Moise
Paranoiac
Movie • 1963
Simon Ashby
The Return of the Musketeers
Movie • 1989
Athos
The Sting II
Movie • 1983
Lonnegan
Beat Girl
Movie • 1960
Plaid Shirt
The Triple Echo
Movie • 1972
Arthur, the Sergeant
The Hunting Party
Movie • 1971
Frank Calder
Women in Love
Movie • 1969
Gerald Crich
Oliver!
Movie • 1968
Bill Sikes
The House of Usher
Movie • 1989
Roderick Usher
Tomorrow Never Comes
Movie • 1978
Jim Wilson
Lisztomania
Movie • 1975
Princess Carolyn's Servant
The Pit and the Pendulum
Movie • 1991
Cardinal
Condorman
Movie • 1981
Krokov
The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday
Movie • 1976
Joe Knox
Captain Clegg
Movie • 1962
Harry Cobtree
Z.P.G.
Movie • 1972
Russ
Skeleton Coast
Movie • 1988
Captain Simpson
The Assassination Bureau
Movie • 1969
Ivan Dragomiloff
The Damned
Movie • 1962
King
The Trap
Movie • 1966
La Bete
Castaway
Movie • 1986
Gerald Kingsland
Sitting Target
Movie • 1972
Harry Lomart
Royal Flash
Movie • 1975
Otto von Bismarck
The Scarlet Blade
Movie • 1963
Captain Sylvester
The Brigand of Kandahar
Movie • 1965
Ali Kahn
Captive Rage
Movie • 1988
General Belmondo
The Angry Silence
Movie • 1960
Mick
Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype
Movie • 1980
Dr. Henry Heckyl/Mr. Hype
The Shuttered Room
Movie • 1967
Ethan
The Pirates of Blood River
Movie • 1962
Pirate Brocaire
The Incredible Adventures of Marco Polo
Movie • 1998
Captain Cornelius Donovan
Fanny Hill
Movie • 1983
Edward Widdlecome
Hired to Kill
Movie • 1990
Michael Bartos
Gor
Movie • 1987
Sarm
The Lady and the Highwayman
Movie • 1988
Sir Phillip Gage
A Ghost in Monte Carlo
Movie • 1990
The Rajah
Spasms
Movie • 1983
Jason Kincaid
The Real Oliver Reed
Movie • 2000
Self (archive footage)
US Against the World
Movie • 1977
Self
Hellraisers
Movie • 2000
Self (archive footage)
The Sell Out
Movie • 1976
Gabriel Lee
The Square Peg
Movie • 1958
(uncredited)
The Revenger
Movie • 1989
Jack Fisher
The Jokers
Movie • 1967
David Tremayne
Sword of Sherwood Forest
Movie • 1960
Lord Melton (uncredited)
Dante's Inferno
Movie • 1967
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
I'll Never Forget What's'isname
Movie • 1967
Andrew Quint
The System
Movie • 1964
Tinker
Take a Girl Like You
Movie • 1970
Patrick Standish
The Class Of Miss MacMichael
Movie • 1979
Terence Sutton
Prisoner of Honor
Movie • 1991
Gen. de Boisdeffre
Orpheus & Eurydice
Movie • 2000
Narrator
Dragonard
Movie • 1987
Captain Shanks
Captive
Movie • 1986
Gregory Le Vay
Blue Blood
Movie • 1974
Tom the butler
Superbrain
Movie • 1996
Professor Norbert Marcus
Ransom
Movie • 1977
Nick McCormick
His and Hers
Movie • 1961
Oliver Borlinski
Luise knackt den Jackpot
Movie • 1995
Matthias
Rage to Kill
Movie • 1988
General Turner
The World of Hammer: Lands Before Time
Movie • 1994
Narrator
The Bruce
Movie • 1996
Bishop Wisharton
Black Arrow
Movie • 1985
Sir Brackley
Dirty Weekend
Movie • 1973
Fabrizo
One Russian Summer
Movie • 1973
Palizyn
The Debussy Film
Movie • 1965
Claude Debussy
Director of Devils
Movie • 2012
Self
Master of Dragonard Hill
Movie • 1987
Captain Shanks
Severed Ties
Movie • 1992
Dr. Hans Vaughan
A Touch of the Sun
Movie • 1979
Captain Daniel Nelson
Clash of Loyalties
Movie • 1983
Colonel Leachman
Blind Justice
Movie • 1988
Ian Ballinger
The World of Hammer: Wicked Women
Movie • 1994
Narrator (voice)
The World of Hammer: Vamp
Movie • 1994
Narrator (voice)
Parting Shots
Movie • 1999
Jamie Campbell-Stewart
The Bulldog Breed
Movie • 1960
Teddy Boy in Cinema Fight (uncredited)
That's Action
Movie • 1990
General Turner (archive footage) (uncredited)
Always on Sunday
Movie • 1965
Narrator (voice)
Russian Roulette - Moscow 95
Movie • 1995
Panama Sugar
Movie • 1990
Generale
The Devils Original on-set footage
Movie • 2012
Mahler
Movie • 1974
Train Conductor
The Rebel
Movie • 1961
Artist in Cafe
The League of Gentlemen
Movie • 1960
Chorus Boy (uncredited)
Upstairs and Downstairs
Movie • 1959
Train Passenger (uncredited)
The Captain's Table
Movie • 1959
Suntanning Passenger (uncredited)
Life Is a Circus
Movie • 1960
Spectator at Sideshow (uncredited)
Hello London
Movie • 1960
Photographer (uncredited)
Value for Money
Movie • 1955
Extra (uncredited)
Strength and Honor: Creating the World of 'Gladiator'
Movie • 2005
Self
The World of Hammer: Chiller
Movie • 1994
narrator
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
Movie • 1999
Self (archive footage)
The World of Hammer: Trials of War
Movie • 1994
Narrator
L'esattore (parodia de "Il gladiatore")
Movie • 2002
The Best of Max Headroom
Movie • 1987
Self
The Curse of the Werewolf
Movie • 1961
Leon Corledo
No Love for Johnnie
Movie • 1961
Man with Bucket on His Head (uncredited)
Alex Higgins: I'm No Angel
Movie • 1991
Self
Celebrity Naked Ambition
Movie • 2003
Self (archive footage)
The Saint
TV • 1962
Joe Catelli
Return to Lonesome Dove
TV • 1993
Gregor Dunnigan
R3
TV • 1964
The Third Man
TV • 1959
Pepi
Masquerade
TV • 1983
Peter Serkov / Wolfen
The World of Hammer
TV • 1994
Narrator
Living Famously
TV • 2002
(archive footage)
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV • 1962
Self
Christopher Columbus
TV • 1985
Martin Pinzon
The Saint
TV • 1962
Aristides Koralis
The Max Headroom Show
TV • 1985
Self
Film '72
TV • 1971
Self
The World of Hammer
TV • 1994
Self (archive footage)
Knight Errant Limited
TV • 1959
Benny Falconer