Quick Facts
| Intro | French actor | ||||||
| A.K.A. | Michael Edward Lonsdale-Crouch | ||||||
| Was | Actor Television actor Film actor Stage actor Writer Painter | ||||||
| From | France United Kingdom Great Britain | ||||||
| Field | Arts Film, TV, Stage & Radio Literature | ||||||
| Gender | male | ||||||
| Birth | 24 May 1931, 16th arrondissement of Paris, Paris, Seine, France | ||||||
| Death | 21 September 2020, 7th arrondissement of Paris, Paris, Seine, France (aged 89 years) | ||||||
| Star sign | Gemini | ||||||
| Awards |
|
Biography
Michael Edward Lonsdale-Crouch (24 May 1931 – 21 September 2020), commonly known as Michael Lonsdale and sometimes billed as Michel Lonsdale, was a British-French actor who appeared in over 180 films and television shows. He is best known in the English-speaking world for his roles as the villain Hugo Drax in the 1979 James Bond film Moonraker, the detective Claude Lebel in The Day of the Jackal, and M. Dupont d'Ivry in The Remains of the Day.
Personal life
Lonsdale was born in Paris, the son of English Army officer Edward Lonsdale-Crouch and his half-French, half-Irish wife Simone Béraud, and brought up initially on the island of Guernsey, then in London in 1935, and later, during World War II, in Casablanca, Morocco. He returned to Paris to study painting in 1947, but was drawn into the world of acting instead, first appearing on stage at the age of 24.
Lonsdale was bilingual and appeared in both English- and French-language productions.
On 25 February 2011, he won a César Award, his first, as a Best Supporting Actor in Of Gods and Men.
Lonsdale was also the author of ten books.
Lonsdale died 21 September 2020, aged 89 in Paris.
Selected filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | It Happened in Aden | Sinclair | |
| 1962 | Adorable Liar | ||
| The Trial | Priest | ||
| 1964 | Behold a Pale Horse | Reporter | |
| 1966 | Is Paris Burning? | Debu-Bridel | |
| Judoka-Secret Agent | Thomas Perkins | ||
| 1968 | The Bride Wore Black | René Morane | |
| Stolen Kisses | Georges Tabard | ||
| 1969 | Détruire, dit-elle | ||
| Hibernatus | Professor Edouard Lauriebat | ||
| 1971 | Out 1 | Thomas | |
| Le Souffle au cœur | Father Henri | ||
| 1972 | Jaune le soleil | ||
| The Old Maid | |||
| 1973 | The Day of the Jackal | Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel | |
| 1974 | Successive Slidings of Pleasure | The Judge | |
| Stavisky | Docteur Mézy | By Alain Resnais | |
| Un linceul n'a pas de poches | Raymond | ||
| Le fantôme de la liberté | Le chapelier/Hatter | ||
| Caravan to Vaccares | Duc de Croyter | ||
| The Suspects | Le juge Souftries | ||
| 1975 | Serious as Pleasure | ||
| India Song | Le vice-consul de Lahore | ||
| The Romantic Englishwoman | Swan | ||
| Section spéciale | Le ministre de l'intérieur | ||
| Aloïse | The second doctor | ||
| Galileo | Cardinal Barberini, later Pope Urban VIII | ||
| 1976 | Son nom de Venise dans Calcutta désert | Récitant | Voice |
| Mr. Klein | Pierre | ||
| Scrambled Eggs | |||
| 1977 | Une sale histoire | ||
| The Accuser | Abéraud | ||
| Jacques Prévert | Himself | ||
| 1978 | Bartleby | L'huissier | |
| Die Linkshändige Frau | The Waiter | ||
| 1979 | Moonraker | Hugo Drax | |
| 1980 | Les jeux de la Comtesse Dolingen de Gratz | Bertrand Haines-Pearson | |
| Seuls | Le peintre | ||
| 1981 | The Bunker | Martin Bormann | |
| 1982 | Sweet Inquest on Violence | ||
| Mora | As writer | ||
| Enigma | Bodley | ||
| 1983 | Eréndira | Senator Onésimo Sanchez | |
| 1984 | Le Bon Roi Dagobert | Saint Eloi | |
| 1985 | L'éveillé du Pont de l'Alma | Antoine | |
| The Holcroft Covenant | Ernst Manfredi | ||
| Billy Ze Kick | Commissaire Bellanger | ||
| 1986 | The Name of the Rose | The Abbot | |
| 1987 | Der Madonna-Mann | Tanzmann | |
| 1988 | Niezwykla podróz Baltazara Kobera | Le maître | |
| 1989 | Souvenir | Xavier Lorion | |
| Cela s'appelle l'amour | Himself | ||
| 1991 | My Life Is Hell | Gabriel | By Josiane Balasko |
| 1993 | Woyzeck | Le capitaine | |
| The Remains of the Day | Dupont D'Ivry | ||
| 1995 | Jefferson in Paris | Louis XVI | |
| Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud | Dolabella | ||
| 1997 | Mauvais genre | Honoré de Balzac | |
| 1998 | Don Juan | Don Luis | |
| Let There Be Light / Que la lumière soit | Monseigneur Loublié | By Arthur Joffé | |
| Ronin | Jean-Pierre | ||
| 2000 | Les Acteurs | Man in the street | By Bertrand Blier |
| 2003 | Kaena: The Prophecy | Opaz | Voice, French version |
| The Mystery of the Yellow Room | Stangerson | ||
| 2004 | 5x2 | Bernard | By François Ozon |
| 2005 | Bye Bye Blackbird | Robert | |
| Good Girl | Jean | ||
| Munich | Papa | ||
| 2006 | Goya's Ghosts | Father Gregorio | |
| 2007 | The Last Mistress | Le vicomte de Prony | |
| Heartbeat Detector (La Question Humaine) |
Mathias Jüst | ||
| 2009 | Agora | Theon | |
| Park Benches | The Client doormat | ||
| 2010 | Of Gods and Men | Luc | César Award for Best Supporting Actor Globes de Cristal Award for Best Actor |
| 2011 | The Cardboard Village | Il vecchio prete | |
| Les hommes libres | Le recteur Si Kaddour Ben Ghabrit | ||
| 2012 | Gebo et l'Ombre | Gebo | By Manoel de Oliveira |
| 2013 | Le renard jaune | Jean Virno | |
| 2014 | Maestro | Cédric Rovère | |
| 2016 | The First, the Last | Jean-Berchmans |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Smiley's People | Anton Grigoriev | TV miniseries |
| 1986 | Le Tiroir secret | TV miniseries | |
| 1991 | Maigret et la Grande Perche | Monsieur Serre | TV series |
| 2001 | Maigret et la Croqueuse de Diamants | Sir Lampson | TV series |
| 2013 | Marguerite Yourcenar, alchimie du paysage | The Narrator | TV documentary |
| Le tourbillon de Jeanne | L'homme | TV series |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon | Henri Crousteau | Voice-over |
| 2012 | 007 Legends | Hugo Drax | Voice-over |
