Denholm Elliott
Denholm Elliott CBE | |
---|---|
![]() Elliott as Marcus Brody in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) | |
Born |
Denholm Mitchell Elliott 31 May 1922 Ealing, Middlesex, England |
Died |
6 October 1992 70) Santa Eulària des Riu, Ibiza, Spain | (aged
Cause of death | Tuberculosis caused by AIDS |
Resting place | Cremains scattered in Ibiza |
Nationality | British |
Education | Malvern College |
Alma mater | Royal Academy of Dramatic Art |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1949–1992 |
Spouse(s) |
Virginia McKenna (1954; divorced) Susan Robinson (1962–92; his death) |
Denholm Mitchell Elliott, CBE (31 May 1922 – 6 October 1992) was an English film, television and theatre actor with more than 120 film and television credits.[1] He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In the 1980s, he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in three consecutive years, the only actor ever to have achieved this. He is perhaps best known for portraying Dr Marcus Brody in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) and as Coleman in Trading Places (1983).
Early life
Elliott was born in London, the son of Nina (née Mitchell) and Myles Laymen Farr Elliott. His elder brother Neil was land agent to Lady Anne Cavendish-Bentinck. Myles
was a barrister who had read Law and Arabic at Cambridge before fighting with the Glosters at Gallipoli and in Mesopotamia. In 1930 Myles Elliott was appointed Solicitor-General to the Mandatory Government in Palestine. Three years later, following a series of controversial government prosecutions, he was assassinated outside the King David Hotel, and buried in the Protestant Cemetery on Mount Zion.[2]
Denholm Elliott attended Malvern College and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He was asked to leave RADA 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!'"[3]
In World War II, he joined the Royal Air Force, training as a sergeant radio operator and gunner and serving with No. 76 Squadron RAF under the command of Leonard Cheshire.[4]
On the night of 23/24 September 1942, his Handley Page Halifax DT508[5] bomber took part in an air raid on the U-boat pens at Flensburg, Germany. The aircraft was hit by flak and subsequently ditched in the North Sea near Sylt, Germany. Elliott and two other crew members survived and he spent the rest of the war in a prisoner of war camp in Silesia. While imprisoned he became involved in amateur dramatics.[6]
Career
After making his film debut in Dear Mr. Prohack (1949), he went on to play a wide range of parts, often ineffectual and occasionally seedy characters, such as the drunken journalist Bayliss in Defence of the Realm, the criminal abortionist in Alfie, and the washed-up film director in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. Elliott and Natasha Parry played the main roles in the 1955 television play, The Apollo of Bellac.[7]
Elliott made many television appearances, notably in plays by Dennis Potter, including Follow the Yellow Brick Road (1972), Brimstone and Treacle (1976), and Blade on the Feather (1980). He took over for an ill Michael Aldridge for one season of The Man in Room 17 (1966) and appeared in the series Thriller (1975).
In the 1980s, he won three consecutive British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards – Best Supporting Actor for Trading Places as Dan Aykroyd's kindly butler, A Private Function, and Defence of the Realm – as well as an Academy Award nomination for A Room with a View. He also became familiar to a wider audience as the well-meaning but addlepated Dr. Marcus Brody in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. A photograph of his character appears in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and a reference is made to Brody's death. There is also a statue dedicated to Marcus outside of Marshall College, the school where Indy teaches. In 1988, Elliott was the Russian mole Povin, around whom the entire plot revolves, in the television miniseries Codename: Kyril.
Having filmed Michael Winner's The Wicked Lady (1983), Elliott was quoted in a BBC Radio interview as saying that he and Marc Sinden "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 in You Must Be Joking! (1965) and The Wicked Lady and Sinden in The Wicked Lady and Decadence). Elliott had worked with Sinden's father, Sir Donald Sinden, in the film The Cruel Sea (1953).[8] He co-starred with Katharine Hepburn and Harold Gould in the television film, Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry (1986) and with Nicole Kidman in Bangkok Hilton (1989).
In 1988, Elliott was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to acting. His career included many stage performances, including with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and a well acclaimed turn as the twin brothers in Jean Anouilh's Ring Round the Moon. His scene-stealing abilities led Gabriel Byrne, his co-star in Defence of the Realm, to say: "Never act with children, dogs, or Denholm Elliott."[9]
Despite being described by Screenonline as an actor of "versatile understanding and immaculate technique",[1] Elliott described himself as an instinctive actor and was a critic of Stanislavski's system of acting, saying: "I mistrust and am rather bored with actors who are of the Stanislavski school who think about detail."[10]
Personal life
Privately bisexual,[11] Elliott was married twice; first to actress Virginia McKenna for a few months in 1954, and later, in an open marriage, to American actress Susan Robinson (7 March 1942 – 12 April 2007), with whom he had two children, Mark and Jennifer. Jennifer committed suicide by hanging in 2003.[11]
Death
Elliott was diagnosed with HIV in 1987[11] and died of AIDS-related tuberculosis at his home in Santa Eulària des Riu on Ibiza, Spain, on 6 October 1992 at the age of 70. Tributes were paid by actors Sir Donald Sinden and Sir Peter Ustinov, playwright Dennis Potter and former wife 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 commented, "He was a complicated, sensitive and slightly disturbing actor. Not only was he a very accomplished actor, he was a dry, witty and slightly menacing individual. As a man, I always found him very open, very straightforward and very much to the point." 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."[12] 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."[13]
His widow set up a charity, the Denholm Elliott Project, and collaborated on his biography.[14] She worked closely with the UK Coalition of People Living with HIV and AIDS. Susan Robinson Elliott died on 12 April 2007, aged 65, following a fire in her flat in London.[11]
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1949 | Dear Mr. Prohack | Oswald Morfrey | |
1952 | The Sound Barrier | Christopher Ridgefield | Released as Breaking the Sound Barrier in USA |
La bergère et le ramoneur | |||
The Ringer | John Lemley | ||
The Holly and the Ivy | Michael Gregory | ||
1953 | The Cruel Sea | Morell | |
The Heart of the Matter | Wilson | ||
1954 | They Who Dare | Sergeant Corcoran | |
Lease of Life | Martin Blake | ||
1955 | The Man Who Loved Redheads | Denis | |
The Night My Number Came Up | Fl. Lt. Mckenzie | ||
1956 | Pacific Destiny | Arthur Grimble | |
1960 | Scent of Mystery | Oliver Larker | |
1963 | Station Six-Sahara | Macey | |
1964 | Nothing But the Best | Charlie Prince | |
1965 | The High Bright Sun | Lt. Charlie Baker | |
You Must Be Joking! | Captain Tabasco | ||
King Rat | Larkin | ||
1966 | Alfie | The Abortionist | |
The Spy with a Cold Nose | Pond-Jones | ||
1967 | Maroc 7 | Inspector Barrada | |
1968 | Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush | Mr Beauchamp | |
The Night They Raided Minsky's | Vance Fowler | ||
The Sea Gull | Dorn, a doctor | ||
1970 | Too Late the Hero | Captain Hornsby | |
The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer | Peter Niss | ||
1971 | Percy | Emmanuel Whitbread | |
The House That Dripped Blood | Charles Hillyer | (segment 1 "Method for Murder") | |
Quest for Love | Tom Lewis | ||
1972 | Madame Sin | Malcolm De Vere | |
1973 | The Vault of Horror | Diltant | (segment 5 "Drawn and Quartered") |
A Doll's House | Krogstad | ||
1974 | The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz | Friar | |
Percy's Progress | Sir Emmanuel Whitbread | ||
1975 | Russian Roulette | Commander Petapiece | |
1976 | A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Signalman | The Signalman | Television series, 6 episodes |
To the Devil a Daughter | Henry Beddows | ||
Robin and Marian | Will Scarlet | ||
Partners | John Grey | ||
Voyage of the Damned | Admiral Canaris | ||
1977 | A Bridge Too Far | R.A.F. Met. Officer | |
The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It | English Delegate | ||
1978 | Sweeney 2 | Jupp | |
The Hound of the Baskervilles | Stapleton | ||
La petite fille en velours bleu (Little Girl in Blue Velvet) | Mike | ||
The Boys from Brazil | Sidney Beynon | ||
Watership Down | Cowslip | Voice | |
1979 | Saint Jack | William Leigh | |
Zulu Dawn | Colonel Pulleine | ||
A Game for Vultures | Ragan Thistle | ||
Cuba | Donald Skinner | ||
1980 | Bad Timing | Stefan Vognic | |
Rising Damp | Charles Seymour | ||
Sunday Lovers | Parker | (segment "An Englishman's Home") | |
1981 | Raiders of the Lost Ark | Dr. Marcus Brody | |
1982 | Brimstone and Treacle | Tom Bates | |
The Missionary | The Bishop | ||
1983 | The Wicked Lady | Sir Ralph Skelton | |
Trading Places | Coleman | ||
1984 | The Razor's Edge | Elliott Templeton | |
A Private Function | Dr Charles Swaby | ||
1985 | Underworld | Dr. Savary | |
A Room with a View | Mr Emerson | ||
1986 | Defence of the Realm | Vernon Bayliss | |
The Whoopee Boys | Col. Phelps | ||
1987 | Maurice | Doctor Barry | |
September | Howard | ||
1988 | Stealing Heaven | Fulbert | |
Hanna's War | |||
Keys to Freedom | Inspector Basil Crisp | ||
1989 | Return from the River Kwai | Colonel Grayson | |
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade | Marcus Brody | ||
Killing Dad | Nathy | ||
1991 | Toy Soldiers | Headmaster | |
1992 | Scorchers | Howler | |
Noises Off | Selsdon Mowbray | (Last appearance) | |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1958-59 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | John Manbridge/Jack Lyons | 2 episodes |
1966 | The Man in Room 17 | Defraits | 13 episodes |
1972 | The Persuaders! | Roland | Episode: A Death in the Family |
Follow the Yellow Brick Road | Jack Black | Television play | |
1976 | Brimstone and Treacle | Television play | |
Clayhanger | Tertius Ingpen | 9 episodes | |
1977 | Ripping Yarns | Mr Gregory | Episode: Across The Andes by Frog |
1980 | Blade on the Feather | Jack Hill | TV film |
1982 | Marco Polo | Niccolo Polo | 8 episodes |
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 | TV film | |
Scoop | Mr. Salter | TV film | |
A Child's Christmas in Wales | Old Geraint | TV film | |
1988 | Codename: Kyril | Povin | 4 episodes |
The Bourne Identity | Dr Geoffrey Washburn | TV mini-series | |
Noble House | Alastair Struan | 4 episodes | |
1989 | Bangkok Hilton | Hal Stanton | 3 episodes |
1991 | A Matter of Quality | George Smiley | TV film |
A Murder of Quality | George Smiley | TV film | |
One Against the Wind | Father LeBlanc | TV film | |
The Black Candle | William Filmore | TV film | |
See also
References
- 1 2 "British Film Institute Biography". Retrieved 24 September 2007.
- ↑ "Obituary Neil Elliott". Daily Telegraph. 14 April 2003. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
- ↑ BBC Radio. Desert Island Discs, 14 September 1974.
- ↑ "Encyclopaedia Britannica". Retrieved 24 September 2007.
- ↑ Record for Halifax DT508, LostAircraft.com
- ↑ Falconer, Jonathon (1998). The Bomber Command Handbook 1939–1945. Stroud: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-1819-5.
- ↑ "Giraudoux Play On Television 'The Apollo Of Bellac'", The Times, 13 August 1955.
- ↑ Woods, Judith (8 February 2011). "Michael Winner: 'The Life I've Lived, the Girls I've Had... Ht's Been Incredible'". The Daily Telegraph.
- ↑ "Obituary: Denholm Elliott". The Independent. 7 October 1992.
- ↑ Oliver, Myrna (7 October 1992). "Denholm Elliott; Veteran Character Actor". articles.latimes.com. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 "Susan Robinson Elliott obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 24 April 2007.
- ↑ "Denholm Elliott dies from AIDS-related TB, aged 70". The Independent. 7 October 1992.
- ↑ "Oscar nominee Elliott dies of AIDS problems". Variety. 7 October 1992.
- ↑ Elliott, Susan; Turner, Barry (1994). Denholm Elliott: Quest for Love.
External links
- Denholm Elliott at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
- Denholm Elliott at Find a Grave
- Denholm Elliott at the Internet Broadway Database
- Denholm Elliott at the Internet Movie Database
- Denholm Elliott BFI
- Performances in the Theatre Archive University of Bristol