DARIO ARGENTO
DAVID CRONENBERG
DAVID LYNCH
DON COSCARELLI
DONALD PLEASENCE
"Pasty-faced, pudgy, balding and timid looking, Donald Pleasence (1919-95) had all the earmarks of a secondary character actor doomed to play accountants and store clerks throughout his career. He just didn't seem the type to stand out from the rather well-populated pack. But thanks to a rather showy role in
The Flesh and the Fiends (1960), a nice little creepy film about graverobbers Burke and Hare, Pleasence inched his way onto the world stage. Beginning his career in theatre in 1939, even he might have thought it all a lark. With WW2 looming in the horizon, he joined the RAF and was shot down, ending up, prophetically, in a POW camp (his portrayal of the master forger in
The Great Escape being no coincidence).
To younger audiences, he will always be remembered as kindly Dr. Loomis in the
Halloween series, but he was one of the premier character actors of the 60s and 70s. My first sight of him was as the first Blofeld (in physical presence) in the James Bond film
You Only Live Twice (the character is parodied in the
Austin Powers films). He also had showy roles in
Dr. Crippen, Circus of Horrors, Fantastic Voyage, Cul-De-Sac, Night of the Generals, Soldier Blue, THX 1138, Tales that Witness Madness, The Black Windmill, The Eagle Has Landed, Dracula (1979),
Witness for the Prosecution, Prince of Darkness, Escape from New York and my personal favorite
Telefon, playing a psychotic ex KGB agent setting off explosive sleepers thruout the US ("
Miles to go before we sleep").
A worthy successor to Peter Lorre (whom he most reminds me of), Pleasence was always in demand, even to the end. Whether it was a good or bad film, he always brought something extra to the show, and elevated the material. No one can ask any more from a character actor." -
Festered