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Donald Pleasence
Donald Henry Pleasence (/ˈplɛzəns/; 5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor. He was known for his "bald head and intense, staring eyes," and played more than 250 stage, film, and television roles across a nearly 60-year career.
Pleasence began his career on stage in the West End before having a screen career, which included starring in a 1954 BBC adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, before playing numerous supporting and character roles, developing a reputation for playing "nervy, unstable characters" including Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe in The Great Escape (1963), the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967), SEN 5241 in THX 1138 (1971), and the deranged Clarence "Doc" Tydon in Wake in Fright (1971). He also maintained an acclaimed career on the Broadway stage.
Pleasence starred as psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis in Halloween (1978) and four of its sequels, a role for which he was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actor. The series' popularity and critical success led to a resurgent career for Pleasence, who appeared in numerous American and European-produced horror and thriller films. He collaborated with Halloween director John Carpenter twice more, as the President of the United States in Escape from New York (1981) and as the Priest in Prince of Darkness (1987).
For his stage work, Pleasence won a Drama Desk Award and was nominated for four Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Play. He was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his services to drama by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.
Pleasence was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, the son of Alice (née Armitage) and Thomas Stanley Pleasence, a railway station master. His grandfather was a railwayman, who lived at Portland Place in Worksop, where Donald developed an interest in cricket.
He received his formal education at Crosby Junior School, known as Doncaster Road School, in Scunthorpe. He lived at 111 Frodingham Road for nine years. Aged seven he took part in his first play, in Scunthorpe called Passers By.
He was brought up as a strict Methodist in the small village of Grimoldby, Lincolnshire, from the age of nine. With his older brother Ralph, both went to Eastfield Road school in Louth. He was in the local Scouts, the 4th United Methodist in Louth. He produced the school Christmas concert, in Louth, in his early teens.
His father was the stationmaster at Grimoldby railway station for five years, on the Mablethorpe loop railway. His parents were in the temperance society, as they were Methodists, and his mother was in the Grimoldby and Manby WI.
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Donald Pleasence
Donald Henry Pleasence (/ˈplɛzəns/; 5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor. He was known for his "bald head and intense, staring eyes," and played more than 250 stage, film, and television roles across a nearly 60-year career.
Pleasence began his career on stage in the West End before having a screen career, which included starring in a 1954 BBC adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, before playing numerous supporting and character roles, developing a reputation for playing "nervy, unstable characters" including Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe in The Great Escape (1963), the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967), SEN 5241 in THX 1138 (1971), and the deranged Clarence "Doc" Tydon in Wake in Fright (1971). He also maintained an acclaimed career on the Broadway stage.
Pleasence starred as psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis in Halloween (1978) and four of its sequels, a role for which he was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actor. The series' popularity and critical success led to a resurgent career for Pleasence, who appeared in numerous American and European-produced horror and thriller films. He collaborated with Halloween director John Carpenter twice more, as the President of the United States in Escape from New York (1981) and as the Priest in Prince of Darkness (1987).
For his stage work, Pleasence won a Drama Desk Award and was nominated for four Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Play. He was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his services to drama by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.
Pleasence was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, the son of Alice (née Armitage) and Thomas Stanley Pleasence, a railway station master. His grandfather was a railwayman, who lived at Portland Place in Worksop, where Donald developed an interest in cricket.
He received his formal education at Crosby Junior School, known as Doncaster Road School, in Scunthorpe. He lived at 111 Frodingham Road for nine years. Aged seven he took part in his first play, in Scunthorpe called Passers By.
He was brought up as a strict Methodist in the small village of Grimoldby, Lincolnshire, from the age of nine. With his older brother Ralph, both went to Eastfield Road school in Louth. He was in the local Scouts, the 4th United Methodist in Louth. He produced the school Christmas concert, in Louth, in his early teens.
His father was the stationmaster at Grimoldby railway station for five years, on the Mablethorpe loop railway. His parents were in the temperance society, as they were Methodists, and his mother was in the Grimoldby and Manby WI.