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| Birth Name(s) : Oliver Reed |
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Full Oliver Reed Biography
Oliver Reed (February 13, 1938 – May 2, 1999) was an English actor with an explosive and burly screen presence. Reed had a larger than life tough guy macho image on and off the big screen. His major films include Oliver!, The Trap, Women in Love, Hannibal Brooks, The Triple Echo, Sitting Target, The Devils, The Three Musketeers, Tommy, The Prince And The Pauper, Castaway, and Gladiator.
Reed was born in Wimbledon, London to sports journalist Peter Reed and his wife Marcia (née Andrews). He was the nephew of film director Sir Carol Reed, and grandson of the actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree by his mistress May Pinney Reed.
Oliver was dyslexic and was expelled from many different private schools. He took part in Ewell Castle School's sports day and won several cups. He went straight from the sports field to a party. In the early hours of the following morning whilst walking home from the party, he was stopped by the police who suspected him to be a burglar with a swag of stolen cups. His father had to make a trip to the police station to explain that he was in fact very good at sports. Reed was to have a rich, varied and exciting life and career, with nearly 100 films to his credit.
Reed played the title role in the 1969 Michael Winner comedy Hannibal Brooks, famously acted by Reed alongside an elephant named Lucy. Reed starred as Athos the musketeer, another role he was born to play and gave a terrific performance in three films based on Alexandre Dumas's novels. First in 1973's The Three Musketeers, followed by The Four Musketeers in 1974, and fifteen years later with The Return of the Musketeers. He starred in a similarly historical themed film, The Prince And The Pauper aka Crossed Swords 1978, as Miles Hendon, again a great performance by Reed alongside Raquel Welch and a grown up Mark Lester who of course worked with Reed in "Oliver", 1968, in the title role of the young Victorian orphan boy. In the Hollywood version of the same story, one of Reeds all time favourite actors, Errol Flynn also played Miles Hendon in "The Prince and The Pauper" 1937. Reed returned to horror as Dr. Hal Raglan in David Cronenberg's 1979 film The Brood.
An anecdote holds that Reed could have been chosen to play James Bond. In 1969, Bond franchise producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were looking for a replacement for Sean Connery, and Reed was a prime candidate. They ultimately decided against hiring him, however, because they felt his public, alcohol-fueled antics made him too much of a liability. After Reed's death, the Guardian Unlimited called the casting decision, "One of the great missed opportunities of post-war British movie history" ... George Lazenby did a good job in the part in one of the best Bond films, but was never going to be another Sean Connery, who millions of fans world wide still regard as the original and by far the best Bond ever. Roger Moore brought his own unique style to the Bond role,in which he became very popular with Bond fans. Oliver Reed had a very strong look, a powerful screen presence and a great voice. As well as being a superb actor, Reed had all the right ingredients to play James Bond.
Reed was often irritated that his appearances on TV chat shows concentrated on his drinking feats, rather than his latest film. David Letterman cut to a commercial when it appeared Reed might get violent after being asked too many questions about his drinking. Near the end of his life he was brought onto some TV shows specifically for his drinking; for example The Word put bottles of drink in his dressing room so he could be secretly filmed getting drunk. He was forced to leave the set of the Channel 4 television discussion programme After Dark after arriving drunk and attempting to kiss feminist writer Kate Millett. He was seemingly very drunk on the Michael Aspel chat show, to many highly entertaining, to others a waste of a great acting talent. Maybe, as others observed, it was a mixture of both from a highly talented actor and great legendary screen star.
Reed was a huge success with public and critics alike, with his great performance in Gladiator, alongside Russell Crowe and the late and great Richard Harris, an actor who Oliver admired greatly both on and off the screen. Reed died suddenly from a heart attack during a break from filming Gladiator in Valletta, Malta on May 2nd 1999, aged 61 and was reported to be heavily intoxicated at the time of death. Racking up an $866 alcohol bill, Reed had reportedly drunk three bottles of Captain Morgan's rum, eight bottles of beer and numerous doubles of Famous Grouse whisky. He also beat five much younger Royal Navy sailors at arm wrestling at a bar called "The Pub." (The owners have since added "Ollie's Last Pub" to the sign.) Several of his scenes in Gladiator had to be completed using cgi techniques. His funeral was held in his home town Churchtown, County Cork, Ireland. |
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