Michael Lonsdale

Biography

Michael Edward Lonsdale Crouch (24 May 1931 – 21 September 2020), commonly known as Michael Lonsdale and sometimes as Michel Lonsdale, was a French-British actor and author who appeared in over 180 films and television shows. He is often known in the English-speaking world for his roles as the villain Hugo Drax in the 1979 James Bond film Moonraker, deputy police commissioner Claude Lebel in The Day of the Jackal (1973), The Abbot in The Name of the Rose (1986) and Dupont d'Ivry in The Remains of the Day (1993). Lonsdale was born in Paris, the natural son of British Army officer Edward Lonsdale Crouch and Simone Calderon (née Béraud). He was brought up initially on the island of Jersey, then in London from 1935, and later, during the Second World War, 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-language and French-language productions. He appeared in a starring role with Roger Moore in the 1979 James Bond film Moonraker. and with Sean Connery, in the 1986 film The Name of the Rose. He would later appear in Munich (2005), a film that also starred another Bond, Daniel Craig. In February 2011, he won a César Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Of Gods and Men. Lonsdale was also the author of ten books. A practising Roman Catholic, he was close to the Emmanuel Community. In his 2016 memoir Le Dictionnaire de Ma Vie, Lonsdale revealed he had fallen for Delphine Seyrig, having met her as a student in Tania Balachova's acting classes at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in 1947. He wrote that "it was her or nothing", which was why he never married. Lonsdale died in Paris on 21 September 2020, aged 89. Description above from the Wikipedia article Michael Lonsdale, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Most Known For

Les Rendez-vous du dimanche

as Self

Le Grand Échiquier

as Self

Moonraker

as Hugo Drax

Munich

as Papa

Samedi soir

as Self

Maestro

as Cedric Rovère

Maigret

as Guillaume Serre

Maigret

as Sir Lampson

Inside 'Moonraker'

as Self

Agora

as Theon

Ronin

as Jean-Pierre

The Day of the Jackal

as Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel

Le Furet

as Don Salvadore

The Name of the Rose

as The Abbot

Mr. Klein

as Pierre

Five Times Two

as Bernard

Stavisky...

as Docteur Mézy

Hibernatus

as Edouard Loriebat

Erendira

as Senator Onésimo Sanchez

Stolen Kisses

as Georges Tabard