Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence (October 5, 1919 - February 2, 1995) was a British actor. He was born in Worksop, England.Pleasence's acting career began in a 1939 production of Wuthering Heights, but was soon interrupted by his service in the Royal Air Force and a year in a German prisoner-of-war camp. He returned to acting after the war, and critics began to call him the "Man with the Hypnotic Eye". Perhaps because of this, and his bald head and quiet-but-intense voice, he specialised in insane and evil characters. His trademark voice may be credited to elocution lessons he had as a child.
Pleasence was married four times and is father to five daughters. Miriam Raymond and Pleasance produced two daughters, Anglea and Jean in their 1941 to 1958 marriage. His 1959 to 1970 marriage to actress and singer Josephine Martin Crombie produced two daughters, Lucy and Polly. He was married to Meira Shore from 1970 to 1988 and they had one daughter, Miranda. His last marrage to Linda (maiden surname unknown) lasted until his death in 1995.
He died in St. Paul de Vence, France from complications from heart valve replacement surgery.
His many movie roles include:
- SEN 5241 in George Lucas's first film, THX 1138
- The U.S. President in Escape from New York
- Dr. Samuel Loomis in five of the Halloween movies
- Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the Bond movie You Only Live Twice
- The forger in The Great Escape
- The John Carpenter film, Prince of Darkness