Michael Lonsdale
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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.
Known for
Credits
Moonraker (1979)
as Hugo Drax
The Name of the Rose (1986)
as The Abbot
Munich (2005)
as Papa
The Day of the Jackal (1973)
as Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel
The Remains of the Day (1993)
as Dupont D'Ivry
Agora (2009)
as Theon
Ronin (1998)
as Jean-Pierre
Erendira (1983)
as Senator Onésimo Sanchez
Murmur of the Heart (1971)
as Father Henri
Is Paris Burning? (1966)
as Debu-Bridel (uncredited)
Hitler in Hollywood (2011)
as Michael Lonsdale
Mr. Klein (1976)
as Pierre
Actors (2000)
as Man walking down the street
Hibernatus (1969)
as Edouard Loriebat
The Stud (1970)
as Commissioner Donald Both
Stavisky... (1974)
as Docteur Mézy
The Trial (1962)
as Priest
The Separation (2005)
as Paul Doumer
Spring (1971)
as L'homme qui fuit
The Phantom of Liberty (1974)
as The Hatter
Sculpt (2016)
Actor
Né (1975)
as Self
Of Gods and Men (2010)
as Luc
Maestro (2014)
as Cedric Rovère
Goya's Ghosts (2006)
as Inquisitor General
The Bride Wore Black (1968)
as Morane
Stolen Kisses (1968)
as Georges Tabard
Un paquebot dans la tête (1981)
as Roland Gougean-Roland
Zoo Story (1968)
as Peter
Gentille (2005)
as Jean
The Old Maid (1972)
as Monod
The Boulugres (1983)
as Le roi (voice)
Inside 'Moonraker' (2000)
as Self
Winter (1969)
as Julien & Marc
Bartleby (1976)
as L'Huissier
Jefferson in Paris (1995)
as Louis XVI
Free Men (2011)
as Si Kaddour Ben Ghabrit
A Monkey's Tale (1999)
as Maître Flavius (Voice)
Adieu (2004)
as Serge
Out 1 (1990)
as Thomas
Cela s'appelle l'amour (1989)
as Self
Le Furet (2003)
as Don Salvadore
Under a False Name (2004)
as David
To Each His Own Cinema (2007)
as The old blind man (segment "Le Don")
Enigma (1982)
as Bodley
The Man in the Buick (1968)
as L'inspecteur Farjon de la P.J.
Mauvais Genre (1997)
as Honoré de Balzac
Film sur Georges Perec (1990)
as Self
Five Times Two (2004)
as Bernard
Rosenn (2014)
as (voice)
Alone (1981)
as Ludovic
Titeuf (2011)
as Le psy (voice)
The Ghostly Rental (1965)
as Kernan
Woyzeck (1993)
as Le capitaine
There Once Was a Cop (1972)
as Commissioner Lucas
Les amants cinéma (2008)
as Self
The Holcroft Covenant (1985)
as Ernst Manfredi
Jaloux comme un tigre (1964)
as The grimacing motorist
The Romantic Englishwoman (1975)
as Swan
Autumn (1972)
as Julien, le réalisateur
The Last Mistress (2007)
as le vicomte Prony
Chronopolis (1983)
as Narrator (voice)
The Perfume of the Lady in Black (2005)
as Professor Stangerson
The Girl with the Cello (1973)
as Philippe Lariel
Behold a Pale Horse (1964)
as Reporter
The Passage (1979)
as Renoudot
Noise of Love and War (1997)
as The director
The Bunker (1981)
as Martin Bormann
The Man from London (2008)
as Kocsmáros (voice)
Serious as Pleasure (1975)
as Inspecteur Fournier
Don Juan (1998)
as Don Luis
Emile Reynaud (1986)
as Narrator
Les Écrans déchirés (1976)
as Michael
Souvenir (1989)
as Xavier Lorion
Mad Enough to Kill (1975)
as Stephane Mostri
The Mystery of the Yellow Room (2003)
as Stangerson
Cygne II (1976)
as Narrator (voice)
Les Filles au Moyen-Âge (2016)
as Daniel
The Nail Clippers (1969)
as Le mari
The Left-Handed Woman (1978)
as The Waiter
Kaena: The Prophecy (2003)
as Opaz (voice)
Rendez-vous manqués (1986)
as Moralès
Les Trois Sœurs (1960)
as Andreï Prodarov
Good King Dagobert (1984)
as Saint Eloi
Right to the city (1974)
as Narrator
The Life of Mirrors (2025)
Actor
Le revolver et la rose (1970)
as Philippe de la Tour / Dimitri Korkesky
No Pockets in a Shroud (1974)
as Raymond
Special Section (1975)
as Pierre Pucheu - le ministre de l'intérieur
Gebo and the Shadow (2012)
as Gebo
Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud (1995)
as Dollabella
The Insomniac on the Bridge (1985)
as Antonie
J.R.R. Tolkien: Designer of Worlds (2014)
as (voice)
Jaune, Le Soleil (1971)
as Un juif
Degas and I (2019)
as Edgar Degas
Those Facing Us (2001)
as Mikaël
An Oral History of: The Name of the Rose (2022)
as Self (archive footage)
La Grande Paulette (1974)
as Paul
L'air d'aimer (1986)
as Raymond
The Track (1975)
as David Sutter
Successive Slidings of Pleasure (1974)
as The Judge
Le Petit Nicolas (1964)
as The father
Speaking of Buñuel (2000)
as Self
India Song (1975)
as Le Vice-Consul de Lahore
Sweet Inquest on Violence (1982)
as Ash, the financier
Concerto for an Exile (1968)
as Un acteur au théâtre
The Pink Telephone (1975)
as M. Morrison, président de la Fielding
Le Renard jaune (2013)
as Jean Virno
Go West: A Lucky Luke Adventure (2007)
as Bartleby (voice)
Your Money or Your Life (1966)
as Speaker at the Shy People's Club
Le rose et le blanc (1982)
as Léon
Adorable Liar (1962)
as Albert
La Fenêtre (1970)
as Bracquemont
The Cardboard Village (2011)
as Old Priest
Le bureau des mariages (1962)
Actor
Crime Does Not Pay (1962)
as Acteur
Caravan to Vaccarès (1974)
as Duc de Croyter
The First, the Last (2016)
as Jean-Berchmans
Film sur Hans Bellmer (1974)
as Narrator
Bazin's Film (2017)
as Narrator
Salvador Dalí: Génie tragi-comique (2019)
as Narrator
Trompe-l'oeil (1982)
as Self (voice)
Billy Ze Kick (1985)
as Commissaire Bellanger
You'll Miss Me (2009)
as Max
Law Breakers (1971)
as Inspector Bertrand
The Games of Countess Dolingen (1981)
as Bertrand Haines-Pearson
Destroy, She Said (1969)
as Stein
Heartbeat Detector (2007)
as Mathias Jüst
Let There Be Light! (1998)
as Monseigneur Loublié
A Bullet in the Gun Barrel (1958)
Actor
La nuit du beau marin peut-être? (1976)
as Boris
The Abbey of Crime: Umberto Eco's 'The Name of the Rose' (1986)
as Self
The Risk of Living (1978)
as narrator
Papa, the Lil' Boats (1971)
as Hippolyte the brother of Marylène
The Accuser (1977)
as Abéraud
Galileo (1975)
as Cardinal Barberini (later Pope Urban VIII)
Jean-Marie Serreau, découvreur de théâtres (2016)
as Self
The Memory of the Eye E.J. Marey (1986)
as Narrator
The Little Misses (1964)
as L'elève
The Colour of Words (1984)
as Self
Bye Bye Blackbird (2005)
as Robert
Les Années Lumière (1972)
as Narrator (voice)
The Door Slams (1960)
as Georges
Ève avait l'éclat métallique de l'été (1979)
Actor
Chut ! (1972)
as Sergel
The Suspects (1974)
as Judge Souftries
Jeanne, à petits pas (2006)
as Louis
A Dirty Story (1977)
as The voyeur
Out 1: Spectre (1973)
as Thomas
Le Fantôme de Laurent Terzieff (2020)
as Self
Jean-Sans-Terre (1980)
as Jean Papeuil
It Happened in Aden (1956)
as Sinclair
The Devil in the Box (1977)
as Georges Aubert
The Big Wash (1968)
as Delaroche
Son nom de Venise dans Calcutta désert (1976)
as The Vice Consul of Lahore
Invisible (2005)
as Le gardien
The Immoral Moment (1962)
as Mercier
The Itchy Palm (1960)
as Nobert
My Life Is Hell (1991)
as Gabriel
Comédie (1966)
as L'homme (M)
Mersonne ne m'aime (1982)
as Commissioner Bancau
Scrambled Eggs (1976)
as The President of the Republic
The Tribulations of Balthazar Kober (1988)
as Cammerschulze
Judoka-Secret Agent (1967)
as Thomas Perkins
Der Madonna-Mann (1987)
as Tanzmann
Hail! Mafia (1965)
as Hyman
Aloïse (1975)
as le médecin
N: The Madness Of Reason (2014)
as Narrator
The Buddies (1965)
as Lamendin
The Mysteries of Paris: Jacques Rivette's Out 1 Revisited (2016)
as Self
Snobs! (1962)
as Charles Dufaut
Veilleurs dans la nuit - Une journée monastique à l'Abbaye Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux (2011)
as Narrateur
Seul face au crime (1991)
as Procuratore
A Whale That Had a Toothache (1975)
as Le peintre
Order of the Daisy (1967)
as Lastac / Lataque, expert en écritures / Le juge (voice)
African Glory (2024)
as Christopher Columbus
Delphine Seyrig, portrait d'une comète (2000)
as Self
L'ordre du jour (1993)
as Stark
Is Dead - Portrait incomplet de Gertrude Stein (2000)
as Narrator (voice)
Vroum-vroum (1995)
Actor
The Truth About the Imaginary Passion of an Unknown (1974)
as Le reporter TV / Ponce Pilate
Dieu sait quoi (1994)
as Narrator
Le Mythe Cathare (2002)
as Narrator
Aurais dû faire gaffe... le choc est terrible (1977)
Actor
Une jeunesse (1983)
as Béjardy
The Authentic Trial of Carl Emmanuel Jung (1967)
as L'Avocat de la Défense
The Outsider (2023)
as Narrator (Voice)
The Judge (1984)
as Le docteur
Earthen Man (1989)
as (voice)
Jean Eustache's Wasted Breath (1997)
as (voice)
La Rényon lontan (1983)
as Narrator (voice)
Les Mains d'Andréa (2006)
Actor
The Visit (2015)
as Self
La Plante Humaine (1996)
as Michel
Les grands sentiments font les bons gueuletons (1973)
as Stéphane
Un troisième (1970)
as Le réalisateur