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