
Michael Lonsdale
Known for department: Acting
Birthday: 1931-05-24 – 2020-09-21
Place of birth: Paris, France
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.
Known for

The Name of the Rose
1986The Abbot
Stolen Kisses
1968Georges Tabard
Munich
2005Papa
Moonraker
1979Hugo Drax
Film sur Georges Perec
1990SelfLes amants cinéma
2008Self
Hibernatus
1969Edouard Loriebat
The Last Mistress
2007le vicomte PronyJean-Sans-Terre
1980Jean Papeuil
The Bride Wore Black
1968Morane
Enigma
1982Bodley
My Life Is Hell
1991Gabriel
Law Breakers
1971Inspector Bertrand
The Day of the Jackal
1973Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel
The Door Slams
1960Georges
The Old Maid
1972Monod
Five Times Two
2004Bernard
The Phantom of Liberty
1974The Hatter
It Happened in Aden
1956Sinclair