Donald Pleasence

Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE (/ˈplɛzəns/; 5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English film, television, and stage actor. His most notable film roles include psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis in most of the Halloween series, the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, RAF Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe in The Great Escape, and George in Cul-de-sac.

Early life

Pleasence was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, the son of Alice (née Armitage) and Thomas Stanley Pleasence, a railway stationmaster. He was brought up as a strict Methodist, and raised in the small village of Grimoldby, Lincolnshire. Pleasence attended Ecclesfield Grammar School, in Sheffield, Yorkshire, and subsequently dropped out to work as a railway clerk, while looking for a job as an actor. During the Second World War Pleasence was initially a conscientious objector, but later changed his stance and was commissioned into the Royal Air Force, serving with 166 Squadron, RAF Bomber Command. His Lancaster NE112 was shot down on 31 August 1944, during a raid on Agenville. He was taken prisoner and placed in the German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft I, where he produced and acted in plays. He would later play Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe in The Great Escape where much of the story takes place inside a German POW camp.

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The 13 Most Badass Movie Presidents We'd Want To Protect America

Kotaku 20 Jan 2025
As Donald Trump returns to office as the 47th President, it’s a good time to look at some cinematic chief executives to remember ... President John Harker (Donald Pleasence) in Escape From New York (1981).

📼CLASSIC TGC-VIDEO📼 DEATH LINE 1972 with donald pleasence and christopher lee

Bitchute 15 Dec 2024
Go to the source via the article link to view the video or lcik the video icon ....

What's on? Top 10 TV and streaming tips for Saturday

RTE 09 Nov 2024
Volume 2. John & Yoko and David Baddiel’s The Not The Trilogy . . Pick of the Day ... ... Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Donald Pleasence, James Garner, Charles Bronson and Richard Attenborough feature as the most rebellious Allied prisoners of war ... .

The 56 Worst Sequels of All Time

Rotten Tomatoes 07 Nov 2024
(Photo by Orion Pictures/ Courtesy. Everett Collection. ROBOCOP 3.) The 56 Worst Sequels of All Time. Jaws. The Karate Kid. Speed. Paul Blart. Mall Cop. All classic movies obviously ... #1. SuperBabies ... 0% ... F ... Donald Pleasence, Mitch Ryan, Marianne Hagan, Paul Rudd.

The 200 Best Horror Movies of All Time

Rotten Tomatoes 07 Nov 2024
Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Kyes, P.J ... Don't Look Now patiently builds suspense with haunting imagery and a chilling score -- causing viewers to feel Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie's grief deep within.

5 great Amazon Prime Video movies to stream this Election Day

Digital Trends 05 Nov 2024
Recommended Videos ... Convicted thief Snake Plissken (Russell) gets the chance to walk free if he agrees to rescue President John Harker (Donald Pleasence) from The Duke (Isaac Hayes), the crime lord who controls most of what used to be New York City.

Famous POWs: Celebrities Who Were Held Captive By the Enemy During World War II

War History Online 04 Nov 2024
Donald Pleasence ... Donald Pleasence is best known for portraying a prisoner of war in the 1963 film, The Great Escape, but did you know he was one in real life? While serving as a gunner and wireless ...

The top 10 scariest horror films of all time revealed

The Daily Mail 31 Oct 2024
A study showed that over three-quarters of Gen Z, those born between the late nineties and early 2010s, don't like horror movies ... 10 ... 9 ... 8 ... 7 ... It follows mental patient Michael Myers (Donald Pleasence) who murdered his teenage sister one Halloween night ... .

Revealed: The top 10 scariest horror films of all time to watch for Halloween (but ...

The Daily Mail 31 Oct 2024
A study showed that over three-quarters of Gen Z, those born between the late nineties and early 2010s, don't like horror movies ... 5 ... It follows mental patient Michael Myers (Donald Pleasence) who murdered his teenage sister one Halloween night ... .

Michael Myers unmasked! Halloween star Nick Castle doesn

The Daily Mail 30 Oct 2024
Halloween icon Nick Castle looked worlds away from supervillain Michael Myers as he made a rare public outing in LA this week ... Samuel Loomis (Donald Pleasence) is hot on Michael's trail to detain him, whom he describes as 'pure evil.'Read More ... Soles).

Halloween Horror Classics to Get Your Fear On!

The Signal 27 Oct 2024
It’s spooky season and the best time to turn off the lights, grab a bowl of caramel popcorn, a cozy blanket and binge watch a Halloween movie marathon. The Classics. Nosferatu (1922) ... W ... Stars Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis (in her film debut) ... .

Evil Dies Tonight? We Ranked All 13 'Halloween' Movies Worst to Best, Including 'Halloween Ends'

Aiken Standard 25 Oct 2024
The trick is to stay alive ... Related ... 13 ... Halloween ... Donald Pleasence deserved a way, way better send-off in his most iconic role (the worst psychiatrist out there, Doctor Sam Loomis)—but his performance is, more than ever, irresistibly bonkers.Halloween.

Alvin Rakoff, Emmy-winning director who gave Sean Connery and Alan Rickman their breaks

AOL 20 Oct 2024
Rakoff made dozens of television plays, winning two Emmys, the first for Call Me Daddy (1969), broadcast on ITV’s Armchair Theatre slot, in which Donald Pleasence played a creepy middle-aged ...

Alvin Rakoff, veteran director of British TV and film, dies aged 97

The Observer 17 Oct 2024
Rakoff soon made his mark ... Photograph ... The Terence Rattigan-scripted Heart to Heart was part of the Europe-wide broadcast The Largest Theatre in the World in 1962, and Call Me Daddy, starring Donald Pleasence and Judy Cornwell, won an Emmy in 1967 ... .

Florida Horror-Fest: Actors from 'Halloween,' 'Friday the 13th' visit Estero for new event

Naples Daily News 16 Oct 2024
Trick-or-treaters may see less chocolate this Halloween ... But that's OK, he says. He earned something much more valuable from that one day of work ... 18 ... He says he only signed on after learning one of his favorite actors, Donald Pleasence, was in the cast.

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