Michael Lonsdale profile
Actor profile

Michael Lonsdale

24th May 1931 Paris, France Acting

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.

195 Movies 12 TV Shows 207 Credits
Filmography

Movies & TV Shows

Maestro poster
Maestro 23rd July 2014 as Cedric Rovère
Rosenn poster
Rosenn 12th March 2014 as (voice)
Free Men poster
Free Men 28th September 2011 as Si Kaddour Ben Ghabrit
Titeuf poster
Titeuf 6th April 2011 as Le psy (voice)
Agora poster
Agora 17th May 2009 as Theon
Munich poster
Munich 23rd December 2005 as Papa
Adieu poster
Adieu 8th September 2004 as Serge
Le Furet poster
Le Furet 29th October 2003 as Don Salvadore
Actors poster
Actors 5th April 2000 as Man walking down the street
Ronin poster
Ronin 25th September 1998 as Jean-Pierre
Woyzeck poster
Woyzeck 21st April 1993 as Le capitaine
Out 1 poster
Out 1 15th December 1990 as Thomas
Erendira poster
Erendira 1st June 1983 as Senator Onésimo Sanchez
Enigma poster
Enigma 15th October 1982 as Bodley
Alone poster
Alone 7th October 1981 as Ludovic
Né poster
Né 5th November 1975 as Self
Special Section poster
Special Section 23rd April 1975 as Pierre Pucheu - le ministre de l'intérieur
Galileo poster
Galileo 27th January 1975 as Cardinal Barberini (later Pope Urban VIII)
Autumn poster
Autumn 5th July 1972 as Julien, le réalisateur
Spring poster
Spring 27th October 1971 as L'homme qui fuit
The Stud poster
The Stud 13th February 1970 as Commissioner Donald Both
Winter poster
Winter 31st December 1969 as Julien & Marc
Order of the Daisy poster
Order of the Daisy 20th January 1967 as Lastac / Lataque, expert en écritures / Le juge (voice)
Snobs! poster
Snobs! 5th September 1962 as Charles Dufaut
Maigret poster
Maigret 1st December 1991 as Sir Lampson
Out 1 poster
Out 1 9th October 1971 as Thomas