Denholm Elliott

Elliott was born 31 May 1922, in Kensington, London,^[4] the son of Nina (née Mitchell; 1893–1966) and Myles Layman Farr Elliott, MBE (1890–1933),^[4] a barrister who had read law and Arabic at Cambridge before fighting with the Gloucestershire Regiment on Gallipoli and in Mesopotamia. In 1930, Myles Elliott was appointed solicitor-general to the Mandatory Government in Palestine. Three years later, following a series of controversial government prosecutions, he was assassinated outside the King David Hotel and buried in the Protestant Cemetery on Mount Zion.^[5] Elliott's elder brother Neil Emerson Elliott (1920–2003) was a land agent to Lady Anne Cavendish-Bentinck.

Elliott attended Malvern College and joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.^[6] He was asked to leave after one term. As Elliott later recalled, "They wrote to my mother and said, 'Much as we like the little fellow, he's wasting your money and our time. Take him away!'"^[7]

In the Second World War, he joined the Royal Air Force, training as a wireless operator/air gunner and serving with No. 76 Squadron RAF under the command of Leonard Cheshire.^[8] On the night of 23/24 September 1942, his Handley Page Halifax DT508^[9] bomber took part in an air raid on the U-boat pens at Flensburg, Germany. The aircraft was hit by flak and subsequently ditched in the North Sea near Sylt, Germany. Elliott and four of his crewmen survived, and he spent the rest of the war in Stalag Luft VIIIb, a prisoner-of-war camp in Lamsdorf (now Łambinowice), Silesia. While imprisoned, he became involved in amateur dramatics. He formed a theatre group that was so successful it toured other POW camps playing Twelfth Night.^[10][11]

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

After making his film debut in Dear Mr. Prohack (1949) Elliott went on to play a wide range of parts, including an officer in The Cruel Sea (1953), and often ineffectual and occasionally seedy characters, including the criminal abortionist in Alfie (1966) and the washed-up film director in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974). Elliott and Natasha Parry played the main roles in the 1955 television play The Apollo of Bellac.^[12] He took over for an ill Michael Aldridge for one season of The Man in Room 17 (1966).

Elliott made many television appearances, which included plays by Dennis Potter such as Follow the Yellow Brick Road (1972), Brimstone and Treacle, (1976) and Blade on the Feather (1980). He starred in the BBC's adaptation of Charles Dickens's short story The Signalman (1976). He also co-starred with Jack Palance in the Canadian-American television film The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968).

In the 1980s, Elliott won three consecutive British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards for Best Supporting Actor, for playing the butler to Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy in the American comedy film Trading Places (1983), Dr. Swaby in the British comedy film A Private Function (1984), and the drunken journalist Vernon Bayliss in the British political thriller film Defence of the Realm (1986). He received an Academy Award nomination for playing Mr. Emerson in A Room with a View (1985). He also played Dr. Marcus Brody, an academic and friend of Indiana Jones, in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). A photograph of his character appears in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), and a reference is made to Brody's death. A statue was also dedicated to Brody outside Marshall College, the school where Indiana Jones teaches. In 1988 Elliott played the Russian mole Povin, around whom the entire plot revolves, in the television miniseries Codename: Kyril.

Having filmed Michael Winner's The Wicked Lady (1983), Elliott was quoted in a BBC Radio interview as saying that Marc Sinden and he "are the only two British actors I am aware of who have ever worked with Winner more than once, and it certainly wasn't for love. But curiously, I never, ever saw any of the same crew twice." (Elliott in You Must Be Joking! (1965) and The Wicked Lady and Sinden in The Wicked Lady and Decadence). Elliott had worked with Sinden's father, Donald Sinden, in The Cruel Sea.^[13] He co-starred with Katharine Hepburn and Harold Gould in the television film Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry (1986) and with Nicole Kidman in Bangkok Hilton (1989).

In 1988, Elliott was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to acting. His career included many stage performances, including with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and an acclaimed turn as the twin brothers in Jean Anouilh's Ring Round the Moon. His scene-stealing abilities led Gabriel Byrne, his co-star in Defence of the Realm, to say, "Never act with children, dogs, or Denholm Elliott."^[14]

Described by the British Film Institute's Screenonline as an actor of "versatile understanding and immaculate technique,"^[15] Elliott described himself as an instinctive actor and was a critic of Stanislavski's system of acting, saying, "I mistrust and am rather bored with actors who are of the Stanislavski school who think about detail."^[16]

Elliott married twice and was secretly bisexual.^[17] He was first married to actress Virginia McKenna from 1954 to 1957.^[18] In 1962, he married American actress Susan Robinson, 20 years his junior, with whom he would have an open marriage and two children.^[19]

Elliott was diagnosed with HIV in 1987^[17] and died of AIDS-related tuberculosis at his home in Santa Eulària des Riu on Ibiza, on 6 October 1992, aged 70. Tributes were paid by actors Donald Sinden and Peter Ustinov, the dramatist Dennis Potter, and Virginia McKenna. Sinden said: "He was one of the finest screen actors and a very special actor at that. He was one of the last stars who was a real gentleman. It is a very sad loss." Ustinov said: "He was a wonderful actor and a very good friend on the occasions that life brought us together." Potter called him "a complicated, sensitive, and slightly disturbing actor" and "a dry, witty, and slightly menacing individual." McKenna added, "It is absolutely dreadful, but the person I am thinking of at the moment more than anybody is his wife. It must be terrible for her."^[20] Ismail Merchant described Elliott as "an all-giving person, full of life ... He had an affection and feeling for other actors, which is very unusual in our business."^[21]

Elliott's widow set up a charity, the Denholm Elliott Project, and collaborated on his biography.^[22] She worked closely with the UK Coalition of People Living with HIV and AIDS. She died on 12 April 2007, aged 65, in a fire in her flat in Hornsey, London.^[17] Their daughter Jennifer died by suicide in Ibiza in 2003.^[19] In 1995, News of the World had published an article exposing her addiction to heroin and alleging that she was a beggar and prostitute, a piece which the tabloid's former deputy features editor Paul McMullan later admitted had "totally humiliated and destroyed her."^[23]

Film

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1949	Dear Mr. Prohack	Oswald Morfrey
1952	The Sound Barrier	Christopher Ridgefield	Breaking the Sound Barrier in USA	[14]
	The Holly and the Ivy	Michael Gregory
	The Ringer	John Lemley
1953	The Cruel Sea	Morell		[14]
	The Heart of the Matter	Wilson		[14]
1954	Lease of Life	Martin Blake		[14]
	They Who Dare	Sergeant Corcoran		[20]
1955	The Man Who Loved Redheads	Denis		[14]
	The Night My Number Came Up	Mackenzie
1956	Pacific Destiny	Arthur Grimble		[14]
1960	Scent of Mystery	Oliver Larker
1963	Station Six-Sahara	Macey
1964	Nothing But the Best	Charlie Prince		[14]
1965	The High Bright Sun	Baker
	King Rat	Larkin		[14]
1966	Alfie	The Abortionist		[14]
1967	Maroc 7	Inspector Barrada
1968	The Night They Raided Minsky's	Vance Fowler		[14]
	The Sea Gull	Dorn, a doctor		[14]
1970	Too Late the Hero	Captain Hornsby		[17]
	The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer	Peter Niss
1971	Percy	Emmanuel Whitbread
	The House That Dripped Blood	Charles Hillyer	Segment 1: Method for Murder
	Quest for Love	Tom Lewis
1972	Madame Sin	Malcolm De Vere
1973	The Vault of Horror	Diltant	Segment 5: Drawn and Quartered
	A Doll's House	Krogstad		[14]
1974	The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz	Friar		[14]
1975	Russian Roulette	Commander Petapiece
1976	Robin and Marian	Will Scarlet
	To the Devil a Daughter	Henry Beddows
	Partners	John Grey
	Voyage of the Damned	Admiral Canaris
1977	A Bridge Too Far	RAF Met. Officer
1978	The Hound of the Baskervilles	Stapleton
	Watership Down	Cowslip	(voice)
	The Boys From Brazil	Sidney Beynon
	Sweeney 2	Detective Chief Superintendent Jupp
1979	Zulu Dawn	Colonel Pulleine
	Saint Jack	William Leigh
	Cuba	Donald Skinner
1980	Bad Timing	Stefan Vognic
	Rising Damp	Charles Seymour
	Sunday Lovers	Parker	Segment: An Englishman's Home
1981	Raiders of the Lost Ark	Marcus Brody		[14]
1982	The Missionary	The Bishop
	Brimstone and Treacle	Mr. Tom Bates
1983	The Wicked Lady	Sir Ralph Skelton
	The Blue Dress
	Trading Places	Coleman
1984	The Razor's Edge	Elliott Templeton		[24]
	A Private Function	Dr. Charles Swaby		[20]
1985	A Room with a View	Mr. Emerson		[14]
	Underworld	Dr Savary
1986	Defence of the Realm	Vernon Bayliss		[20]
	The Whoopee Boys	Colonel Phelps
1987	September	Howard
	Maurice	Dr Barry
1988	Stealing Heaven	Fulbert
1989	Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade	Marcus Brody		[14]
1989	Killing Dad	Nathy
1991	Toy Soldiers	Headmaster
	Scorchers	Howler
1992	Noises Off	Selsdon Mowbray	Final film role	[14]

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Television

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1958	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Jack Lyons	Season 3 Episode 34: "The Crocodile Case"
1959		John Manbridge	Season 4 Episode 21: "Relative Value"
1963	Hancock	Peter Dartford	1 episode
1965	Danger Man	Basil Jordan	Season 3 Episode 18: The Hunting Party
1966	The Man in Room 17	Defraits	13 episodes
	Mystery and Imagination	Roderick Usher	Episode: The Fall of the House of Usher
1968	The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde	George Devlin	TV film
1968	Mystery and Imagination	Count Dracula	Episode: Dracula
1972	The Persuaders!	Roland	Episode: A Death in the Family
	Follow the Yellow Brick Road	Jack Black	TV play
1975	Thriller	Dr. Frank Henson	Episode: The Crazy Kill
1976	Brimstone and Treacle	Mr. Tom Bates	TV play: Play for Today
	Clayhanger	Tertius Ingpen	9 episodes
	The Signalman	The Signalman	TV play
1977	Ripping Yarns	Mr. Gregory	Episode: Across the Andes by Frog
1980	Hammer House of Horror	Norman Shenley	Episode: Rude Awakening
1980	Blade on the Feather	Jack Hill	TV film
1980	Tales of the Unexpected	Harold	TV Series, Season 3 ep 7, "The Stinker"
1982	Marco Polo	Niccolò Polo	8 episodes
1983	The Hound of the Baskervilles	Dr. Mortimer	TV film
1984	Camille	Count de Noilly	TV film
1985	Bleak House	John Jarndyce	7 episodes
1986	Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry	George Parker	TV film
1987	Hotel du Lac	Phillip Neville	TV film
	Scoop	Mr. Salter	TV film
	A Child's Christmas in Wales	Old Geraint	TV film
	The Happy Valley	Sir Henry 'Jock' Delves Broughton	TV film
1988	Codename: Kyril	Povin	4 episodes
	The Ray Bradbury Theater	Tom Cotter	Episode: The Coffin
	The Bourne Identity	Dr Geoffrey Washburn	TV mini-series
	Noble House	Alastair Struan	4 episodes
1989	Bangkok Hilton	Hal Stanton	3 episodes
1990	A Green Journey	James O'Hannon	TV film
1991	A Murder of Quality	George Smiley	TV film
	One Against the Wind	Father LeBlanc	TV film
	The Black Candle	William Filmore	TV film

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State and military awards

^[48]

• List of British actors
• List of people from Kensington
• List of RADA alumni