107-484: Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor, known for his upper-middle class, macho image and his heavy-drinking, "hellraiser" lifestyle. His screen career spanned over 40 years, between 1955 and 1999. At the peak of his career, in 1971, British exhibitors voted Reed fifth-most-popular star at the box office. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in
214-493: A Roundhead . During this time, he appeared in some ITV Playhouse productions, "Murder in Shorthand" (1962) and "The Second Chef" (1962), and guest-starred in episodes of The Saint . He also had the lead in a non-Hammer horror, The Party's Over (made 1963, released 1965), directed by Guy Hamilton . In 1964, he starred in the first of six films directed by Michael Winner , The System (known as The Girl-Getters in
321-610: A Terry-Thomas comedy; No Love for Johnnie (1961) for Ralph Thomas; and The Rebel (1961) with Tony Hancock . He played the role of Sebastian in the ITV series It's Cold Outside, which was popular with teenagers, making him an idol for the first time. Reed's first starring role came when Hammer cast him as the central character in Terence Fisher 's The Curse of the Werewolf (1961). Hammer liked Reed and gave him good supporting roles in
428-409: A 1955 adaptation of Nigel Kneale 's BBC Television science fiction serial The Quatermass Experiment , directed by Val Guest . As a consequence of the contract with Robert Lippert, American actor Brian Donlevy was imported for the lead role and the title was changed to The Quatermass Xperiment to cash in on the new X certificate for horror films. The film was unexpectedly popular, and led to
535-464: A Western shot in Spain with Gene Hackman ; Sitting Target (1972), a tough gangster film; and Z.P.G. (1972), a science fiction film with Geraldine Chaplin . In March 1971, he said he would make a film, The Offering , which he would co-write and produce, but it was not made. He did The Triple Echo (1972) directed by Michael Apted , and featured Reed alongside Glenda Jackson . Reed also appeared in
642-630: A bouncer in The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960) for Hammer Films with whom he would become associated; the director was Terence Fisher . Reed was then in The Bulldog Breed (1960), another Wisdom film, playing the leader of a gang of Teddy Boys roughing up Wisdom in a cinema. Reed got his first significant role in Hammer Films' Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960), again directed by Fisher. He went back to small roles for His and Hers (1961),
749-765: A cameo in Russell's Lisztomania (1975). Reed appeared in The New Spartans (1975), then acted alongside Karen Black , Bette Davis , and Burgess Meredith in the Dan Curtis horror film, Burnt Offerings (1976). He was in The Sell Out (1976) and The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday (1976) with Lee Marvin . After Assault in Paradise (1977), he returned to swashbuckling in Crossed Swords (UK title The Prince and
856-464: A classically trained dancer who was also in the film. They became lovers and subsequently had a daughter, Sarah. In 1985, he married Josephine Burge, to whom he remained married until his death. When they met in 1980, she was 16 years old and he was 42. In his final years, Reed and Burge lived in Churchtown, County Cork , Ireland. In December 1974, Reed appeared on BBC Radio 4 's Desert Island Discs ,
963-403: A complete monster. It was awful to see." Reed was often irritated that his appearances on television chat shows concentrated on his drinking feats rather than his acting career and latest films. On 26 September 1975, while Reed was interviewed by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show , Shelley Winters , angered by derogatory comments Reed had made about feminists and women's liberation , poured
1070-420: A cup of whiskey over his head on-camera. Reed was held partly responsible for the demise of BBC1 's Sin on Saturday after some typically forthright comments on the subject of lust, the sin featured on the first programme. The series had many other issues, and a fellow guest revealed that Reed recognised this when he arrived, and virtually had to be dragged in front of the cameras. Near the end of his life, he
1177-452: A drinking match. Reed fell ill during the match and collapsed; despite efforts at resuscitation by his friends, he died in an ambulance while en route to the hospital. He was 61 years old. The actor Omid Djalili , who was also in Malta at the time of Reed's death filming Gladiator , said during an interview in 2016: "He hadn't had a drink for months before filming started... Everyone said he went
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#17328581868241284-518: A film about Lawrence of Arabia written by Terence Rattigan and directed by Anthony Asquith which was cancelled by Rank in February 1959 shortly before shooting was to begin. Rank offered no explanation but head of production Earl St John offered the lead in The Captain's Table as compensation. Bogarde turned it down and John Gregson played the lead instead. Donald Sinden says Joseph Janni told him
1391-488: A film based on the present script and a revised script should be sent us for our comments, in which the overall unpleasantness should be mitigated. Regardless of the BBFC's stern warnings, Hinds supervised the shooting of an unchanged script. The film was directed by Terence Fisher, with a look that belied its modest budget. British TV star Peter Cushing portrayed Baron Victor Frankenstein , and supporting actor Christopher Lee
1498-503: A half-hour pilot titled Tales of Frankenstein (1958) that was intended to premiere on American television; it was never picked up, but is now available on DVD. Anton Diffring took over Cushing's role of Baron Frankenstein. Eight sequels to Dracula were released between 1960 and 1974: The Captain%27s Table The Captain's Table is a 1959 British comedy film directed by Jack Lee and starring John Gregson , Donald Sinden , Peggy Cummins and Nadia Gray . The film
1605-579: A lot of marvellous people writing for it – Bryan Forbes, Nicholas Phipps and John Whiting – and they wouldn’t let me near the script. I liked Nadia Gray very much indeed. She brought a very different quality to the film, living as she did in Paris. Donald Sinden was very good too; it was a fairly conventional part for him, but when I saw the film again recently I was surprised at just how good he was. And we had some good old ham actors in it, like Reginald Beckwith, camping away like mad. Dirk Bogarde had been preparing
1712-487: A number of Italian films: Dirty Weekend (1973), with Marcello Mastroianni ; One Russian Summer (1973) with Claudia Cardinale ; and Revolver (1973) with Fabio Testi . He had great success playing Athos in The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974) for director Richard Lester from a script by George MacDonald Fraser . Reed had an uncredited bit-part in Russell's Mahler (1974),
1819-416: A one-year lease and began its 1951 production schedule with Cloudburst . The house, virtually derelict, required substantial work, but it did not have the construction restrictions that had prevented Hammer from customising previous homes. A decision was made to remodel Down Place into a substantial, custom-fitted studio complex that became known as Bray Studios . The expansive grounds were used for much of
1926-567: A resourceful killer in The Assassination Bureau ) was mentioned as a possible choice for the role, with Timothy Dalton and Roger Moore as the other choices. Whatever the reason, Reed was never to play Bond. After Reed's death, the Guardian Unlimited called the casting decision, "One of the great missed opportunities of post-war British movie history." He made a series of action-oriented projects: The Hunting Party (1971),
2033-515: A result of his death, Reed's remaining scenes in Gladiator had to be completed using a body double and computer-generated imagery (CGI) techniques. Despite this, he was posthumously nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor . Hammer Film Productions Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for
2140-583: A result of playing Bill Sikes in Oliver! (1968), alongside Ron Moody , Shani Wallis , Mark Lester , Jack Wild and Harry Secombe , in his uncle Carol Reed 's screen version of the successful stage musical. It was a huge hit, winning the Academy Award for Best Picture , with Reed receiving praise for his villainous performance. He was in the black comedy The Assassination Bureau (1969) with Diana Rigg and Telly Savalas , directed by Basil Dearden ; and
2247-516: A revived Hammer Film Productions set to work on Death in High Heels , The Dark Road , and Crime Reporter . Not able to afford top stars, Hammer acquired the film rights to BBC radio series such as The Adventures of PC 49 and Dick Barton: Special Agent (an adaptation of the successful Dick Barton radio show). All were filmed at Marylebone Studios during 1947. During the production of Dick Barton Strikes Back (1948), it became apparent that
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#17328581868242354-417: A script for an adaptation of the novel Frankenstein . Although interested in the script, a.a.p. were not prepared to back a film made by Rosenberg and Subotsky, who had just one film to their credit. Eliot Hyman however, sent the script to his contact at Hammer. Rosenberg would often claim he 'produced' The Curse of Frankenstein , an exaggeration repeated in his obituary. Although the novel by Mary Shelley
2461-527: A series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve classic horror characters such as Baron Victor Frankenstein , Count Dracula , and the Mummy , which Hammer reintroduced to audiences by filming them in vivid colour for the first time. Hammer also produced science fiction , thrillers , film noir and comedies , as well as, in later years, television series . During its most successful years, Hammer dominated
2568-535: A set design by Bernard Robinson that was radically different from the Universal adaptation; it was so radical, in fact, that Hammer executives considered paying him off and finding another designer. Dracula was an enormous success, breaking box-office records in the U.K., the U.S. (where it was released as Horror of Dracula ), Canada, and across the world. On 20 August 1958, the Daily Cinema reported: "Because of
2675-422: A show where the guest, a "castaway", talks about their life and chooses eight favourite songs and the reasons for their choices. He named " Jardins sous la pluie " by French composer Claude Debussy as his favourite piece of music, and when asked what book and inanimate luxury item he would take with him on a desert island Reed chose Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne and an inflatable rubber woman. In 1964, Reed
2782-507: A small part. According to Kinematograph Weekly the film performed "better than average" at the British box office in 1959. The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Except for a homosexual steward, played with relish by Reginald Beckwith, this mechanical farce relies entirely on stock characters and situations of depressing banality. John Gregson wades through his material, including a prolonged slapstick sequence, with commendable fortitude, and
2889-649: A third with Winner, I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967), co-starring with Orson Welles . Reed was reunited with Russell for another TV movie, Dante's Inferno (1967), playing Dante Gabriel Rossetti . " Richard Burton , Richard Harris , Oliver Reed and Peter O'Toole were among the four greatest actors of their generation. Onstage, they brought new vigour to Shakespeare and Shaw . Onscreen, they made British cinema sexy in classic films including Lawrence of Arabia , Oliver! , Becket and This Sporting Life ." —Four Hellraisers, Living It Up In The Public Eye. NPR , 27 March 2010. Reed's star rose further as
2996-523: A two-day binge before marrying Josephine Burge: "The event that was reported actually took place during an arm-wrestling competition in Guernsey , about 15 years ago; it was highly exaggerated." In the late 1970s, Steve McQueen told the story that, in 1973, he flew to the UK to discuss a film project with Reed, who suggested that the two of them visit a London nightclub. They ended up on a marathon pub crawl throughout
3103-534: A war film for Winner, Hannibal Brooks (1969). More successful than either was his fourth film with Russell, a film version of Women in Love (1969), in which he wrestled naked with Alan Bates in front of a log fire. In 1969, Interstate Theatres awarded him their International Star of the Year Award. Take a Girl Like You (1970) was a sex comedy with Hayley Mills based on a novel by Kingsley Amis ; The Lady in
3210-524: Is DAY or NIGHT specified in a number of cases. The number of set-ups scripted is quite out of proportion to the length of the screenplay, and we suggest that your rewrites are done in master scene form. Further revisions were made to the script, and a working title of Frankenstein and the Monster was chosen. Plans were made to shoot the film in Eastmancolor ;– a decision which caused worry at
3317-664: Is based on the 1954 novel of the same title by Richard Gordon , later adapted into the 1971 German film The Captain starring Heinz Rühmann . After serving all his working life with the South Star line, exclusively in cargo ships, Captain Albert Ebbs meets his employer and is finally given command (albeit temporarily) of the SS Queen Adelaide , a cruise liner sailing from London to Sydney. An excellent seaman, he finds that he now has many social obligations that he does not have
Oliver Reed - Misplaced Pages Continue
3424-760: Is keeping on and on in the same vein that makes this script so outrageous. They must take it away and prune. Before they take it away, however, I think the President [of the BBFC] should read it. I have a stronger stomach than the average (for viewing purposes) and perhaps I ought to be reacting more strongly. The scores for many Hammer horror films, including The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula , were composed by James Bernard . Other Hammer musical personnel included Malcolm Williamson , John Hollingsworth , and Harry Robertson . Production designer Bernard Robinson and cinematographer Jack Asher were instrumental in creating
3531-499: Is still alive but no one has invested in it for a long time." Since then, Hammer has produced several films, including Beyond the Rave (2008), Let Me In (2010), The Resident (2011), The Woman in Black (2012), The Quiet Ones (2014), and The Lodge (2019). In November 1934, William Hinds , a comedian and businessman, registered his film company, Hammer Productions Ltd. It
3638-681: The Senussids resistance to Italian occupation of Libya . On 20 January 2016, ISIS used a clip of Lion of the Desert as part of a propaganda video threatening Italy with terrorist attacks. Reed was a villain in Disney's Condorman (1981) and did the horror film Venom (1981). He was a villain in The Sting II (1983) and appeared in Sex, Lies and Renaissance (1983). He also starred as Lt-Col Gerard Leachman in
3745-400: The horror film market, enjoying worldwide distribution and considerable financial success. This success was, in part, due to its distribution partnerships with American companies United Artists , Warner Bros. , Universal Pictures , Columbia Pictures , Paramount Pictures , 20th Century Studios , Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , American International Pictures and Seven Arts Productions . During
3852-512: The 13th-century cemetery in the heart of the village where he would be buried. Reed died from a heart attack during a break from filming Gladiator in Valletta , Malta , on the afternoon of 2 May 1999. According to Gladiator screenwriter David Franzoni , Reed had encountered a group of sailors from the Royal Navy frigate HMS Cumberland on shore leave in a bar (pub), and challenged them to
3959-569: The 1964 film The System ), and in 2020 Scott stated, "David Hemmings (Cassius) promised to look after him and said to me [upon his death], I'm really sorry, old boy". A funeral for Reed was held in Ireland in Churchtown, where he had resided during the last years of his life. His body was interred in the Bruhenny Graveyard there. The epitaph on his gravestone reads, "He made the air move." As
4066-461: The 1983 sequel The Sting II ) . When the 1970s UK government raised taxes on personal income, Reed initially declined to join the exodus of major British film stars to Hollywood and other more tax-friendly locales. In the late 1970s, Reed relocated to Guernsey as a tax exile . He had sold his large house, Broome Hall , between the Surrey villages of Coldharbour and Ockley , and initially lodged at
4173-481: The Association of Cinematograph Technicians blocked this proposal, and the company purchased the freehold of Down Place instead. The house was renamed Bray Studios after the nearby village of Bray , and it remained Hammer's principal base until 1966. In 1953, the first of Hammer's science fiction films, Four Sided Triangle and Spaceways , were released. Hammer's first significant experiment with horror came in
4280-542: The BBFC. Not only did the script contain horror and graphic violence, but it would be portrayed in vivid colour. The project was handed to Tony Hinds, who was less impressed with the script than Michael Carreras, and whose vision for the film was a simple black-and-white 'quickie' made in three weeks. Concerned that Subotsky and Rosenberg's script had too many similarities to the Universal films, Hinds commissioned Jimmy Sangster to rewrite it as The Curse of Frankenstein . Sangster's treatment impressed Hammer enough to rescue
4387-445: The British film industry forced Hammer into bankruptcy , and the company went into liquidation in 1937. Exclusive survived and on 20 July 1937 purchased the leasehold on 113-117 Wardour Street and continued to distribute films made by other companies. James Carreras , Enrique's son, joined Exclusive in 1938, closely followed by William Hinds' son, Anthony. At the outbreak of World War II, James Carreras and Anthony Hinds left to join
Oliver Reed - Misplaced Pages Continue
4494-493: The Car with Glasses and a Gun (1970) was a thriller directed by Anatole Litvak . The following year, Reed appeared in the controversial film The Devils (1971), directed by Russell with Vanessa Redgrave . An anecdote holds that Reed could have been chosen to play James Bond . In 1969, Bond franchise producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were looking for a replacement for Sean Connery and Reed (who had recently played
4601-611: The Door (1949), What the Butler Saw (1950), The Lady Craved Excitement (1950). In 1950, Hammer moved again to Gilston Park, a country club in Harlow, Essex, which hosted The Black Widow , The Rossiter Case , To Have and to Hold and The Dark Light (all 1950). In 1951, Hammer began shooting at their most fondly-remembered base, Down Place, on the banks of the Thames. The company signed
4708-618: The Duke of Normandie Hotel in Saint Peter Port . Reed often described himself as a British patriot and preferred to live in the United Kingdom over relocating to Hollywood . He supported British military efforts during the Falklands War . According to Robert Sellers , Reed tried reenlisting, at age 44, in the British army following the outbreak of the conflict but was turned down. In 2013,
4815-465: The Exclusive offices in 113-117 Wardour Street, and the building was rechristened "Hammer House". In August 1949, complaints from locals about noise during night filming forced Hammer to leave Dial Close and move into another mansion, Oakley Court , also on the banks of the Thames between Windsor and Maidenhead. Five films were produced there: Man in Black (1949), Room to Let (1949), Someone at
4922-505: The Frankenstein story, it re-tells the Baron's history in flashbacks that bear no resemblance to the two earlier Hammer Frankenstein films and it portrays the Baron with a very different personality, resulting in a film which permanently breaks the chronological continuity of the series. Each subsequent movie in the series contains elements that do not relate to (or flatly contradict) the events of
5029-613: The Iraqi historical film Clash of Loyalties (1983), which dealt with Leachman's exploits during the 1920 revolution in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). Reed was in Spasms (1983), Two of a Kind (1983), Masquerade (1984), Christopher Columbus (1985), Black Arrow (1985) and Captive (1986). He says he was contemplating quitting acting when Nicolas Roeg cast him in Castaway (1986) as
5136-625: The Pauper ) (1977), as Miles Hendon alongside Raquel Welch and a grown-up Mark Lester, who had worked with Reed in Oliver! , from a script co-written by Fraser. Reed did Tomorrow Never Comes (1978) for Peter Colinson and The Big Sleep (1978) with Winner. He and Jackson were reunited in The Class of Miss MacMichael (1978), then he made a film in Canada, The Mad Trapper , that was unfinished. Reed returned to
5243-556: The Pendulum (1991); Prisoner of Honor (1991) for Russell; and Severed Ties (1993). Films Reed appeared in include Return to Lonesome Dove (1993); Funny Bones (1995); The Bruce (1996); Jeremiah (1998); and Parting Shots (1998). His final role was the elderly slave dealer Proximo in Ridley Scott 's Gladiator (2000), in which he played alongside Richard Harris , an actor whom Reed admired greatly both on and off
5350-510: The U.S.) led to two sequels: There were also two Quatermass -style films: Six sequels to The Curse of Frankenstein were released between 1958 and 1974: All starred Peter Cushing as Baron Frankenstein, except The Horror of Frankenstein (which was not a sequel, but a tongue-in-cheek remake of The Curse of Frankenstein ), in which Ralph Bates took the title role. The Evil of Frankenstein stars Cushing but due to an agreement made with Universal to more closely pastiche their version of
5457-527: The US). The film was seen by Ken Russell who then cast Reed in the title role of The Debussy Film (1965), a TV biopic of French composer Claude Debussy . Reed said this was crucial to his career because "That was the first time I met Ken Russell and it was the first part I had after I'd had my face cut in a fight and no one would employ me. Everybody thought I was a cripple." It was also the first time he broke away from villainous roles. "Until that time they thought I
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#17328581868245564-455: The actor- manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and his mistress, Beatrice May Pinney (who later assumed the name 'Reed'), she being "the only person who understood, listened to, encouraged and kissed Oliver". Reed claimed to have been a descendant (through an illegitimate step) of Peter the Great , Tsar of Russia. Reed attended 14 schools, including Ewell Castle School in Surrey. "My father thought I
5671-575: The agreement in place, Hammer's executives had their pick of Universal International's horror icons and chose to remake The Invisible Man , The Phantom of the Opera , and The Mummy's Hand . All were to be filmed in colour at Bray Studios, by the same team responsible for The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula . The Mummy (the title used for the remake of The Mummy's Hand , which also incorporated significant story elements from that film's first two sequels, The Mummy's Tomb and The Mummy's Ghost )
5778-412: The armed forces and Exclusive continued to operate in a limited capacity. In 1946, James Carreras rejoined the company after demobilisation . He resurrected Hammer as the film production arm of Exclusive with a view to supplying ' quota-quickies ', cheaply made domestic films designed to fill gaps in cinema schedules and support more expensive features. He convinced Anthony Hinds to rejoin the company, and
5885-495: The attack, when arguing, the burly Reed would bring his hands up in a gesture that was defensive but many men found very intimidating. In 1993, Reed was unsuccessfully sued by his former stuntman, stand-in and friend Reg Prince, for an alleged spinal injury incurred by the latter while on location for the filming of Castaway . He claimed to have turned down a major role in the Hollywood movie The Sting (although he did appear in
5992-504: The celebrated credits sequence – blood being spattered from off-screen over the Count's coffin". The film magazine Empire ranked Lee's portrayal as Dracula the 7th Greatest Horror Movie Character of All Time. 1960 saw the release of the first in a long line of sequels, The Brides of Dracula , with Cushing returning to the role of Van Helsing, though Lee did not play Dracula again until Dracula: Prince of Darkness , released in 1966. With
6099-577: The company could save money by shooting in country houses instead of studios. For the next production, Dr Morelle – The Case of the Missing Heiress (another radio adaptation), Hammer rented Dial Close, a 23 bedroom mansion beside the River Thames , at Cookham Dean , Maidenhead . On 12 February 1949, Exclusive registered "Hammer Film Productions" as a company with Enrique and James Carreras, and William and Tony Hinds as directors. Hammer moved into
6206-460: The documentary Hello London (1958). Reed's first break was playing Richard of Gloucester in a six-part BBC TV series The Golden Spur (1959). It did not seem to help his career immediately: He was not credited in the films The Captain's Table (1959), Upstairs and Downstairs (1959), directed by Ralph Thomas , Life Is a Circus (1960), The Angry Silence (1960), The League of Gentlemen (1960) and Beat Girl (1960). He played
6313-1033: The early 1960s, his notable film roles included La Bete in The Trap (1966), Bill Sikes in Oliver! (a film directed by his uncle Carol Reed that won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Picture ), Gerald in Women in Love (1969), the title role in Hannibal Brooks (1969), Urbain Grandier in The Devils (1971), Athos in The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974), Uncle Frank in Tommy (1975), Dr. Hal Raglan in The Brood (1979), Dolly Hopkins in Funny Bones (1995) and Antonius Proximo in Gladiator (2000). For playing
6420-501: The fantastic business done world-wide by Hammer's Technicolor version of Dracula , Universal-International, its distributors, have made over to Jimmy Carreras' organisation, the remake rights to their entire library of classic films." Establishing the fanged vampire in popular culture , Lee also introduced a dark, brooding sexuality to the character. The academic Christopher Frayling writes, “ Dracula introduced fangs, red contact lenses, décolletage, ready-prepared wooden stakes and – in
6527-420: The fiddle . The captain does not fully realise this until the last night of the cruise, when champagne being served is revealed to be cider , with the crew pocketing the considerable profits. All comes out well – just. The captain finds himself engaged to be married to an attractive widow, the chief officer is also engaged to a young heiress, and the larcenous officers are arrested by Sydney police. The film
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#17328581868246634-433: The film from the 'quickie' treadmill and to produce it as a colour film. Sangster submitted his script to the BBFC for examination. Audrey Field reported on 10 October 1956: We are concerned about the flavour of this script, which, in its preoccupation with horror and gruesome detail, goes far beyond what we are accustomed to allow even for the 'X' category. I am afraid we can give no assurance that we should be able to pass
6741-782: The film would involve three months' filming around the Greek Islands so the actor agreed to make it. Then this was changed to filming around the Channel Islands, then changed again to the Tilbury Docks . "So for three months we stayed in Southend and commuted to the Docks where myriad arc lamps simulated the Mediterranean sun while the girls tried to hide their goose pimples," wrote Sinden. Filming started on 21 July 1958. Michael Blakemore has
6848-399: The gravest misgivings about treatment. [...] The curse of this thing is the Technicolor blood: why need vampires be messier eaters than anyone else? Certainly strong cautions will be necessary on shots of blood. And of course, some of the stake-work is prohibitive." Despite the success of The Curse of Frankenstein , the financing of Dracula proved awkward. Universal was not interested, and
6955-413: The horror genre as Dr. Hal Raglan in David Cronenberg 's 1979 film The Brood and ended the decade with A Touch of the Sun (1979), a comedy with Peter Cushing. After the 1970s, Reed's films had less success. He did a comedy for Charles B. Griffith , Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype (1980) and played Gen. Rodolfo Graziani in Lion of the Desert (1981), which co-starred Anthony Quinn and chronicled
7062-513: The impresario Harry Alan Towers filmed in South Africa and released straight to video. He was in Terry Gilliam 's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) (as the god Vulcan ); The Lady and the Highwayman (1989) with Hugh Grant ; The House of Usher (1989); The Return of the Musketeers (1990) with Lester and Fraser; Treasure Island (1990) with Charlton Heston ; A Ghost in Monte Carlo (1990); Hired to Kill (1990); Panama Sugar (1990); The Revenger (1990); The Pit and
7169-434: The inevitable desire for a sequel in The Revenge of Frankenstein , and an attempt to give the Hammer treatment to another horror icon. Dracula had been a successful film character for Universal in the past, and the copyright situation was more complicated than for Frankenstein. A legal agreement between Hammer and Universal was not completed until 31 March 1958 – after the film had been shot – and
7276-551: The issue of who exactly funded Dracula is still not entirely clear (see Barnett, 'Hammering out a Deal: The Contractual and Commercial Contexts of The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958)’, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television , published online 19 November 2013). With a final budget of £81,412, Dracula began principal photography on 11 November 1957. Peter Cushing again had top-billing, this time as Doctor Van Helsing , whilst Christopher Lee starred as Count Dracula , with direction by Terence Fisher and
7383-513: The late 1960s and 1970s, the saturation of the horror film market by competitors and the loss of American funding forced changes to the previously lucrative Hammer formula with varying degrees of success. The company eventually ceased production in the mid-1980s. In 2000, the studio was bought by a consortium including advertising executive and art collector Charles Saatchi and publishing millionaires Neil Mendoza and William Sieghart . The company announced plans to begin making films again, but none
7490-505: The later location shooting in Hammer's films and are a key to the 'Hammer look'. Also in 1951, Hammer and Exclusive signed a four-year production and distribution contract with Robert Lippert , an American film producer. The contract meant that Lippert Pictures and Exclusive effectively exchanged products for distribution on their respective sides of the Atlantic – beginning in 1951 with The Last Page and ending with 1955's Women Without Men (a.k.a. Prison Story ). It
7597-448: The latter directed by Seth Holt . He had a regular role in the TV series R3 (1965). Reed was the lead in a Canadian-British co-production, The Trap (1966), co-starring with Rita Tushingham . Reed's career stepped up another level when he starred in the popular comedy film The Jokers (1966), his second film with Winner, alongside Michael Crawford . After playing a villain in a horror movie, The Shuttered Room (1967), he did
7704-692: The lavish look of the early Hammer films, usually on a very restricted budget. Hammer's horror films featured many actors who appeared repeatedly in a number of movies, forming an informal "Hammer repertory company". As production began on Quatermass 2 , Hammer started to look for another U.S. partner willing to invest in and handle the American promotion of new product. They eventually entered talks with Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.) and head, Eliot Hyman . During this period, two young American filmmakers, Max J. Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky , who later established Hammer's rival Amicus , submitted to a.a.p.
7811-448: The mid-1970s his alcoholism began affecting his career, with the BFI adding: "Reed had assumed Robert Newton 's mantle as Britain's thirstiest thespian". Robert Oliver Reed was born on 13 February 1938 at 9 Durrington Park Road, Wimbledon , southwest London, to Peter Reed, a sports journalist, and Marcia (née Napier-Andrews). He was the nephew of film director Sir Carol Reed , and grandson of
7918-609: The middle-aged Gerald Kingsland , who advertises for a "wife" (played by Amanda Donohoe ) to live on a desert island with him for a year. Reed was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1986 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at Rosslyn Park rugby club in west London. Reed was in The Misfit Brigade (1987), Gor (1987), Master of Dragonard Hill (1987), Dragonard (1987), Skeleton Coast (1988), Blind Justice (1988), Captive Rage (1988), and Rage to Kill (1988). Most of these were exploitation films produced by
8025-527: The movie that went before, whilst the characteristics of Cushing's Baron vary wildly from film to film, resulting in a series that does not progress as a self-contained narrative cycle. David Prowse was the only actor to star as the creature twice in the Hammer Frankenstein series; he reprised the role from The Horror of Frankenstein in Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell . Hammer also produced
8132-560: The night, during which Reed got so drunk that he vomited on McQueen. Reed became a close friend and drinking partner of the Who 's drummer Keith Moon in 1974, while working together on the film version of Tommy . With their reckless lifestyles, Reed and Moon had much in common, and both cited the hard-drinking actor Robert Newton as a role model. Sir Christopher Lee , a friend and colleague of Reed, commented on his alcoholism in 2014, saying "when he started, after [drink] number eight, he became
8239-516: The old, gruff gladiator trainer in Ridley Scott 's Gladiator , in what was his final film, Reed was posthumously nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture in 2000. The British Film Institute (BFI) stated that "partnerships with Michael Winner and Ken Russell in the mid-[19]60s saw Reed become an emblematic Brit-flick icon", but from
8346-401: The peace while drunk. However, he pleaded no contest to two assault charges and was fined $ 1,200. In December 1987, Reed, who was overweight and already suffered from gout , became seriously ill with kidney problems as a result of his alcoholism, and had to abstain from drinking for over a year, on the advice of his doctor. During the filming of Renny Harlin 's Cutthroat Island (1995), he
8453-474: The phrase, "Give us a kiss, big tits." However, Evil Spirits , a biography of Reed that was written by Cliff Goodwin, offered the theory that Reed was not always as drunk on chat shows as he appeared to be, but rather was acting the part of an uncontrollably sodden former star to liven things up, at the producers' behests. In October 1981, Reed was arrested in Vermont , where he was tried and acquitted of disturbing
8560-514: The popular 1957 sequel Quatermass 2 – again adapted from one of Kneale's television scripts, this time by Kneale and with a budget double that of the original: £92,000. In the meantime, Hammer produced another Quatermass -style horror film, X the Unknown , originally intended as part of the series until Kneale denied them permission to use his characters (the writer is known to have disliked Donlevy's performance as Quatermass). At
8667-588: The popular music vein, though with limited success. These included "Wild One"/"Lonely for a Girl" (1961), "Sometimes"/"Ecstasy" (1962), "Baby It's Cold Outside" (duet with Joyce Blair ) and "Wild Thing" (1992) (duet with snooker player Alex Higgins ). Reed also later narrated a track called "Walpurgis Nacht" by the Italian heavy metal band Death SS . In 1959, Reed married Kate Byrne. The couple had one son, Mark, before their divorce in 1969. While filming his part of Bill Sikes in Oliver! (1968), he met Jacquie Daryl,
8774-500: The screen. The film was released after his death with some footage filmed with a double, digitally mixed with outtake footage. The film was dedicated to him. In addition to his posthumous BAFTA recognition, he shared the film's nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture with the rest of the principal players. In addition to acting, Reed released several singles in
8881-567: The search for money eventually brought Hammer back to a.a.p.'s Eliot Hyman, through another of his companies, Seven Arts (which later merged with Warner Bros. , now the successor-in-interest to a.a.p. ). Although an agreement was drawn up, it is alleged that the deal was never realised and funding for Dracula eventually came from the National Film Finance Council ( £ 33,000) and the rest from Universal in return for worldwide distribution rights. However, recent research suggests that
8988-404: The skills to fulfil. He must preside at the captain's table, host cocktail parties, judge beauty contests and dance with the lady passengers. He must also cope with amorous widows, young couples who want him to marry them and a blustering ex-army major who claims to have the ear of the chairman of the shipping line. To add to his woes, most of the officers and crew, led by the chief purser, are on
9095-534: The story of Henry Henry, an unemployed London street musician, and the title was a "playful tribute" to Alexander Korda 's The Private Life of Henry VIII which was Britain's first Academy Award for Best Picture nominee in 1934. During this time Hinds met Spanish émigré Enrique Carreras, a former cinema owner, and on 10 May 1935 they formed the film distribution company Exclusive Films, operating from an office at 60-66 National House, Wardour Street . Hammer produced four films distributed by Exclusive: A slump in
9202-520: The swashbuckler The Pirates of Blood River (1962), directed by John Gilling ; Captain Clegg (1962), a smugglers tale with Peter Cushing ; The Damned (1963), a science fiction film directed by Joseph Losey ; Paranoiac (1963), a psycho thriller for director Freddie Francis ; and The Scarlet Blade (1963); a swashbuckler set during the English Civil War , directed by Gilling, with Reed as
9309-599: The time, Hammer voluntarily submitted scripts to the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) for comment before production. Regarding the script of X the Unknown , one reader/examiner (Audrey Field) commented on 24 November: Well, no one can say the customers won't have had their money's worth by now. In fact, someone will almost certainly have been sick. We must have a great deal more restraint, and much more done by onlookers' reactions instead of by shots of 'pulsating obscenity', hideous scars, hideous sightless faces, etc, etc. It
9416-431: The way he wanted, but that's not true. It was very tragic. He was in an Irish bar and was pressured into a drinking competition. He should have just left, but he didn't." Having made a number of promises to Ridley Scott prior to filming, including that he would not drink during production, Reed worked around this by only drinking on weekends. Co-star David Hemmings was a longtime friend of Reed's (they appeared together in
9523-408: The winding-down of the parent film distribution company Exclusive, leaving Hammer to concentrate on filmmaking. Work continued on the script for Dracula , and the second draft was submitted to the BBFC. Audrey Field commented on 8 October 1957: "The uncouth, uneducated, disgusting and vulgar style of Mr Jimmy Sangster cannot quite obscure the remnants of a good horror story, though they do give one
9630-433: The writer Robert Sellers published What Fresh Lunacy Is This? – The Authorised Biography of Oliver Reed . Reed was known for his alcoholism and binge drinking . Numerous anecdotes exist, such as Reed and 36 friends drinking, in one evening: 60 gallons of beer, 32 bottles of scotch, 17 bottles of gin, four crates of wine, and a bottle of Babycham . Reed subsequently revised the story, claiming he drank 106 pints of beer on
9737-448: Was 80 pages long. Meanwhile, the financial arrangement between a.a.p. and Hammer had broken down when money promised by a.a.p. had not arrived. Hammer began looking for alternatives, and with the success of The Curse of Frankenstein signed with Columbia Pictures to distribute The Revenge of Frankenstein and two films from the defaulted a.a.p. deal, The Camp on Blood Island and The Snorkel . Hammer's financial success also meant
9844-591: Was Lippert's insistence on an American star in the Hammer films he was to distribute that led to the prevalence of American leads in many of the company's productions during the 1950s. It was for The Last Page that Hammer made a significant appointment when they hired film director Terence Fisher , who played a critical role in the forthcoming horror cycle. Towards the end of 1951, the one-year lease on Down Place expired, and with its growing success Hammer looked towards more conventional studio-based productions. A dispute with
9951-501: Was a neolithic dustbin," said Reed. Reed later said "Hammer films had given me my start and Michael Winner my bread then Ken Russell came on the screen and gave me my art." He narrated Russell's TV movie Always on Sunday (1965). Reed returned to Hammer for The Brigand of Kandahar (1965), playing a villainous Indian in an imperial action film for Gilling. He later called it the worst film he ever made for Hammer. He guest-starred in episodes of It's Cold Outside and Court Martial ,
10058-621: Was based on a 1954 novel by Richard Gordon, who had written Doctor in the House and its sequels which had been successfully filmed by the Rank Organisation. The film was made by producer Jack Janni and director Jack Lee who had made A Town Like Alice (1956) and Robbery Under Arms (1957). Jack Lee later recalled: I thought I'd like to make a comedy, although I didn’t know anything about comedy. I said, “All we need are funny scenes, funny lines, actors who can pull faces, and that’s it’. Joe got
10165-626: Was bright red, and the camera lingered on it. The film was an enormous success, not only in Great Britain, but also in the U.S., where it inspired numerous imitations from, amongst others, Roger Corman and American International Pictures (with their series largely based on Edgar Allan Poe – the so-called "Poe Cycle"). It found success on the European continent also, where Italian directors and audiences were particularly receptive. The huge box office success of The Curse of Frankenstein led to
10272-554: Was brought onto some television series specifically for his drinking; for example, The Word put bottles of vodka in his dressing room so he could be secretly filmed getting drunk. According to Reed the whole thing was a stunt ("I knew all about the 'secret' camera, and the vodka was water"), and that he was paid to "act drunk". Reed left the set of the Channel 4 television discussion programme After Dark after arriving drunk and attempting to kiss feminist writer Kate Millett , uttering
10379-425: Was cast as the imposingly tall, brutish Creature . With a budget of £65,000 and a cast and crew that would become the backbone of later films, Hammer's first Gothic horror went into production. The use of colour encouraged a previously unseen level of gore. Until The Curse of Frankenstein , horror films had not shown blood in a graphic way, or when they did, it was concealed by monochrome photography. In this film, it
10486-417: Was cast in a cameo role as Mordechai Fingers. Due to his arriving extremely intoxicated, having already been in trouble for a bar fight, before attempting to "expose himself" to lead actress Geena Davis , he was fired and replaced with British character actor George Murcell . In his final years, when he lived in Ireland, Reed was a regular in the one-roomed O'Brien's Bar in Churchtown, County Cork , close to
10593-609: Was directed by Terence Fisher from a screenplay from Jimmy Sangster. The Mummy went into general release on 23 October 1959 and broke the box-office records set by Dracula the previous year, both in Great Britain and the U.S. when it was released there in December. Hammer consolidated their success by turning their most successful films into series. This was a practice they had making Dick Barton movies which they continued to their horror movies and other genres. The success of The Quatermass Xperiment (1955; The Creeping Unknown in
10700-505: Was housed in a three-room office suite at Imperial House, Regent Street , London. The company name came from Hinds' stage name, Will Hammer, which he had taken from the area of London in which he lived, Hammersmith . Work began almost immediately on the first film, a now lost comedy, The Public Life of Henry the Ninth at the MGM/ATP studios. Filming concluded on 2 January 1935. The film tells
10807-553: Was in the Crazy Elephant nightclub in Leicester Square and got into a dispute at the bar with a couple of men that ended with Reed walking away with a dismissive remark. They waited until he went to the toilet, followed him in and attacked him with broken bottles. He received 63 stitches in one side of his face, was left with permanent scarring, and initially thought his film career was over. According to his brother, subsequent to
10914-854: Was just lazy," Reed later said. "He thought I was a dunce ." Reed claimed he had worked as a boxer, a bouncer, a taxi driver and a hospital porter. He then did his compulsory army service in the Royal Army Medical Corps . "The army helped," he said later. "I recognized that most other people were actors as well. I was in the peacetime army and they were all telling us youngsters about the war." Reed began his acting career as an extra in films. He appeared uncredited in Ken Annakin 's film Value for Money (1955) and Norman Wisdom 's film The Square Peg (1958). Uncredited television appearances included episodes of The Invisible Man (1958), The Four Just Men (1959) and The Third Man . He appeared in
11021-423: Was long since in the public domain , Anthony Hinds was unsure about the story, as Subotsky's script adhered closely to the plot of the 1939 Universal film Son of Frankenstein , featuring a second-generation Baron Frankenstein emulating his father, the original monster-maker. This put the project at risk of a copyright infringement lawsuit by Universal. In addition a great deal of polishing and additional material
11128-449: Was made in 1959, The Phantom of the Opera followed in 1962, and Hammer collaborated with William Castle on a remake of The Old Dark House in 1963. The Invisible Man was never produced. Principal photography for The Mummy began on 23 February 1959 and lasted until 16 April 1959. Once again it starred both Peter Cushing (as John Banning) and Christopher Lee (as Kharis the Mummy), and
11235-414: Was needed, as the short script had an estimated running time of just 55 minutes, far less than the minimum of 90 minutes needed for distribution in the U.K. Accordingly, comments on the script from Hammer's Michael Carreras (who had joined his father James as producer in the early 1950s) were less than complimentary: The script is badly presented. The sets are not marked clearly on the shot headings, neither
11342-447: Was produced. In May 2007, the company name was sold to a consortium headed by Dutch media tycoon John de Mol , who announced plans to spend some $ 50 million (£25m) on new horror films. The new organization acquired the Hammer group's film library of 295 pictures. Simon Oakes , who took over as CEO of the new Hammer, said, "Hammer is a great British brand—we intend to take it back into production and develop its global potential. The brand
11449-465: Was the lead in Blue Blood (1973) and And Then There Were None (1974), produced by Harry Alan Towers . His next project with Ken Russell was Tommy , where he plays Tommy's stepfather, based on The Who 's 1969 concept album, Tommy , and starring its lead singer Roger Daltrey . Royal Flash (1975) reunited him with Richard Lester and George MacDonald Fraser , playing Otto von Bismarck . He had
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