Ronald Lacey

A prolific character actor on British television for three decades, Ronald Lacey was born on June 18, 1935 in the suburbs of London.

After performing on British television throughout the 1960's and 1970's, Lacey finally landed the role for which these characteristics could be used to full advantage.

He began his career in 1961 after compulsory National Service. He attended The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

His first notable performance was delivered on stage in 1962 at The Royal Court Theatre in "Chips With Everything". Lacey had an unusual pug look with beady eyes and cherub's cheeks which landed him repeatedly in bizarre roles on both stage and screen. However it was his unforgettable demonic smile and peculiar Peter Lorre mannerisms that would bring Lacey a short period of fame in Hollywood.

He was considered for several roles in Doctor Who (1963) but never appeared. He was offered the role of Commander Uvanov in Doctor Who: The Robots of Death: Part One (1977), which was taken by Russell Hunter. He was asked over six times to appear in Doctor Who (1963) in the 1980s but was always busy elsewhere. He was one of the first choices, along with Ian Holm, to play Morgus in Peter Davison's final serial as the Doctor, Doctor Who: The Caves of Androzani: Part One (1984), which instead went to John Normington, and he was considered suitable for Gavrok in Doctor Who: Delta and the Bannermen: Part One (1987), which was taken by Don Henderson.

In 1981 he was cast as the villainous Nazi henchman in 'Steven Spielberg' 's widescreen blockbuster Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) He followed this with a series of various villainous roles for the next five to six years: Firefox (1982) with 'Clint Eastwood', Sahara (1983) with Brooke Shields, and Red Sonja (1985) with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Lacey was known for his trademark smile which oft-times turned into a gleaming malicious leer as he played a number of wicked roles. He also had a rather large mole on his left cheek which he chose not to have removed. The mole gave his sinister characterizations extra dimension as it was quite large. In 1982's Trenchcoat (1983) (opposite Margot Kidder) he used the mole as a beauty mark in his role as Princess Aida, a mysterious and sleazy drag queen on the island of Malta.

Lacey turned in two hilarious cinematic performances in full drag (Disney's Trenchcoat (1983) with Margot Kidder from 1982 and Invitation to the Wedding (1983) from 1985 - in which he played a husband/wife couple!).

He was offered the role of Sir Percy Heseltine in Lifeforce (1985), but had to reject the part because the cancer he was suffering from made him unable to accept the role because of the demanding make up involving body casts, so Aubrey Morris was cast instead. He was also considered for Dr. Bukovsky in the film.

His daughter, Rebecca, became a television success on the BBC's long-running Casualty (1986) series (a dramatic soap opera somewhat comparable to ER).

Lacey died in London of liver failure on May 15, 1991.