Michael Lonsdale

The family moved to Morocco in 1939 where Edward found work in the fertilizer trade (he was later imprisoned by the Vichy government for political reasons).

His father was imprisoned for two years by the Vichy--Nazi collaborationist--regime during World War 2, as he was suspected of treason, because of the Mers el-Kébir attack on the French fleet by the British in July 1940. He came back a changed man two years later. Michael's portrayal of the vice-consul in India Song (1975) was inspired by these changes.

Michael returned to France in 1947 where he met actor/director Roger Blin who awakened his interest in the dramatic arts. Following acting studies, Michael made his theatrical debut at 24 and appeared on screen for the first time a year later, for much of his career billed as 'Michel' Lonsdale.

Though primarily active in French cinema, the bilingual Lonsdale made occasional (but often memorable) forays into English-language productions, his first as a reporter in Fred Zinnemann's Behold a Pale Horse (1964).

Appeared in six movies starring Delphine Seyrig: Comédie (1966), Stolen Kisses (1968), The Day of the Jackal (1973), Aloïse (1975), India Song (1975) and Son nom de Venise dans Calcutta désert (1976). The two actors also worked together in several stage productions, including La chevauchée sur le lac de Constance (1974), which was filmed.

Having toiled for over a decade in smallish supporting roles, he received his first major critical acclaim in two films by François Truffaut (The Bride Wore Black (1968) and Stolen Kisses (1968)).

Tall, bearded, heavy-set Anglo-French character actor, best known internationally for playing Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel in The Day of the Jackal (1973) and Bond villain Hugo Drax in Moonraker (1979). The son of an English army officer (Edward Lonsdale-Crouch) and a Franco-Irish mother (Simone Béraud), he was born in Paris and spent his early childhood in England.

Subsequent parts have included a titled landowner who sets in motion the Caravan to Vaccares (1974), a CIA agent in Enigma (1982) and a Swiss banker in The Holcroft Covenant (1985).

Described the shooting of India Song (1975) as the happiest experience of his career.

Dubbed himself in the French version of Moonraker (1979).

Considered for Fallanda and Bukovsky in Lifeforce (1985).

Lonsdale also had a prominent role as The Abbot who commissions the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville (Sean Connery) to investigate the murder of a monk in Jean-Jacques Annaud's Italian-German-French co-production of Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose (1986). By and large, it is for his powerhouse performance as Roger Moore's megalomaniacal antagonist Sir Hugo Drax in Moonraker for which Lonsdale is likely to be most remembered.

James Ivory cast him in two of his films consecutively as a French delegate in The Remains of the Day (1993) and as King Louis XVI in Jefferson in Paris (1995).

In the documentary Delphine Seyrig, portrait d'une comète (2000), he tells a very poignant anecdote related to Delphine Seyrig: the actress had once made him a gift of a succulent plant that grew flowers about every two years. He claims that it kept flourishing for about 15 years, but never again after Delphine's death.

He received a BAFTA nomination for his role in The Day of the Jackal but only achieved major acting honors in 2011, winning a César Award as best supporting actor for Of Gods and Men (2010). Lonsdale's career could well be described as eclectic.

As of 2015, has appeared in three films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Chariots of Fire (1981), The Remains of the Day (1993) and Munich (2005). Of those, Chariots of Fire (1981) is a winner in the category.