Anecdotes

Played both a good guy and a villain in the Bond movies. Gray was Henderson (good guy), 007's Japan contact in On ne vit que deux fois (1967), then played Ernst Stavros Blofeld (master villain) in Les diamants sont éternels (1971).

He always claimed that he had never seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), in which he played one of his most memorable roles, "The Criminologist", and had nothing to do with the rest of the cast because his scenes were filmed separately from the rest of the film.

With Jack Hawkins' approval, he often dubbed his voice, after Hawkins' entire larynx was removed in January 1966 because of throat cancer. Another actor who also dubbed Hawkins is Robert Rietty. In the completely restored edition of Lawrence d'Arabie (1962) in 1989, Gray also dubbed Hawkins' voice for the sound restoration in scenes which had been deleted from previous editions of the film. In the same film, Rietty had also dubbed Gamil Ratib's voice at first place.

Also known for his portrayal of the narrator of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). Fans of the movie refer to him as "No Neck" because the high-riding collar of the shirt and jacket he wears make it look like he has no neck.

When Gray made his stage debut (in 1952, as Charles the Wrestler in "As You Like It"), there was already an actor named Donald Gray. Hence the change in forename.

Appeared in both The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (as "The Criminologist") and its sequel, Shock Treatment (1981) (as "Judge Oliver Wright").

Well known for his roles as Sherlock Holmes' brother Mycroft both in the film Sherlock Holmes attaque l'orient-express (1976) and in the television series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984) with Jeremy Brett in the title role, and as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film Les diamants sont éternels (1971), with Sean Connery.

Neighbor and close friend of Ava Gardner.

Contrary to popular belief, his Ernst Stavro Blofeld is --not the first one in the James Bond franchise with hair. Anthony Dawson's Blofeld (in Bons baisers de Russie (1963) and Opération Tonnerre (1965)) had hair with close inspection.

The fictional date August 29, 1997 from Terminator 2: Le jugement dernier (1991) occurred on his 69th birthday.

When he went to America to appear in a show he had to change his name as there was already a Charles Gray so he changed it to Olivrer Gray.