Denholm Elliott(1922-1992)

Denholm Elliott was a much-loved character actor who specialized in playing slightly sleazy or slightly eccentric and often flawed upper middle class English gentlemen. His career spanned nearly 40 years, becoming a well-known face both in Britain and in the States. After being educated at the private school Malvern College, he entered RADA at the age of 17, but dropped out after a year, having hated every minute being there. He joined the RAF in 1940, trained as a gunner/radio operator, and was shot down over Germany in 1942. In the POW camp he and his fellow prisoners staged various productions in a theatre constructed out of old packing cases.

After the war he joined a London repertory company, and his career took off particularly when Laurence Olivier chose him for the starring role in Venus Observed, for which he won a Clarence Derwent award. When another Olivier production, Ring Around the Moon, transferred to New York, Elliott replaced Paul Scofield in what became a Broadway hit. Returning to Britain, he was signed to a film contract and appeared in such movies as La mer cruelle (1953) and Le mur du son (1952). In the 1960s he appeared in Un Caïd (1965) and Alfie le dragueur (1966) among others, in addition to appearing on television and making countrywide theatre tours. He won an Evening Standard Best Actor award for Nicolas Roeg's film Enquête sur une passion (1980). He won a BAFTA Best Supporting Actor Award for his role as the butler in Un fauteuil pour deux (1983) and followed it with awards for his roles in Porc royal (1984) and Raison d'état (1985), as well as receiving an Academy Award nomination for Chambre avec vue... (1985).