| 1 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/donald_pleasence.jpg]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:300:''"As far as being idolized by teens, I don't know. It\ |
| 3 | must be some sort of [[DaddysGirl father fixation]]. Or maybe\ |
| 4 | they think I'm just pretty."'']] |
| 5 | |
| 6 | ->''"I am not one of those actors who believes he has to live the part he is playing. I can turn it on and off."'' |
| 7 | |
| 8 | Donald Henry Pleasence [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever OBE]] (5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor, credited with more than 200 movie and television appearances during a career which spanned over four decades. He is the all-time champion in the category BaldOfEvil. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Pleasence was often typecast as villainous and/or psychopathic characters, and he played an iconic version of [[Characters/JamesBondBlofeld Ernst Stavro Blofeld]] in the ''Film/JamesBond'' film series. His portrayal of Dr. Samuel Loomis in the ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' series changed his on-screen image to a more heroic (if still sometimes [[GoodIsNotNice ruthless]] and [[CreepyGood creepy]]) one. |
| 11 | ---- |
| 12 | !!His filmography includes: |
| 13 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 14 | |
| 15 | [[folder:Film roles]] |
| 16 | * ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'' (1958) as John Barsad |
| 17 | * ''Film/LookBackInAnger'' (1959) as Hurst |
| 18 | * ''Film/CircusOfHorrors'' (1960) as Vanet |
| 19 | * ''Film/TheFleshAndTheFiends'' (1960) as William Hare |
| 20 | * ''Film/SonsAndLovers'' (1960) as Pappleworth |
| 21 | * ''Film/WhatACarveUp'' (1961) as Everett Sloane |
| 22 | * ''Film/TheGreatEscape'' (1963) as Colin Blythe, "The Forger" |
| 23 | * ''[[Film/CulDeSac1966 Cul-de-sac]]'' (1966) as George |
| 24 | * ''Film/FantasticVoyage'' (1966) as Dr. Michaels |
| 25 | * ''Film/TheHallelujahTrail'' (1965) as Oracle Jones |
| 26 | * ''Film/TheGreatestStoryEverTold'' (1965) as {{Satan}} |
| 27 | * ''Film/EyeOfTheDevil'' (1967) as Pere Dominic |
| 28 | * ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'' (1967) as Ernst Stavro Blofeld |
| 29 | * ''Film/TheNightOfTheGenerals'' (1967) as General Klaus Kahlenberge |
| 30 | * ''Theatre/TheMadwomanOfChaillot'' (1969) as The Prospector |
| 31 | * ''Film/SoldierBlue'' (1970) as Isaac Q. Cumber |
| 32 | * ''Film/WakeInFright'' (1971) as Clarence "Doc" Tydon |
| 33 | * ''Film/THX1138'' (1971) as SEN |
| 34 | * ''Film/DeathLine'' (1972) as Inspector Calhoun |
| 35 | * The [[ScareEmStraight scary]] PSA ''[[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/films/1964to1979/filmpage_lonely.htm Lonely Waters]]'' (1973), as the Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water |
| 36 | * ''[[Film/DrJekyllAndMrHyde1973 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]'' (1973) as Fred Smudge |
| 37 | * ''Film/TheFreakmaker'' (1974) as Professor Noller |
| 38 | * ''Film/FromBeyondTheGrave'' (1974) as Jim Underwood |
| 39 | * ''Film/WatchOutWereMad'' (1974) as The Doctor |
| 40 | * ''Film/EscapeToWitchMountain'' (1975) as Lucas Deranian |
| 41 | * ''Film/TheEagleHasLanded'' (1976) as UsefulNotes/HeinrichHimmler |
| 42 | * ''Film/OhGod'' (1977) as Dr. Harmon |
| 43 | * ''Film/{{Telefon}}'' (1977) as Nikolai Dalchimsky |
| 44 | * ''Film/TheUncanny'' (1977) as Valentine De'ath |
| 45 | * The ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' series (1978–95) as [[Characters/HalloweenSamuelLoomis Dr. Samuel Loomis]] |
| 46 | ** ''Film/{{Halloween|1978}}'' (1978) |
| 47 | ** ''Film/{{Halloween II|1981}}'' (1981) |
| 48 | ** ''Film/Halloween4TheReturnOfMichaelMyers'' (1988) |
| 49 | ** ''Film/Halloween5TheRevengeOfMichaelMyers'' (1989) |
| 50 | ** ''Film/HalloweenTheCurseOfMichaelMyers'' (1995) |
| 51 | * ''[[Film/{{Dracula 1979}} Dracula]]'' (1979) as Dr. Seward |
| 52 | * ''Film/ThePumaman'' (1980) as Kobras |
| 53 | * ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork'' (1981) as the President |
| 54 | * ''Film/{{Alone in the Dark|1982}}'' (1982) as Dr. Bain |
| 55 | * ''Film/WarriorOfTheLostWorld'' (1983) as Prossor |
| 56 | * ''Film/{{Phenomena}}'' (1985) as Prof. [=McGregor=] |
| 57 | * ''Film/PrinceOfDarkness'' (1987) as the Priest |
| 58 | * ''Film/ShadowsAndFog'' (1992) as the Doctor |
| 59 | * ''Film/TheHourOfThePig'' (1993) as the public prosecutor Pincheon |
| 60 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheThiefAndTheCobbler'' (1995) as Phido the Vulture. (The version titled ''Arabian Knight'' replaced him with Creator/EricBogosian. His voice is still present as the few lines not done by Creator/JonathanWinters as the Thief.) |
| 61 | [[/folder]] |
| 62 | |
| 63 | [[folder:Television roles]] |
| 64 | * ''Series/TheAdventuresOfRobinHood'' (6 episodes, 1956–58) as Prince John |
| 65 | * ''Series/DangerMan'' (2 episodes, 1960–61) as Capt. Aldrich / Nikolides |
| 66 | * ''Series/{{One Step Beyond|1959}}'' (1 episode, 1961) as Harvey Laurence |
| 67 | * ''Series/WaltDisneyPresents'' (2 episodes, 1961) as Capt. Pinski |
| 68 | * ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1959}}'' ([[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S3E37TheChangingOfTheGuard 1 episode]], 1962) as Prof. Ellis Fowler |
| 69 | * ''Series/{{The Outer Limits|1963}}'' ([[Recap/TheOuterLimits1963S1E4TheManWithThePower 1 episode]], 1963) as Harold J. Finley |
| 70 | * ''Series/{{The Defenders|1961}}'' (1 episode, 1965) as Dr. Byron Saul |
| 71 | * ''Series/TheFugitive'' (1 episode, 1966) as Max Pfeiffer |
| 72 | * ''Series/PlayForToday'' (3 episodes, 1971–83) as Tom / Gerry Muddiman / Samuel Johnson |
| 73 | * ''Series/TheRivalsOfSherlockHolmes'' (1 episode, 1971) as [[Literature/CarnackiTheGhostFinder Thomas Carnacki]] |
| 74 | * ''Series/HawaiiFiveO'' (1 episode, 1972) as Hans Vogler |
| 75 | * ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' ([[Recap/ColumboS03E02 1 episode]], 1973) as Adrian Carsini |
| 76 | * ''Series/JesusOfNazareth'' (1 episode, 1977) as Melchior |
| 77 | * ''Series/{{Centennial}}'' (1978–79) as Sam Purchas |
| 78 | * ''Series/MrsColumbo'' (1 episode, 1979) as Ian A. Morly |
| 79 | * ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' (1 episode, 1981) {{as Himself}} (host) |
| 80 | * ''Series/{{Lovejoy}}'' (1 episode, 1992) as Karl Redl |
| 81 | * ''Series/ScreenTwo'' (1 episode, 1993) as Victor Harty |
| 82 | [[/folder]] |
| 83 | |
| 84 | !!Tropes & Trivia about his works: |
| 85 | * BaldOfEvil: The TropeCodifier. |
| 86 | * CareerResurrection: ''Halloween'', to the point where he got a whole new career out of it. Before ''Halloween'', he was typecast as creepy, sadistic villains, always wanting to play a good guy. After playing the heroic, Van Helsing like Dr. Loomis, his career shot back to the top and ironically he found that from then all heroic roles were ALL people wanted to see him in, though he admitted he preferred it that way. |
| 87 | * CreepyBlueEyes[=/=]IcyBlueEyes |
| 88 | * IAmNotLeonardNimoy: Invoked in the ''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]'' [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S09E03ThePumaman treatment]] of ''Film/ThePumaman''; Mike and the Bots insist on referring to his character as "Donald Pleasence". This may have been partly to tease him for a role he openly admitted was an OldShame. |
| 89 | ** Two other Pleasence movies were riffed by the show (''Warriors of the Lost World'' and ''Circus of Horrors'', the latter on a live tour) with Rifftrax doing another two. |
| 90 | * MissingEpisode: The Halloween episode of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' which he hosted back in 1981 hasn't been seen on American TV since then, due to the musical guest's (a punk rock group named Music/{{Fear}}) raucous performance (which included [[RockersSmashGuitars guitar smashing]] and mosh pits) and the sketches containing humor that was considered dark and disgusting at the time. Creator/{{Netflix}} had the episode on its ''Saturday Night Live: The 1980s'' collection (which has all the episodes from seasons 6[[note]]the infamous Jean Doumanian-run season and the first season to be universally considered bad by fans[[/note]] to 15[[note]]One of the show's second GoldenAge episodes, which featured the first times that frequent hosts Creator/AlecBaldwin, Creator/JohnGoodman, and Creator/ChristopherWalken would appear on the show[[/note]]), albeit edited down to 27 minutes (meaning most of the sketches and the notorious musical performances by Fear have been cut). Sadly, it's not there anymore. |
| 91 | * MoneyDearBoy: |
| 92 | --> "There was a sort of horror picture that I did called ''The Mutations''.[[note]]Original title for ''Film/TheFreakmaker''[[/note]] I think I did that solely for the money. I have six daughters, and they can be quite expensive, so one has to keep working and be able to pay the bills." |
| 93 | * OldShame: It shouldn't be surprising Donald once declared ''Film/ThePumaman'' the worst movie he was ever part of. |
| 94 | * ShownTheirWork: The makers went to great lengths to accurately build a German POW camp for ''Film/TheGreatEscape''. Of course, it did help that several of the actors had been prisoners of war during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Pleasence, who had been in a German POW camp, made a few suggestions to John Sturges, who wasn't aware of that fact, and was told to keep his opinions to himself. However, when the director learned that Pleasence knew what he was talking about, he was asked for advice all the time. |
| 95 | * SmallRoleBigImpact: Pleasence only played Ernst Stavro Blofeld once in the ''Film/JamesBond'' series (in ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'', where he was a hurried replacement for the originally-cast actor and his face is only revealed in the last twenty minutes), which is surprising considering how definitive his take on the ultimate BigBad of the film series became. |
| 96 | * StockShoutOut: Just about every ''Film/JamesBond'' parody in any medium will base the villain on his version of Blofeld (perhaps most famously with [[Film/AustinPowers Dr. Evil]]). |
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