Michael Lonsdale

Michael Lonsdale (89)

1931-05-24 - 2020-09-21 | Paris, France

Michael Edward Lonsdale Crouch (24 May 1931 – 21 September 2020), commonly known as Michael Lonsdale and sometimes as Michel Lonsdale, was a French-British actor and author who appeared in over 180 films and television shows. He is often known in the English-speaking world for his roles as the villain Hugo Drax in the 1979 James Bond film Moonraker, deputy police commissioner Claude Lebel in The Day of the Jackal (1973), The Abbot in The Name of the Rose (1986) and Dupont d'Ivry in The Remains of the Day (1993). Lonsdale was born in Paris, the natural son of British Army officer Edward Lonsdale Crouch and Simone Calderon (née Béraud). He was brought up initially on the island of Jersey, then in London from 1935, and later, during the Second World War, in Casablanca, Morocco. He returned to Paris to study painting in 1947, but was drawn into the world of acting instead, first appearing on stage at the age of 24. Lonsdale was bilingual, and appeared in both English-language and French-language productions. He appeared in a starring role with Roger Moore in the 1979 James Bond film Moonraker. and with Sean Connery, in the 1986 film The Name of the Rose. He would later appear in Munich (2005), a film that also starred another Bond, Daniel Craig. In February 2011, he won a César Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Of Gods and Men. Lonsdale was also the author of ten books. A practising Roman Catholic, he was close to the Emmanuel Community. In his 2016 memoir Le Dictionnaire de Ma Vie, Lonsdale revealed he had fallen for Delphine Seyrig, having met her as a student in Tania Balachova's acting classes at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in 1947. He wrote that "it was her or nothing", which was why he never married. Lonsdale died in Paris on 21 September 2020, aged 89. Description above from the Wikipedia article Michael Lonsdale, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

On Movies

  • The Outsider
  • Degas and I
  • Sculpt
  • The First, the Last
  • Les Filles au Moyen-Âge
  • Maestro
  • Rosenn
  • Le Renard jaune
  • Gebo and the Shadow
  • The Cardboard Village
  • Free Men
  • Hitler in Hollywood
  • Titeuf
  • Of Gods and Men
  • You'll Miss Me
  • Agora
  • To Each His Own Cinema
  • Heartbeat Detector
  • Go West: A Lucky Luke Adventure
  • The Last Mistress
  • Les Mains d'Andréa
  • Goya's Ghosts
  • Jeanne, à petits pas
  • Munich
  • Gentille
  • The Separation
  • Bye Bye Blackbird
  • The Perfume of the Lady in Black
  • Invisible
  • Under a False Name
  • Adieu
  • Five Times Two
  • Le Furet
  • The Mystery of the Yellow Room
  • Kaena: The Prophecy
  • Those Facing Us
  • Actors
  • A Monkey's Tale
  • Ronin
  • Let There Be Light!
  • Don Juan
  • Mauvais Genre
  • Noise of Love and War
  • Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud
  • Jefferson in Paris
  • Vroum-vroum
  • The Remains of the Day
  • Woyzeck
  • My Life Is Hell
  • Out 1
  • Souvenir
  • The Tribulations of Balthazar Kober
  • Der Madonna-Mann
  • The Name of the Rose
  • Rendez-vous manqués
  • Billy Ze Kick
  • The Holcroft Covenant
  • Good King Dagobert
  • The Judge
  • Chronopolis
  • Erendira
  • The Boulugres
  • Enigma
  • Mersonne ne m'aime
  • Sweet Inquest on Violence
  • Alone
  • The Games of Countess Dolingen
  • The Bunker
  • Moonraker
  • The Passage
  • The Left-Handed Woman
  • The Accuser
  • The Devil in the Box
  • Bartleby
  • Mr. Klein
  • Cygne II
  • Son nom de Venise dans Calcutta désert
  • Scrambled Eggs
  • La nuit du beau marin peut-être?
  • The Pink Telephone
  • Mad Enough to Kill
  • The Romantic Englishwoman
  • India Song
  • The Track
  • Special Section
  • A Whale That Had a Toothache
  • Aloïse
  • Galileo
  • Serious as Pleasure
  • The Suspects
  • No Pockets in a Shroud
  • The Phantom of Liberty
  • Caravan to Vaccarès
  • The Truth About the Imaginary Passion of an Unknown
  • Stavisky...
  • La grande Paulette
  • Successive Slidings of Pleasure
  • Les grands sentiments font les bons gueuletons
  • The Girl with the Cello
  • Out 1: Spectre
  • The Day of the Jackal
  • Autumn
  • Chut !
  • There Once Was a Cop
  • The Old Maid
  • Spring
  • Law Breakers
  • Murmur of the Heart
  • Papa, the Lil' Boats
  • Jaune, Le Soleil
  • The Stud
  • Winter
  • Destroy, She Said
  • Hibernatus
  • The Nail Clippers
  • The Big Wash
  • Stolen Kisses
  • The Bride Wore Black
  • The Man in the Buick
  • Zoo Story
  • Concerto for an Exile
  • The Authentic Trial of Carl Emmanuel Jung
  • Judoka-Secret Agent
  • Order of the Daisy
  • Is Paris Burning?
  • Your Money or Your Life
  • Comédie
  • Hail! Mafia
  • The Ghostly Rental
  • The Buddies
  • Behold a Pale Horse
  • The Little Misses
  • Jaloux comme un tigre
  • Le petit Nicolas
  • Snobs!
  • The Trial
  • The Immoral Moment
  • Crime Does Not Pay
  • Adorable Liar
  • The Door Slams
  • The Itchy Palm
  • Les Trois Sœurs
  • A Bullet in the Gun Barrel
  • It Happened in Aden

NextFilm 2025