Name
Michael Lonsdale
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1931-05-24
Deathday
2020-09-21 (89 years old)
Place of Birth
Paris, France
Biography
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.
Known For
7.498
14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a confe...
7.524
An international assassin known as ‘The Jackal’ is employed by disgruntled French gene...
7.357
In interwar Britain, a rule-bound head butler's world of manners and decorum in the househ...
7
This loosely plotted coming-of-age tale follows the life of 15-year-old Laurent Chevalier ...
7.2
Near the end of World War II, General Dietrich von Choltitz receives orders to burn down P...
- 1986 The Name of the Rose as The Abbot
- 1968 Stolen Kisses as Georges Tabard
- 2005 Munich as Papa
- 1979 Moonraker as Hugo Drax
- 1990 Film sur Georges Perec as Self
- 2008 Les amants cinéma as Self
- 1969 Hibernatus as Edouard Loriebat
- 2007 The Last Mistress as le vicomte Prony
- 1980 Jean-Sans-Terre as Jean Papeuil
- 1968 The Bride Wore Black as Morane
- 1982 Enigma as Bodley
- 1991 My Life Is Hell as Gabriel
- 1971 Law Breakers as Inspector Bertrand
- 1960 The Door Slams as Georges
- 1973 The Day of the Jackal as Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel
- 1972 The Old Maid as Monod
- 2004 Five Times Two as Bernard
- 1974 The Phantom of Liberty as Hatter
- 1956 It Happened in Aden as Sinclair
- 1998 Ronin as Jean-Pierre
- 1974 Right to the city as Narrator
- 1976 La nuit du beau marin peut-être? as Boris
- 2009 Agora as Theon
- 1995 Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud as Dollabella
- 1974 The Suspects as Judge Souftries
- 2007 Go West: A Lucky Luke Adventure as Bartleby (voice)
- 1981 The Bunker as Martin Bormann
- 1975 The Romantic Englishwoman as Swan
- 1971 Murmur of the Heart as Father Henri
- 2005 The Perfume of the Lady in Black as Professor Stangerson
- 2007 Heartbeat Detector as Mathias Jüst
- 1974 Stavisky... as Docteur Mézy
- 2011 Titeuf as Le psy (voice)
- 1984 Good King Dagobert as Saint Eloi
- 1975 Aloïse as le médecin
- 1974 No Pockets in a Shroud as Raymond
- 2004 Under a False Name as David
- 2010 Of Gods and Men as Luc
- 2005 Invisible as Le gardien
- 1969 Destroy, She Said as Stein
- 1976 Son nom de Venise dans Calcutta désert as The Vice Consul of Lahore
- 2000 Actors as Man walking down the street
- 1993 Woyzeck as Le capitaine
- 2003 Le Furet as Don Salvadore
- 1979 The Passage as Renoudot
- 1960 Les Trois Sœurs as Andreï Prodarov
- 1970 Un troisième as Le réalisateur
- 1972 There Once Was a Cop as Commissioner Lucas
- 1962 Adorable Liar as Albert
- 2006 Jeanne, Ã petits pas as Louis
- 1975 The Track as David Sutter
- 1965 The Buddies as Lamendin
- 2011 Free Men as Si Kaddour Ben Ghabrit
- 1990 Out 1 as Thomas
- 1974 Successive Slidings of Pleasure as The Judge
- 1975 India Song as Le Vice-Consul de Lahore
- 2000 Delphine Seyrig, portrait d'une comète as Self
- 1968 The Man in the Buick as L'inspecteur Farjon de la P.J.
- 1976 Mr. Klein as Pierre
- 2005 Gentille as Jean
- 2011 The Cardboard Village as Old Priest
- 1975 Special Section as Pierre Pucheu - le ministre de l'intérieur
- 1975 The Pink Telephone as M. Morrison, président de la Fielding
- 1966 Your Money or Your Life as Speaker at the Shy People's Club
- 1962 Snobs! as Charles Dufaut
- 1972 Les Années Lumière as Narrator (voice)
- 2012 Gebo and the Shadow as Gebo
- 1970 Le revolver et la rose as Philippe de la Tour / Dimitri Korkesky
- 1969 The Nail Clippers as Le mari
- 1976 Cygne II as Narrator (voice)
- 2004 Adieu as Serge
- 1975 Galileo as Cardinal Barberini (later Pope Urban VIII)
- 2013 Le Renard jaune as Jean Virno
- 1981 The Games of Countess Dolingen as Bertrand Haines-Pearson
- 1997 Mauvais Genre as Honoré de Balzac
- 1965 Hail! Mafia as Hyman
- 1982 Sweet Inquest on Violence as Ash, the financier
- 1971 Spring as L'homme qui fuit
- 1964 Le Petit Nicolas as The father
- 1964 The Little Misses as L'elève
- 1962 Crime Does Not Pay as Acteur
- 1994 Dieu sait quoi as Narrator
- 2003 Kaena: The Prophecy as Opaz (voice)
- 1973 The Girl with the Cello as Philippe Lariel
- 1998 Let There Be Light! as Monseigneur Loublié
- 1983 Erendira as Senator Onésimo Sanchez
- 1968 The Big Wash as Delaroche
- 1998 Don Juan as Don Luis
- 2003 The Mystery of the Yellow Room as Stangerson
- 1977 A Dirty Story as The voyeur
- 1974 Caravan to Vaccarès as Duc de Croyter
- 2014 Maestro as Cedric Rovère
- 1987 Der Madonna-Mann as Tanzmann
- 2014 N: The Madness Of Reason as Narrator
- 2023 The Outsider as Narrator (Voice)
- 1993 The Remains of the Day as Dupont D'Ivry
- 1974 Film sur Hans Bellmer as Narrator
- 1995 Jefferson in Paris as Louis XVI
- 1984 The Judge as Le docteur
- 2016 Jean-Marie Serreau, découvreur de théâtres as Self
- 1977 The Accuser as Abéraud
- 1973 Les grands sentiments font les bons gueuletons as Stéphane
- 2001 Those Facing Us as Mikaël
- 1960 The Itchy Palm as Nobert
- 1983 Chronopolis as Narrator (voice)
- 1974 La Grande Paulette as Paul
- 2006 Goya's Ghosts as Inquisitor General
- 1997 Jean Eustache's Wasted Breath as (voice)
- 1982 Trompe-l'oeil as Self (voice)
- 1977 The Devil in the Box as Georges Aubert
- 1976 Scrambled Eggs as The President of the Republic
- 1985 The Holcroft Covenant as Ernst Manfredi
- 1969 Winter as Julien & Marc
- 1976 Bartleby as L'Huissier
- 1979 Ève avait l'éclat métallique de l'été
- 1989 Souvenir as Xavier Lorion
- 2016 The First, the Last as Jean-Berchmans
- 2016 Les Filles au Moyen-Âge as Daniel
- 1973 Out 1: Spectre as Thomas
- 1981 Alone as Ludovic
- 1971 Papa, the Lil' Boats as Hippolyte the brother of Marylène
- 2005 Bye Bye Blackbird as Robert
- 1978 The Left-Handed Woman as The Waiter
- 1972 Autumn as Julien, le réalisateur
- 1978 The Risk of Living as narrator
- 1965 The Ghostly Rental as Kernan
- 1988 The Tribulations of Balthazar Kober as Cammerschulze
- 1966 Is Paris Burning? as Debu-Bridel (uncredited)
- 1985 The Insomniac on the Bridge as Antonie
- 1974 The Truth About the Imaginary Passion of an Unknown as Le reporter TV / Ponce Pilate
- 1989 Cela s'appelle l'amour as Self
- 1997 Noise of Love and War as The director
- 1971 Jaune, Le Soleil as Un juif
- 1996 La Plante Humaine as Michel
- 1986 L'air d'aimer as Raymond
- 1972 Chut ! as Sergel
- 2014 J.R.R. Tolkien: Designer of Worlds as (voice)
- 1968 Concerto for an Exile as Un acteur au théâtre
- 2011 Hitler in Hollywood as Michael Lonsdale
- 1967 The Authentic Trial of Carl Emmanuel Jung as L'Avocat de la Défense
- 2017 Bazin's Film as Narrator
- 2009 You'll Miss Me as Max
- 1964 Jaloux comme un tigre as The grimacing motorist
- 1975 Mad Enough to Kill as Stephane Mostri
- 1975 Né as Self
- 1962 The Trial as Priest
- 1993 L'ordre du jour as Stark
- 2007 To Each His Own Cinema as The old blind man (segment "Le Don")
- 1984 The Colour of Words as Self
- 2011 Veilleurs dans la nuit - Une journée monastique à l'Abbaye Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux as Narrateur
- 1962 The Immoral Moment as Mercier
- 1975 A Whale That Had a Toothache as Le peintre
- 1989 Earthen Man as (voice)
- 1995 Vroum-vroum
- 2014 Rosenn as (voice)
- 1967 Judoka-Secret Agent as Thomas Perkins
- 1967 Order of the Daisy as Lastac / Lataque, expert en écritures / Le juge (voice)
- 1958 A Bullet in the Gun Barrel
- 1975 Serious as Pleasure as Inspecteur Fournier
- 1966 Comédie as L'homme (M)
- 2020 Le Fantôme de Laurent Terzieff as Self
- 1970 The Stud as Commissioner Donald Both
- 2000 Is Dead - Portrait incomplet de Gertrude Stein as Narrator (voice)
- 2019 Degas and I as Edgar Degas
- 2000 Inside 'Moonraker' as Self
- 2016 The Mysteries of Paris: Jacques Rivette's Out 1 Revisited as Self
- 1986 The Abbey of Crime: Umberto Eco's 'The Name of the Rose' as Self
- 1999 A Monkey's Tale as Maître Flavius (Voice)
- 2019 Salvador DalÃ: Génie tragi-comique as Narrator
- 1986 Rendez-vous manqués as Moralès
- 1981 Un paquebot dans la tête as Roland Gougean-Roland
- 2015 The Visit as Self
- 1983 Une jeunesse as Béjardy
- 1970 La Fenêtre as Bracquemont
- 1982 Mersonne ne m'aime as Commissioner Bancau
- 2006 Les Mains d'Andréa
- 2005 The Separation as Paul Doumer
- 2000 Speaking of Buñuel as Self
- 1983 The Boulugres as Le roi (voice)
- 1985 Billy Ze Kick as Commissaire Bellanger
- 1976 Les Écrans déchirés as Michael
- 2016 Sculpt
- 2024 African Glory as Christopher Columbus
- 2002 Le Mythe Cathare as Narrator
- 1962 Le bureau des mariages
- 1977 Aurais dû faire gaffe... le choc est terrible
- 1982 Le rose et le blanc as Léon
- 1964 Behold a Pale Horse as Reporter
- 1983 La Rényon lontan as Narrator (voice)
- 2025 The Life of Mirrors
- 1968 Zoo Story as Peter
- 1986 Emile Reynaud as Narrator
- 1986 The Memory of the Eye E.J. Marey as Narrator
- 2022 An Oral History of: The Name of the Rose as Self (archive footage)
- 2008 The Man from London as Kocsmáros (voice)
- 2021 So Long Michael as Himself
- 1985 Le Génie du faux ( 4 episodes ) as Constantin Escher
- 1991 Maigret ( 1 episode ) as Guillaume Serre
- 1971 Out 1 ( 8 episodes ) as Thomas
- 1986 Le Tiroir secret ( 1 episode ) as Philippe Jolivet
- 1972 Le Grand Échiquier ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2008 Le Silence de l'épervier ( 8 episodes ) as Antoine Carsac
- 1971 Samedi soir ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1975 Les Rendez-vous du dimanche ( 3 episodes ) as Self
- 2009 Au siècle de Maupassant, contes et nouvelles du XIXe ( 1 episode ) as Le Grand Loustalot
- 1974 La Confession d'un enfant du siècle ( 1 episode ) as Smith
- 1970 Les Cent Livres des Hommes ( 1 episode ) as Socrates
- 1991 Maigret ( 1 episode ) as Sir Lampson
- 1982 Smiley's People ( 2 episodes ) as Anton Grigoriev
- 1978 Ciné regards ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 1974 Malaventure ( 6 episodes ) as Georges Mortier
- 1990 Un cane sciolto ( 2 episodes ) as Procuratore
