Oliver Reed

Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his notable films include '' The Trap'' (1966), playing Bill Sikes in the 1968 Best Picture Oscar winner ''Oliver!'' (a film directed by his uncle Carol Reed), ''Women in Love'' (1969), '' Hannibal Brooks'' (1969), '' The Devils'' (1971), ''Revolver'' (1973), portraying Athos in ''The Three Musketeers'' (1973) and '' The Four Musketeers'' (1974); the lover and stepfather in ''Tommy'' (1975), ''The Brood'' (1979), ''Lion of the Desert'' (1981), ''Castaway'' (1986), ''The Adventures of Baron Munchausen'' (1988), ''Funny Bones'' (1995) and ''Gladiator'' (2000).

For playing Antonius Proximo, the old, gruff gladiator trainer in Ridley Scott's ''Gladiator'', in what was his final film, Reed was posthumously nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 2000. At the peak of his career, in 1971, British exhibitors voted Reed fifth most popular star at the box office. The British Film Institute (BFI) stated that "partnerships with Michael Winner and Ken Russell in the mid-60s saw Reed become an emblematic Brit-flick icon", but from the mid-1970s his alcoholism began affecting his career, with the BFI adding "Reed had assumed Robert Newton's mantle as Britain's thirstiest thespian".

Early life

Robert Oliver Reed was born on 13 February 1938 at 9 Durrington Park Road, Wimbledon, southwest London, to Peter Reed, a sports journalist, and Marcia (née Napier-Andrews). He was the nephew of film director Sir Carol Reed, and grandson of the actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and his mistress, Beatrice May Pinney (who later assumed the name 'Reed'), she being "the only person who understood, listened to, encouraged and kissed Oliver". Reed claimed to have been a descendant (through an illegitimate step) of Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia. Reed attended 14 schools, including Ewell Castle School in Surrey. "My father thought I was just lazy," Reed later said. "He thought I was a dunce."

Reed claimed he had worked as a boxer, a bouncer, a taxi driver and a hospital porter. He then did his compulsory army service in the Royal Army Medical Corps. "The army helped," he said later. "I recognized that most other people were actors as well. I was in the peacetime army and they were all telling us youngsters about the war."

Career

Early years

Reed began his acting career as an extra in films. He appeared uncredited in Ken Annakin's film ''Value for Money'' (1955) and Norman Wisdom's film ''The Square Peg'' (1958). Uncredited television appearances included episodes of ''The Invisible Man'' (1958), '' The Four Just Men'' (1959) and ''The Third Man''. He appeared in the documentary '' Hello London'' (1958).

Reed's first break was playing Richard of Gloucester in a six-part BBC
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