Mark Lester - wikipedia Mark Lester For the film director, see Mark L. Lester. Mark Lester Lester in 1977 Mark A. Letzer ( 1958 - 07 - 11 ) 11 July 1958 ( age 59 ) Oxford, England Occupation Actor Years active 1964 -- 1977, 2011 - present Spouse ( s ) Jane ( 1993 -- 2005, divorced ) Lisa ( 2006 -- 2012 ) Children Mark Lester ( born Mark A. Letzer ; 11 July 1958 ) is an English former child actor known for playing the title role in the 1968 musical film version of Oliver ! and starring in a number of other British and European films of the 1960s and 1970s and in a number of television series. Contents 1 Early life 2 Career as child actor 3 Adult life 4 Filmography 4.1 Film 4.2 Television 5 References 6 Bibliography 7 External links Early life Lester was born in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, in southern England, to actress Rita Keene Lester and actor and producer Michael Lester ( originally Michael Boris Letzer ). His father was Jewish and his mother Anglican. Lester was educated at three independent schools : at Corona Theatre School in Ravenscourt Park in West London, followed by Tower House School, a boys ' preparatory school near Richmond Park ( also in West London ), and at Halliford School in Shepperton in Surrey. Career as child actor Lester initially had supporting roles in several British television series, including The Human Jungle and Danger Man. In 1964, at the age of six, Lester was cast in Robert Dhéry 's film Allez France ! ( English title The Counterfeit Constable ) with Diana Dors ( who appeared in the 1948 film version of Oliver Twist ). He played a small part as the second schoolboy in Fahrenheit 451. In 1967, at the age of eight, Lester was cast in the title role in the film version of Lionel Bart 's musical Oliver !. The multiple Academy Award - winning adaptation of Charles Dickens ' novel co-starred Jack Wild, Ron Moody, Harry Secombe, Shani Wallis and Oliver Reed and was directed by Carol Reed. Since Lester could not sing, his singing was dubbed by Kathe Green, daughter of the film 's music arranger Johnny Green. Lester became good friends with Wild during production of the film and their friendship continued after production, with Lester describing Wild as a `` long lost brother ''. These two child actors later reunited for Melody ( 1971 ), which depicted British schoolchildren in love. Tracy Hyde played the role of Melody in the film, which used music from the Bee Gees and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. In 1969, Lester received critical acclaim for his portrayal of a dysfunctional and withdrawn only child in Run Wild, Run Free, starring opposite John Mills, and then as a disturbed child in the first regular episode of Then Came Bronson. Lester 's acting roles peaked as he starred in Eyewitness ( 1970 ), with Susan George, Night Hair Child with Britt Ekland, Whoever Slew Auntie Roo ?, with Shelley Winters, Melody and a film version of Black Beauty ( all 1971 ). After this period, his acting roles in the UK would begin to wane. He extended his range with roles in a series of films in Italy including Redneck ( 1972 ) with Telly Savalas and the Western Scalawag ( 1973 ) with Kirk Douglas. The final film of his Italian - based career was in the costume drama La Prima volta sull'erba ( English title The First Time on the Grass, 1974 ), which was nominated for the Golden Bear prize at the 25th Berlin International Film Festival. Lester wrapped up his film career with the lead role in the all - star film Crossed Swords a.k.a. The Prince and the Pauper ( 1977 ), starring Raquel Welch, Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison, George C. Scott, and Oliver Reed, who had played Bill Sikes in Oliver !. Adult life At the age of 18 Lester had access to some of the fortune he had earned from his films. He bought a Ferrari and a house in Belgravia and went to parties, nightclubs and restaurants, often paying for friends. He dabbled with drugs. After the poor reception of The Prince and the Pauper, Lester gave up acting at the age of 19 and took his A Levels. In his twenties he became a karate black belt, through this grew interested in sports injuries, and from there osteopathy. At the age of 28 and became an osteopath, studying at the British School of Osteopathy and in 1993, Lester opened the Carlton Clinic, an acupuncture clinic in Cheltenham. Lester has four children with his first wife, whom he married in January 1993 and divorced in 2005. In 2006, he married Lisa, a psychiatric nurse. He is a patron of the theatre charity The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America. Lester was a close friend of Michael Jackson and is godfather to Jackson 's three children. In August 2009, after Jackson 's death, Lester gave an interview to the British tabloid newspaper News of the World in which he claimed that he could be the biological father of Paris Katherine Jackson, the late singer 's daughter. Lester claimed to have been a sperm donor for Jackson in 1996, and announced that he was willing to take a paternity test to determine whether he was the father. Brian Oxman, former lawyer for the Jackson family, rejected the claim in a television interview, stating, `` The thing I always heard from Michael was that Michael was the father of these children, and I believe Michael. '' Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1964 The Counterfeit Constable Gérald a.k.a. Allez France 1965 Spaceflight IC - 1 : An Adventure in Space Don Saunders 1966 Fahrenheit 451 schoolboy ( uncredited ) 1967 Our Mother 's House Jiminee 1968 Oliver ! Oliver Twist 1969 Run Wild, Run Free Philip Ransome 1970 The Boy Who Stole the Elephant Davey TV movie 1970 Eyewitness Ziggy 1971 Melody ( released as S.W.A.L.K. ) Daniel Latimer 1971 Black Beauty Joe Evans 1971 Whoever Slew Auntie Roo ? Christopher Coombs 1972 Night Hair Child Marcus 1973 Redneck Lennox Duncan 1973 Little Adventurer Mike Richard 1973 Scalawag Jamie The First Time on the Grass Franz Schmidt a.k.a. La prima volta sull'erba 1977 The Prince and the Pauper Prince Edward / Tom Canty a.k.a. Crossed Swords Television Year Title Role Notes 1964 The Human Jungle Small boy TV series ( 1 episode The Twenty - Four Hour Man ) 1966 Danger Man A boy TV series ( 1 episode Someone is Liable to Get Hurt ) 1966 Court Martial Paolo Stevens TV series ( 1 episode Retreat from Life ) 1969 Then Came Bronson John Beaman TV series ( 1 episode The Runner ) 1969 The Ghost & Mrs. Muir Mark Helmore TV series ( 2 episodes Puppy Love and Spirit of the Law ) 1970 Disneyland Davey ( film in two parts ) References Jump up ^ `` Mark Lester ''. bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 19 October 2017. Jump up ^ McNeill, Ruby Simonson ( 1982 ). `` Cain Connections ''. Spokane, Washington. ISSN 0899 - 1375. Jump up ^ `` Oliver ! ( 1968 ) ''. British Film Institute. Retrieved 1 March 2017. Jump up ^ `` Oliver Twist 's voice dubbed by girl : report ''. ABC News. 19 December 2004. Retrieved 1 March 2017. ^ Jump up to : `` Long after the stardom, another twist : Mark Lester was the child star ''. independent.co.uk. 30 August 1993. Retrieved 19 October 2017. Jump up ^ `` Carlton Clinic ''. Carlton Clinic. Retrieved 3 November 2012. Jump up ^ `` Star Report : Beatles fans swarm Abbey Road on album anniversary ''. 8 August 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2017. Jump up ^ `` Jackson friend claims paternity ''. BBC News. 10 August 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2009. Jump up ^ `` Michael Jackson lawyer rejects Mark Lester claims he is Paris ' father ''. The Daily Telegraph. London. 10 August 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009. Bibliography Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy : An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995. Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, pp. 323 -- 324. Dye, David. Child and Youth Actors : Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914 - 1985. Jefferson, NC : McFarland & Co., 1988, pp. 130 -- 131. External links Mark Lester on IMDb VIAF : 61435716 LCCN : nr95021020 ISNI : 0000 0000 7823 7041 SUDOC : 152704469 BNF : cb139879646 ( data ) MusicBrainz : 8fdd23a5 - c12b - 481b - a186 - 00d36f4a0646 BNE : XX1196675 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mark_Lester&oldid=821776898 '' Categories : 1958 births English male child actors English male film actors Living people Osteopaths People from Oxford People educated at Tower House School English male television actors 20th - century English male actors Hidden categories : Use British English from February 2014 Articles with hCards Use dmy dates from February 2014 Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia تۆرکجه Català Deutsch Español فارسی Français 한국어 Italiano 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Русский Suomi Svenska Edit links This page was last edited on 22 January 2018, at 15 : 44. 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Question: who played oliver in the original oliver twist
Answer: Mark Lester