# Donald Pleasence

Donald Henry Pleasence (/ˈplɛzəns/; 5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor. He began his career on stage in the West End before having a screen career, which included starring in a 1954 BBC adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, before playing numerous supporting and character roles in films including RAF Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe in The Great Escape (1963), the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967), SEN 5241 in THX 1138 (1971), and the deranged Clarence "Doc" Tydon in Wake in Fright (1971).
Pleasence starred as psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis in Halloween (1978) and four of its sequels, a role for which he was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actor. The series' popularity and critical success led to a resurgent career for Pleasence, who appeared in numerous American and European-produced horror and thriller films. He collaborated with Halloween director John Carpenter twice more, as the President of the United States in Escape from New York (1981) and as the Priest in Prince of Darkness (1987).

## Early life

Pleasence was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, the son of Alice (née Armitage) and Thomas Stanley Pleasence, a railway station master. His grandfather was a railwayman, who lived at Portland Place in Worksop, where Donald developed an interest in cricket.
He received his formal education at Crosby Junior School, known as Doncaster Road School, in Scunthorpe. He lived at 111 Frodingham Road for nine years. Aged seven he took part in his first play, in Scunthorpe called Passers By.
He was brought up as a strict Methodist in the small village of Grimoldby, Lincolnshire, from the age of nine. With his older brother Ralph, both went to Eastfield Road school in Louth. He was in the local Scouts, the 4th United Methodist in Louth. He produced the school Christmas concert, in Louth, in his early teens.
His father was the stationmaster at Grimoldby railway station for five years, on the Mablethorpe loop railway. His parents were in the temperance society, as they were Methodists, and his mother was in the Grimoldby and Manby WI.
By early 1934 he had moved from Lincolnshire, where his father had been the LNER stationmaster from around early 1929. His father was the stationmaster at Ecclesfield. His father would die aged 77 in around 1965, after moving to Teddington in the late 1950s.
He found his way into grammar school, at Ecclesfield Grammar School in Sheffield, which he said changed his life. Mr Clay was head of English, and with the headmaster, encouraged him, saying 'I owe virtually everything to them'. He developed his acting in Mr Clay's 'Wednesday Club' drama society. He has said that he was good at English but 'not much else'. Donald's father asked the headmaster to persuade his son to not choose to be an actor. A class friend Sam Hemingfield, would become a teacher, and later head of the sixth form at Ecclesfield School. Another friend was John Bertram, who would become a teacher, and head of English at Bradfield School.
For eighteen months he worked as a booking clerk at Swinton railway station, with LNER and decided that he wanted to be a professional actor, taking up a placement with the Jersey Repertory Company in 1939. His first professional play at the Playhouse, in Jersey in July 1939 was as assistant stage manager with the Kent-Naismith Rep Company, where he played Hareton Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights.
Until 1941, he worked in rep. Until leaving rep, he had a rebellious nature, and often upset theater directors and managers, leading to him being dismissed.

## Second World War

In December 1939, Pleasence initially refused conscription into the British Armed Forces, registering as a conscientious objector, but changed his stance in autumn 1940, after the attacks upon London by the Luftwaffe, and volunteered with the Royal Air Force. He served as aircraft wireless-operator with No. 166 Squadron in Bomber Command, with which he flew almost sixty raids against the Axis Powers over occupied Europe.
On 31 August 1944, his Lancaster NE112 was shot down during an attack on Agenville, France, and he was captured and imprisoned in the German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft I. Pleasence produced and acted in many plays for the entertainment of his fellow captives.
After the war and his release, he was discharged from the RAF in 1946.

## Acting career

Returning to acting after the war, Pleasence resumed working in repertory theatre companies in Birmingham and Bristol.
His first production was The Brothers Karamazov, where he played the interrogator Mavriky, when one of the actors was ill at the Lyric Theatre (Hammersmith). It was his first 'unpleasant' acting role. He joined Birmingham Rep, where stayed for two years, then the Bristol Old Vic. He toured the US in 1950.
In the 1950s, Pleasence's stage work included performing as Willie Mossop in a 1952 production of Hobson's Choice at the Arts Theatre, London and as Dauphin in Jean Anouilh's The Lark (1956). In 1960, Pleasence gained excellent notices as the tramp in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker at the Arts Theatre, a role he would again play in a 1990 revival. Other stage work in the 1960s included Anouilh's Poor Bitos (1963–64) and Robert Shaw's The Man in the Glass Booth (1967), for which he won the London Variety Award for Stage Actor of the Year in 1968. Pleasence's later stage work included performing in a double bill of Pinter plays, The Basement and Tea Party, at the Duchess Theatre in 1970.

### Television

Pleasence made his television debut in I Want to Be a Doctor (1946). He received positive critical attention for his role as Syme in the BBC version of Nineteen Eighty-Four (1954) from the novel by George Orwell. The adaptation was by Nigel Kneale and featured Peter Cushing in the lead role of Winston Smith.
Pleasence played Prince John in several episodes of the ITV series The Adventures of Robin Hood (1956–1958). He appeared twice with Patrick McGoohan in the British spy series, Danger Man, in episodes "Position of Trust" (1960) and "Find and Return" (1961). Pleasence's first appearance in America was in an episode of The Twilight Zone, playing an aging teacher at a boys' school in the episode "The Changing of the Guard" (1962). In 1963, he appeared in an episode of The Outer Limits titled "The Man with the Power". In 1966, he also guest starred in an episode of The Fugitive entitled "With Strings Attached".
In 1973, Pleasence played a sympathetic murderer in an episode of Columbo entitled "Any Old Port in a Storm". Also that year, he played a supporting role in David Winters' musical television adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
He also portrayed a murderer captured by Mrs. Columbo in "Murder Is a Parlor Game" (1979). In 1978, he played a scout, Sam Purchas in an adaptation of James A. Michener's Centennial. Pleasence starred as the Reverend Septimus Harding in the BBC's TV series The Barchester Chronicles (1982). In this series, his daughter Angela Pleasence played his onscreen daughter Susan.
He hosted the 1981 Halloween episode of Saturday Night Live with music guest Fear.
In 1986, Pleasence joined Ronald Lacey and Polly Jo Pleasence for the television thriller Into the Darkness.
Pleasence and Michael Nader portrayed the villains in 1988's The Great Escape II: The Untold Story, which costar Christopher Reeve explained as not being a remake of the 1963 original film and being based on Paul Brickhill's non-fiction account The Great Escape. Noting his involvement in the original film, Joan Hanauer wrote that Pleasence had "graduated to an S.S. villain, and he is a marvel of soft-spoken, almost finicky evil."

### Film

Pleasence made his big-screen debut with The Beachcomber (1954). Some notable early roles include Parsons in 1984 (1956), and minor roles opposite Alec Guinness in Barnacle Bill (1957) and Dirk Bogarde in The Wind Cannot Read (1958). In Tony Richardson's film of Look Back in Anger (1959), he plays a vindictive market inspector opposite Richard Burton. In the same year, Pleasence starred in the horror films Circus of Horrors directed by Sidney Hayers, playing the role of Vanet, the owner of a circus, and The Flesh and the Fiends as the real-life murderer William Hare, alongside Peter Cushing, George Rose and Billie Whitelaw.
Endowed with a bald head, a penetrating stare, and an intense voice, usually quiet but capable of a piercing scream, he specialised in portraying insane, fanatical, or evil characters, including the title role in Dr Crippen (1962), the frontier prophet Oracle Jones in Hallelujah Trail, the double agent Dr Michaels in the science-fiction film Fantastic Voyage (1966), the white trader who sells guns to the Cheyenne Indians in the revisionist western Soldier Blue (1970), the mad German psychoanalyst with Bud Spencer–Terence Hill in Watch Out, We're Mad! (1974), Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler in The Eagle Has Landed (1976), and the Bond arch-villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in You Only Live Twice (1967), the first film in which Blofeld's face is clearly seen. His interpretation of the character has become predominant in popular culture considering the popularity of the comic villain, Dr. Evil in the successful Austin Powers film series, which primarily parodies it. In the crime drama Hell is a City (1960), shot in Manchester, he starred opposite Stanley Baker, while he was memorably cast in the horror comedy What a Carve Up! (1961) as the "horrible-looking zombie" solicitor opposite Shirley Eaton, Sid James, Kenneth Connor and Dennis Price.
He appeared as the mild-mannered and good-natured POW forger Colin Blythe in the film The Great Escape (1963), who discovers that he is slowly going blind, but nonetheless participates in the mass break-out, only to be shot down by German soldiers because he is unable to see them. Variety highlighted Pleasence and Richard Attenborough as giving some of the better performances in the film, Pleasence specifically being praised for having the most moving portrayal and depicting "the film's most touching character." In The Night of the Generals (1967), he played another uncharacteristically sympathetic role, this time as an old-school German general involved in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler. In 1971, he returned to the realm of the deranged, delivering a tour de force performance in the role of an alcoholic Australian doctor in Ted Kotcheff's nightmarish outback drama Wake in Fright.
Pleasence played Lucifer in the religious epic The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). He was one of many stars who were given cameos throughout the film.
He also acted in Roman Polanski's Cul-de-sac (1966), in which he portrayed the love-sodden husband of a much younger French wife (Françoise Dorléac). He ventured successfully into American cowboy territory, playing a sadistic self-styled preacher who goes after stoic Charlton Heston in the Western Will Penny (1968).
He portrayed SEN 5241 in THX 1138 (1971), opposite Robert Duvall which was the directorial debut of George Lucas. The next year he appeared as an eccentric, tea-obsessed police inspector in the cult horror film Death Line alongside Norman Rossington and Christopher Lee. A few years later, he portrayed antagonist Lucas Deranian, in Walt Disney's Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) and, in Telefon (1977), Nicolai Dalchimsky, the Russian seeking to start a war between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Pleasence appeared as Dr. Samuel Loomis in John Carpenter's horror film Halloween (1978). The film was a major success and was considered the highest grossing independent film of its time, earning accolades as a classic of the horror genre. He also played the teacher, Kantorek in All Quiet on the Western Front (1979), Dr. Kobras in The Pumaman (1980) and the held-hostage President of the United States in Escape from New York (1981). The rather sinister accent which Pleasence employed in this and other films may be credited to the elocution lessons he had as a child. He reprised his Dr. Sam Loomis role in Halloween II (1981), Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988), Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995).
Pleasence, Daria Nicolodi, and Jennifer Connelly starred in Dario Argento's Phenomena (1985), where Pleasence portrayed a wheelchair-using forensic entomologist. Although Austin Trunick of Under the Radar criticized Connelly for not being an active heroine, he cited "a lot of nice interaction between Connelly and Pleasence's eccentric character" as a positive tradeoff. Later that year, Pleasence played a retiring inspector who investigates the disappearance of the sister of Tom Schanley's character in Nothing Underneath. JA Kerswell called Pleasence's role "clichéd" for the actor while also praising his presence as "a welcome bonus." The reviewer from Horror Society wrote of liking Schanley and Pleasence "but the story is the main focus here and not the cast which is a bit of a shame because both did fantastic jobs." Operation Nam was Pleasence's sole film appearance in 1986, playing "a minor part as a priest" who services Vietnam soldiers.
Pleasence collaborated with Carpenter again when he starred in Prince of Darkness (1987), where he played a priest who seeks the aid of a professor and a few of the latter's quantum physics students to uncover the mystery of a glowing liquid in a canister. Though mixed about the film, Starburst praised Pleasence's performance, admitting that to them, "there are very few sights in genre cinema as marvelous as seeing Pleasence delivering an intense, slightly erratic monologue, and he gets plenty to sink his teeth into here." Megan Summers asserted that Pleasence brought "his standard emotional prowess and psychological stability to his role" in the film, and Michael Wilmington declared Pleasence and Victor Wong as "both fine; these two know how to make the most of shallow excess."
Pleasence admired Sir Laurence Olivier, with whom he worked on-stage in the 1950s, and later on the film version of Dracula (1979). Two years earlier, Pleasence did an amusingly broad impersonation of Olivier in the guise of a horror-film actor called "Valentine De'ath" in the film The Uncanny (1977). According to the film critic Kim Newman on a DVD commentary for Halloween II, the reason for Pleasence's lengthy filmography was that he never turned down any role that was offered.

### Spoken records and voice-overs

During the early 1960s, Pleasence recorded several children's-story records on the Atlas Record label. These were marketed as the Talespinners series in the United Kingdom. They were also released in the United States as Tale Spinners for Children by United Artists. The stories included Don Quixote and the Brave Little Tailor. He also wrote, directed and narrated Scouse the Mouse in 1977.
Pleasence provided the voice-over for the British public information film, The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water (1973). The film, intended to warn children of the dangers of playing near water, attained notoriety for allegedly giving children nightmares.

### Books

Pleasence was the author of the children's book Scouse the Mouse (1977) (London: New English Library), which was animated by Canadian animator/film director Gerald Potterton (a friend of the actor, who directed him in the Canadian film The Rainbow Boys (1973), retitled The Rainbow Gang for VHS release in the United States) and also adapted into a children's recording (Polydor Records, 1977) with Ringo Starr voicing the book's title character, Scouse the Mouse.
In his book British Film Character Actors (1982), Terence Pettigrew describes Pleasence as "a potent combination of eyes and voice. The eyes are mournful but they can also be sinister or seedy or just plain nutty. He has the kind of piercing stare which lifts enamel off saucepans."

## Awards

Pleasence was nominated four times for the Tony Award for best performance by a leading actor in a Broadway play: in 1962 for Harold Pinter's The Caretaker, in 1965 for Jean Anouilh's Poor Bitos, in 1969 for Robert Shaw's The Man in the Glass Booth, and in 1972 for Simon Gray's Wise Child.
Pleasence was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his services to the acting profession by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.

## Personal life

Pleasence married four times and had five daughters from his first three marriages. He had Angela and Jean with Miriam Raymond (m. 1941–1958); Lucy and Polly with Josephine Martin Crombie (m. 1959–1970); and Miranda with Meira Shore (m. 1970–1988). His last marriage was to Linda Kentwood (m. 1988–1995; his death).
In the late 1970s, he lived near the eastern side of Kew Bridge. In the early 1960s his brother Ralph was stationmaster at Smeeth Road railway station. Ralph had retired to Lincoln in the 1970s.
He lived in the south of France for a number of years, up until his death.

## Death

On 2 February 1995, Pleasence died at age 75 at his home in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, from complications of heart failure following heart valve replacement surgery. His body was cremated.

## Legacy

The 1995 film Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers was dedicated to Donald Pleasence. The 1998 film Halloween H20: 20 Years Later also features a dedication to Pleasence in the end credits, with voice actor Tom Kane providing a voice-over for Loomis in the film. In the 2018 film, Halloween, comedian Colin Mahan voiced Loomis. In the 2021 film Halloween Kills Tom Jones, Jr. played Loomis, wearing prosthetic make-up to resemble Pleasence. Loomis' voice was again provided by Mahan.
Dr. Evil, the character played by Mike Myers in the Austin Powers comedy films (1997–2002), and Doctor Claw from Inspector Gadget are parodies of Pleasence's performance as Blofeld in You Only Live Twice.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1954 | Private's Progress | Uncredited Scotland Yard Detective | |
| 1954 | The Beachcomber | Tromp | |
| 1955 | Orders Are Orders | Corporal Martin | Credited as Donald Plesance |
| 1955 | Value for Money | Limpy | |
| 1956 | 1984 | Robert Parsons | |
| 1956 | The Black Tent | Ali | |
| 1957 | The Man in the Sky | Crabtree | |
| 1957 | Manuela | Evans | |
| 1957 | Barnacle Bill | Cashier | |
| 1958 | A Tale of Two Cities | John Barsad | |
| 1958 | Heart of a Child | Spiel | |
| 1958 | The Wind Cannot Read | Doctor | |
| 1958 | The Man Inside | Organ-Grinder | |
| 1958 | The Two-Headed Spy | General Hardt | |
| 1959 | Look Back in Anger | Hurst | |
| 1959 | Killers of Kilimanjaro | Captain | |
| 1959 | The Battle of the Sexes | Irwin Hoffman | |
| 1960 | The Shakedown | Jessel Brown | |
| 1960 | The Flesh and the Fiends | William Hare | |
| 1960 | Circus of Horrors | Vanet | |
| 1960 | Hell Is a City | Gus Hawkins | |
| 1960 | Sons and Lovers | Pappleworth | |
| 1960 | The Big Day | Victor Partridge | |
| 1960 | Suspect | Parsons / Bill Brown | |
| 1960 | The Hands of Orlac | Graham Coates | |
| 1961 | No Love for Johnnie | Roger Renfrew | |
| 1961 | The Wind of Change | 'Pop' Marley | |
| 1961 | A Story of David | Nabal | |
| 1961 | Spare the Rod | Mr. Jenkins | |
| 1961 | What a Carve Up! | Everett Sloane | |
| 1962 | The Inspector | Sergeant Wolters | |
| 1963 | The Caretaker | Mac Davies / Bernard Jenkins | |
| 1963 | The Great Escape | Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe, "The Forger" | |
| 1963 | Dr. Crippen | Dr. Crippen | |
| 1965 | The Greatest Story Ever Told | Satan | |
| 1965 | The Hallelujah Trail | Oracle Jones | |
| 1966 | Cul-de-sac | George | |
| 1966 | Eye of the Devil | Pere Dominic | |
| 1966 | Fantastic Voyage | Dr. Michaels | |
| 1967 | The Night of the Generals | General Kahlenberge | |
| 1967 | You Only Live Twice | Ernst Stavro Blofeld | |
| 1967 | Matchless | Gregori Andreanu | |
| 1968 | Will Penny | Preacher Quint | |
| 1968 | Sleep Is Lovely | Clive | |
| 1968 | Creature of Comfort | James Thorne | |
| 1969 | Arthur? Arthur! | Arthur Brownjohn | |
| 1969 | The Madwoman of Chaillot | Prospector | |
| 1970 | Soldier Blue | Isaac Q. Cumber | |
| 1971 | THX 1138 | SEN 5241 | |
| 1971 | Wake in Fright | Clarence 'Doc' Tydon | |
| 1972 | Death Line | Inspector Calhoun | |
| 1972 | The Jerusalem File | Major Samuels | |
| 1972 | The Pied Piper | Baron | |
| 1972 | Henry VIII and His Six Wives | Thomas Cromwell | |
| 1972 | Innocent Bystanders | Loomis | |
| 1972 | Wedding in White | Jim Dougall | |
| 1973 | Kidnapped | Ebenezer Balfour | |
| 1973 | The Rainbow Boys | Ralph Logan | |
| 1973 | Lonely Water | The Spirit (voice) | Short film |
| 1973 | Malachi's Cove | Malachi | |
| 1973 | Tales That Witness Madness | Professor Tremayne | |
| 1974 | From Beyond the Grave | Jim Underwood | Segment: "An Act of Kindness" |
| 1974 | Watch Out, We're Mad! | Doctor | |
| 1974 | The Black Windmill | Cedric Harper | |
| 1974 | House of the Damned | Martin Zayas | |
| 1974 | The Mutations | Professor Nolter | |
| 1974 | Barry McKenzie Holds His Own | Count Plasma | |
| 1975 | The Count of Monte Cristo | Baron Danglars | |
| 1975 | Escape to Witch Mountain | Lucas Deranian | |
| 1975 | I Don't Want to Be Born | Dr. Finch | |
| 1975 | Journey into Fear | Kuvelti | |
| 1975 | Hearts of the West | A.J. Neitz | |
| 1976 | Trial by Combat | Sir Giles Marley | |
| 1976 | Land of the Minotaur aka The Devil's Men | Father Roche | |
| 1976 | Goldenrod | John Tyler Jones | |
| 1976 | The Passover Plot | Pontius Pilate | |
| 1976 | The Last Tycoon | Boxley | |
| 1976 | The Eagle Has Landed | Heinrich Himmler | |
| 1977 | The Uncanny | Valentine De'ath | Segment: "Hollywood 1936" |
| 1977 | Oh, God! | Dr. Harmon | |
| 1977 | Telefon | Nikolai Dalchimsky | |
| 1978 | Blood Relatives | James Doniac | |
| 1978 | Tomorrow Never Comes | Dr. Todd | |
| 1978 | Night Creature | Axel MacGregor | |
| 1978 | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | B.D. Hoffler | |
| 1978 | Power Play | Blair | |
| 1978 | L'Ordre et la sécurité du monde | Rothko | |
| 1978 | Halloween | Dr. Sam Loomis | |
| 1979 | Jigsaw | Albert Rumpelmayer | |
| 1979 | Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff | Dr. Steiner | |
| 1979 | Dracula | Dr. Jack Seward | |
| 1979 | All Quiet on the Western Front | Kantorek | |
| 1979 | Jaguar Lives! | General Villanova | |
| 1980 | Halloween: Extended Edition | Dr. Sam Loomis | Appeared in additional footage (filmed during the production of Halloween II), not included in the original film, but featured in the NBC television broadcast. |
| 1980 | The Pumaman | Dr. Kobras | |
| 1980 | The Monster Club | Pickering | |
| 1981 | Escape from New York | President John Harker | |
| 1981 | Halloween II | Dr. Sam Loomis | |
| 1981 | Race for the Yankee Zephyr | Gilbert 'Gibbie' Carson | |
| 1982 | Alone in the Dark | Dr. Leo Bain | |
| 1983 | To Kill a Stranger | Colonel Kostik | |
| 1983 | Warrior of the Lost World | Prossor | |
| 1983 | The Devonsville Terror | Dr. Warley | |
| 1984 | Frankenstein's Great Aunt Tillie | Baron Victor Frankenstein | |
| 1984 | Where Is Parsifal? | Mackintosh | |
| 1984 | The Ambassador | Eretz | |
| 1984 | A Breed Apart | J.P. Whittier | |
| 1984 | Terror in the Aisles | Himself (host) | |
| 1985 | Phenomena | John McGregor | |
| 1985 | Treasure of the Amazon | Klaus Von Blantz | |
| 1985 | Nothing Underneath | Inspector Danesi | |
| 1986 | Operation Nam | Father Lenoir | |
| 1987 | Warrior Queen | Clodius | |
| 1987 | Specters | Professor Lasky | |
| 1987 | Double Target | Senator Blaster | |
| 1987 | Ground Zero | Prosper Gaffney | |
| 1987 | Django 2 | Gunn | |
| 1987 | Prince of Darkness | Priest | |
| 1987 | To Kill a Stranger | Colonel Kostik | |
| 1987 | Animali metropolitani | Professor Livingstone | |
| 1988 | Phantom of Death | Inspector Datti | |
| 1988 | The Commander | Henry Carlson | |
| 1988 | Last Platoon | Colonel B. Abrams | |
| 1988 | Vampire in Venice | Don Alvise | |
| 1988 | Hanna's War | Captain Thomas Rosza | |
| 1988 | Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers | Dr. Sam Loomis | |
| 1989 | The House of Usher | Walter Usher | |
| 1989 | Ten Little Indians | Judge Lawrence Wargrave | |
| 1989 | Paganini Horror | Mr. Pickett | |
| 1989 | River of Death | Heinrich Spaatz | |
| 1989 | Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers | Dr. Sam Loomis | |
| 1989 | Casablanca Express | Colonel Bats | |
| 1990 | Buried Alive | Dr. Schaeffer | |
| 1990 | American risciò | Reverend Mortom | Alternate title: American Rickshaw |
| 1991 | L'avvoltoio può attendere | Aaron Shalik | |
| 1991 | Millions | Ripa | |
| 1991 | Shadows and Fog | Doctor | |
| 1992 | Dien Bien Phu | Howard Simpson | |
| 1993 | The Thief and the Cobbler | Phido The Vulture (voice) | 1992 workprint and Fred Calvert version only |
| 1993 | The Big Freeze | Soup Slurper | |
| 1993 | The Hour of the Pig | Pincheon | |
| 1995 | Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers | Dr. Sam Loomis | The film was dedicated to his memory (posthumous release) |
| 1995 | Safe Haven | The Sailor | Posthumous release |
| 1996 | Fatal Frames | Professor Robertson | Posthumous release (final film role) |
| 2021 | Halloween Kills | Dr. Sam Loomis | Posthumous release,prosthetic makeup used for likeness |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1952 | The Dybbuk | Second batlon | Television film |
| 1952–1959 | Sunday Night Theatre | Various roles | 6 episodes |
| 1954 | Montserrat | Juan Alvarez | Television film |
| 1954 | The Face of Love | Alex | Television film |
| 1954 | Nineteen Eighty-Four | Syme | |
| 1955 | The Grove Family | Monsieur Paul | Episode: "Parlez-Vous Français?" |
| 1956 | The Adventures of Robin Hood | Prince John | 4 episodes |
| 1956–1959 | ITV Playhouse | Various roles | 6 episodes |
| 1957 | Assignment Foreign Legion | Commandant | Episode: "The Coward" |
| 1957–1967 | Armchair Theatre | Various roles | 8 episodes |
| 1958 | I Spy | Mr. Frute | Television film |
| 1958 | Granite | A Nameless Man | Television film |
| 1959 | The Killing Stones | Jakob Kleiber | Episode: "The Carefulness of Kleiber" |
| 1959 | The Scarf | Detective Inspector Harry Yates | 6 episodes |
| 1959 | The Adventures of William Tell | The Spider | Episode: "The Spider" |
| 1959 | The Traitor | Grantley Caypor | Television film |
| 1960 | The Four Just Men | Paul Koster | Episode: "The Survivor" |
| 1960 | Interpol Calling | Karl Haussman | Episode: "The Absent Assassin" |
| 1960 | Rendezvous | Potter | Episode: "The Dodo" |
| 1960–1961 | Danger Man | Nikolides / Captain Aldrich | 2 episodes |
| 1960–1965 | Armchair Mystery Theatre | Host / Ambrose | Episode: "Ambrose" |
| 1961 | Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond | Harvey Laurence | Episode: "The Confession" |
| 1961 | Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color | Captain Pinski | Episode: "The Horsemasters" |
| 1962 | The Twilight Zone | Professor Ellis Fowler | Episode: "The Changing of the Guard" |
| 1963 | The Outer Limits | Professor Harold Finley | Episode: "The Man with the Power" |
| 1964 | Espionage | Escalon | Episode: "The Liberators" |
| 1965 | The Defenders | Dr. Byron Saul | Episode: "Fires of the Mind" |
| 1966 | The Fugitive | Max Pfeiffer | Episode: "With Strings Attached" |
| 1966 | The Wednesday Play | The Head Waiter | Episode: "The Head Waiter" (teleplay) |
| 1967 | The Diary of Anne Frank | Mr. Dusseli | Television film |
| 1967–1968 | Thirty-Minute Theatre | J.G. / Richard Pratt | 2 episodes |
| 1971 | The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes | Carnacki | Episode: "The Horse of the Invisible" |
| 1971–1983 | Play for Today | Samuel Johnson / Gerry Muddiman / Tom | 3 episodes |
| 1972 | Hawaii Five-O | Hans Vogler | Episode: "The Ninety-Second War: Part II" |
| 1972 | The Man Outside | Victor Cobb | Episode: "A Glass of Snake Wine" |
| 1972 | Police Surgeon | Jerry Hahn | Episode: "Lady X" |
| 1973 | Columbo | Adrian Carsini | Episode: "Any Old Port in a Storm" |
| 1973 | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | Fred Smudge | Television film |
| 1973 | Orson Welles Great Mysteries | Cawser | Episode: "Captain Rogers" |
| 1974 | Occupations | Christo Kabak | Television film |
| 1974 | Performance | Wilhelm Voigt | Episode "The Captain of Köpenick" |
| 1975 | The Count of Monte Cristo | Baron Danglars | Television film |
| 1975 | Shades of Greene | Puckler | Episode: "The Root of All Evil" |
| 1976 | Peep Show | Max | Episode: "Death" |
| 1976 | Laurence Olivier Presents | Nat Jeffcote | Episode: "Hindle Wakes" |
| 1977 | Jesus of Nazareth | Melchior | Miniseries |
| 1977 | The Dark Secret of Harvest Home | Narrator | Miniseries |
| 1978 | The Defection of Simas Kudirka | Captain Vladimir Popov | Television film |
| 1978 | The Bastard | Solomon Sholto | Miniseries |
| 1978–1979 | Centennial | Sam Purchas | Miniseries |
| 1979 | Mrs. Columbo | Ian A. Morly | Episode: "Murder Is a Parlor Game" |
| 1979 | All Quiet on the Western Front | Kantorek | Television film |
| 1979 | Gold of the Amazon Women | Clarence Blasko | Television film |
| 1979 | The French Atlantic Affair | Max Dechambre | Miniseries |
| 1979 | Better Late Than Never | Colonel Riddle | Television film |
| 1980 | The Ghost Sonata | The Old Man | Television film |
| 1980 | Blade on the Feather | Professor Jason Cavendish | Television film |
| 1981 | Dick Turpin | Ignatius Slake | 2 episodes |
| 1981 | Saturday Night Live | Host | Episode: "Donald Pleasence/Fear" |
| 1982 | Witness for the Prosecution | Mr. Myers | Television film |
| 1982 | The Barchester Chronicles | Reverend Septimus Harding | 7 episodes |
| 1984 | Master of the Game | Salomon Van der Merwe | Miniseries |
| 1984 | Arch of Triumph | Haake | Television film |
| 1985 | Black Arrow | Sir Oliver Oates | Television film |
| 1987 | Scoop | Lord Copper | Television film |
| 1987 | Basements Harold Pinter's The Room | Mr. Kidd | Television film |
| 1988 | The Ray Bradbury Theater | George Hill | Episode: "Punishment Without Crime" |
| 1988 | The Great Escape II: The Untold Story | Dr. Absalon | Television film |
| 1989 | Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery | Jason Rafiel | Television film |
| 1991 | Women in Arms | Dreyfuss | Television film |
| 1992 | Lovejoy | Karel Redl | Episode: "The Prague Sun" |
| 1993 | Screen Two | Victor Harty | Episode: "Femme Fatale" |
| 1995 | Signs and Wonders | Cornelius Van Damm | Miniseries |

### Film and television awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1959 | British Academy Television Awards | Light Entertainment Award | Donald Pleasence | Won |
| 1978 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special | The Defection of Simas Kudirka | Nominated |
| 1980 | Saturn Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Dracula | Nominated |
| 1982 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor | Halloween II | Nominated |
| 1987 | Australian Film Institute Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Ground Zero | Nominated |