Donald Pleasence

**Donald Henry Pleasence** OBE (October 5, 1919 – February 2, 1995) was an English actor. Pleasence was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England. He was raised in Lincolnshire, England. During his career, Pleasence was nominated for four Tony Awards. He won a BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor in 1959.  In his whole career, Pleasence appeared in over 200 movies.

He made his first movie _The Dybbuk_ in 1952. It was a television movie. He acted in several movies, such as _You Only Live Twice_, where he played James Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and _The Great Escape_. Pleasence is known for his role as Dr. Samuel Loomis in John Carpenter's _Halloween_. Since then, he appeared in five out of the six movies of the _Halloween movie series_. Pleasence did not appear in _Halloween III: Season of the Witch_ because it was a different story from the last two movies.

Pleasence died at the age of 75 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, from complications of heart failure. It was following a heart valve replacement surgery.

## Early life

Pleasence was born **Donald Henry Pleasence** in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England on October 5, 1919. His parents were Alice and Thomas Pleasence. Pleasence was raised as a Methodist. He was raised in Lincolnshire, England. Pleasence studied at the Ecclesfield School in Yorkshire, England.

During World War II, Pleasence was sent to serve in the Royal Air Force. He served with 166 Squadron, RAF Bomber Command. His war plane was shot down in August 1944, during a raid on Agenville. He was placed in the German prisoner-of-war camp. Pleasence was released before the war's end in 1945.

## Career

In 1939, Pleasence started working on stage as an assistant stage manager. His first acting job was as Hareton in the stage version of _Wuthering Heights_. He worked in theatres in Birmingham and Bristol. Later, Pleasence moved to London. There he appeared as Valentine in _Twelfth Night_ in 1942.

Pleasence's first television work was in _I Want to Be A Doctor_ in 1946. In 1954, he played Syme in a BBC adaptation of George Orwell's novel _Nineteen Eighty-Four_. The adaptation was by Nigel Kneale. Pleasence played Prince John in several episodes of the ITV series _The Adventures of Robin Hood_.

Pleasence made his big-screen debut with the 1954 movie _The Beachcomber_. Some early roles include Parsons in _1984_ (his second Orwell movie). He also appeared in minor roles such as in _Barnacle Bill_ and in _The Wind Cannot Read_. In Tony Richardson's movie, _Look Back in Anger_, he plays a market inspector.

During the early 1960s, Pleasence recorded several children's-story records. They were released in the United States as _Tale Spinners For Children_ by United Artists. The stories included _Don Quixote_ and the _Brave Little Tailor_. Pleasence did the voice-over for the British Public Information Film, _The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water_ in 1973. He was the author of the 1977 children's book _Scouse the Mouse_.

In his later years, he appeared as Lucas Deranian in Walt Disney's Escape to Witch Mountain, Dr. Loomis in _Halloween_, Dr. Kobras in The Pumaman and the President in _Escape from New York_. He reprised his Dr. Loomis role in _Halloween II_, _Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers_, _Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers_ and _Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers_. Pleasence's acting career ended when he died in 1995.

## Awards

Pleasence was nominated four times for the Tony Award. He was nominated for Best Performance By a Leading Actor in a Broadway Play. He was nominated 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_.

## Personal life

Pleasence was married four times. He married Miriam Raymond in 1941. They divorced in 1958. He married Josephine Crombie in 1959. They divorced in 1970. He married Meira Shore in 1970. They divorced in 1988. He was last married to Linda J. Kentwood in 1988. Their marriage lasted until Pleasence died in 1995.

Pleasence had five daughters. He and Raymond had two daughters, Angela and Jean Pleasence. He and Crombie had two daughters, Polly Jo and Lucy. He and Shore had one daughter, Miranda.

## Death

Pleasence died from heart failure after heart surgery in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France on February 2, 1995, aged 75. His remains were later cremated. His last full movie, _Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers_ was dedicated in his memory.

## Movies

|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Year|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Movie|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Role|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1952|_The Dybbuk_|Second Batlon|TV movie|||||
|rowspan=5|1952-1959|rowspan=5|_BBC Sunday-Night Theatre_|Corporal|TV series, episode _Arrow to the Heart (I)_ (1952)|||
|Chamberlain|Episode _Such Men are Dangerous_ (1954)|||||||
|Syme|Episode _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ (1954)|||||||
|Foreign Minister|Episode _The Moment of Truth_ (1955)|||||||
|Doctor|Episode _The Millionairess_ (1959)|||||||
|rowspan=4|1954|_The Beachcomber_|Tromp|||||
|_Montserrat_|Juan Alvarez|TV movie||||||
|_The Face of Love_|Alex|TV movie||||||
|_Orders Are Orders_|Corporal Martin|credited as Donald Plesance||||||
|1955|_Value for Money_|Limpy||||||
|rowspan=2|1956|_1984_|R. Parsons|||||
|_The Black Tent_|Ali|||||||
|rowspan=2|1956-1958|rowspan=2|_The Adventures of Robin Hood_|Prince John (4 episodes)|TV series, episodes _The Prisoner_ (1956), _Isabella_ (1956), _Ambush_ (1957), _Marian's Prize_ (1958)|||
|Bailiff Baldwin (1 episode)|Episode _A Village Wooing_ (1956)|||||||
|rowspan=5|1956-1959|rowspan=5|_ITV Television Playhouse_|William|TV series, episode _Ever Since Paradise_ (1956)|||
|Albert|Episode _Chance Meeting_ (1956)|||||||
|Captain Browne|Episode _Fate and Mister Browne_ (1958)|||||||
|Leonard Browne|Episode _Mr. Browne Comes Home_ (1959)|||||||
|Robert Robertson|Episode _The Silk Purse_ (1959)|||||||
|rowspan=4|1957|_The Man in the Sky_|Crabtree|Titled ***Decision Against Time*** in the United States||||
|_Assignment Foreign Legion_|Commandant|TV series, episode _The Coward_||||||
|_Manuela_|Evans|||||||
|_Barnacle Bill_|Cashier|Titled ***All at Sea*** in the United States||||||
|rowspan=6|1958|_I Spy_|Mr. Frute|TV movie||||
|_A Tale of Two Cities_|John Barsad|||||||
|_Heart of a Child_|Spiel|||||||
|_The Wind Cannot Read_'|Doctor|||||||
|_The Man Inside_|Organ-grinder|||||||
|_The Two-Headed Spy_|General Hardt|||||||
|rowspan=6|1959|_The Scarf_|Detective Inspector Harry Yates|TV series, six episodes||||
|_Look Back in Anger_|Hurst|||||||
|_William Tell_|The Spider|TV series, episode _The Spider_||||||
|_The Traitor_|Grantley Caypor|TV movie||||||
|_Killers of Kilimanjaro_|Captain|||||||
|_The Battle of the Sexes_|Irwin Hoffman|||||||
|rowspan=4|1960|_The Shakedown_|Jessel Brown|||||
|_Hell Is a City_|Gus Hawkins|||||||
|_The Four Just Men_|Paul Koster|TV series, episode _The Survivor_||||||
|_Interpol Calling_|Karl Haussman|TV series, episode _The Absent Assassin_||||||
|rowspan="2"|1962|_The Inspector_|Sergeant Wolters|||||
|The Twilight Zone|Professor Ellis Fowler|TV series, episode 3.37 - _The Changing of the Guard_||||||
|1963|_The Great Escape_|Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe RAF, "The Forger"||||||
|1965|_The Hallelujah Trail_|Oracle Jones||||||
|rowspan=2|1966|_Fantastic Voyage_|Dr. Michaels|||||
|_Cul-de-sac_|George|||||||
|1967|_You Only Live Twice_|Ernst Stavro Blofeld||||||
|1968|_The Other People_|Clive|Film never released|||||
|1970|_Soldier Blue_|Isaac Q. Cumber||||||
|rowspan=2|1971|_THX 1138_|SEN 5241|||||
|_Wake in Fright_|Doc Tydon|||||||
|rowspan=3|1972|_Death Line_|Inspector Calhoun|||||
|_Henry VIII and His Six Wives_|Thomas Cromwell|||||||
|_The Jerusalem File_|Major Samuels|||||||
|rowspan=1|1973|_Columbo_|Adrian Carsini|"Any Old Port in a Storm"||||
|rowspan=2|1974|_Watch Out, We're Mad_|The Doctor|||||
|_From Beyond The Grave_|Jim Underwood|(segment 2 "An Act of Kindness")-||||||
|rowspan=2|1976|_The Eagle Has Landed_|Himmler|||||
|_The Passover Plot_|Pontius Pilate|||||||
|1977|_Telefon_|Nikolai Dalchimsky||||||
|1978|_Halloween_|Dr. Loomis||||||
|1978|_Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band_|B.D. Hoffler/B.D. Brockhurst||||||
|1980|_The Pumaman_|Dr. Kobras||||||
|rowspan=2|1981|_Halloween II_|Dr. Loomis|||||
|_Race for the Yankee Zephyr_|Gilbert "Gibbie" Carson|||||||
|rowspan=3|1982|_Escape from New York_|Mr. President|||||
|_Alone in the Dark_|Dr. Leo Bain|||||||
|_The Barchester Chronicles_|Reverend Septimus Harding|TV series||||||
|1983|_Warrior of the Lost World_|Prossor||||||
|1984|_A Breed Apart_|J.P. Whittier||||||
|1985|_Phenomena_|John McGregor||||||
|1987|_Django 2_|Gunn||||||
|1987|_Prince of Darkness_|Priest||||||
|rowspan=2|1988|_Hanna's War_|Captain Thomas Rosza|||||
|_Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers_|rowspan=2|Dr. Loomis||||||
|rowspan=2|1989|_Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers_||||||
|_Ten Little Indians_|Judge Lawrence Wargrave|||||||
|rowspan=2|1993|_The Thief and the Cobbler_|Phido the Vulture|(voice)||||
|_The Hour of the Pig_|Pincheon|||||||
|1995|_Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers_|Dr. Loomis||||||
|1996|_Fatal frames: Fotogrammi mortali_|Professor Robinson||||||

## Other websites

- Donald Pleasence at screenonline
- Donald Pleasence-bio.shtml) at (re)Search my Trash
- The Man with the Hypnotic Eye A Tribute to Donald Pleasence
- Photograph  of a theatrical production in prisoner of war camp featuring Donald Pleasence

## Infobox (person)

- **image**: Donald Pleasence Allan Warren edit.jpg
- **birth name**: Donald Henry Pleasence
- **birth place**: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England
- **death place**: Alpes-Maritimes, Saint-Paul-de-Vence,
Alpes-Maritimes, France
- **alma mater**: Ecclesfield School
- **years active**: 1954–1995
- **spouse**: Miriam Raymond (1941–58)

Meira Shore (1970–88)
Linda J. Kentwood (1988–95)
- **occupation**: Actor