Telly Savalas - Phantis Telly Savalas Jump to: navigation , search Telly Savalas Telly Savalas ( January 21 , 1924 – January 22 , 1994 ) was a Greek-American film and television actor who fathered 8 children. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1963 in his first starring movie, Birdman of Alcatraz. He was also best known for his work on the Kojak television series, and for playing Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Contents 10 External links Early life He was the second oldest of five children born to Christina Savalas, who was a New York City artist, and Nick Savalas, a Greek restaurant owner, as Aristotelis Savalas in Garden City, New York. He had his first job at age 8 in 1932 , as a newspaper boy, while he constructed a shoeshine stand made of crates. When he entered Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, New York, he initially only spoke Greek , yet he learned English and graduated in 1942 .

Telly Savalas gained life experience with a three-year stint in the Army during WWII , working for the U.S. State Department hosting the "Your Voice of America" series and then at ABC News before beginning an acting career in his late 30s. Pre- and early television work As first, executive director and then senior director of news special events at ABC, Savalas became an executive producer for the "Gillette calvalcade of Sports", where he gave Howard Cosell his first job. Savalas first acted on the TV show Armstrong Circle Theater ( 1959 ) and then on the series "The Witness" as Lucky Luciano, where actor Burt Lancaster "discovered" him. Savalas was cast opposite Lancaster's idealistic D.A. in the melodrama The Young Savages ( 1961 ). He moved on to play a string of heavies, winning acclaim and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as the sadistic Feto Gomez in Birdman of Alcatraz ( 1962 ).

After portraying Pontius Pilate in The Greatest Story Ever Told ( 1965 ), he chose to remain completely bald and this signature look, somewhere between the comic and the ominous, stood him in good stead in the years that followed. Savalas was memorable in The Dirty Dozen ( 1967 ), the seminal ensemble action film by director Robert Aldrich, and reappeared as a different character in two TV movie reprisals. He also appeared as star in two classics, Kelly's Heroes ( 1970 ), and The Scalphunters ( 1968 ), a western that revealed the absurdity of racism during the Civil Rights movement. His career was transformed with the lead role in the celebrated TV-movie The Marcus Nelson Murders (CBS, 1973 ) where the pop culture icon of Theo Kojak was born. Savalas polished his hard-boiled image to a brilliant sheen over the long run of Kojak (CBS, 1973 - 1978 ).

During those years, he co-bought racehorse Telly's Pop, recorded many albums, including "Telly" (1974) and "Who Loves Ya, Baby" (1976) and directed and wrote the film Beyond Reason ( 1977 ). After the very popular series ended, Savalas reprised the Kojak persona in several Kojak-based TV-movies, furthering his public canonization. One of Savalas' brothers, George Savalas (known professionally for a time simply as 'Demosthenes') played the character 'Stavros', a sensitive , wild-haired, quiet, comedic foil to Kojak's street-wise humor in an otherwise dark dramatic TV series. Life after Kojak Throughout his life, Telly Savalas was a charismatic leader, creative writer, director, and producer. He won the Emmy, the Peabody, and Golden Globe Awards. In 1990, the city of New York declared "The Marcus-Nelson Murders" as the official movie of New York City, and awarded Telly with the Key to the City.

He was also a strong contributor to his Greek Orthodox roots through the Saint Sophia and Saint Nicholas cathedrals in Los Angeles and was the sponsor of bringing electricity in the '70's to his ancestral home, Yeraka , Laconia , Greece . His mother, Christina, was a world recognized contemporary of Picasso, and he himself released several records, the most remembered was his version of "If", that was #1 in Europe for 10 weeks in 1975. Many people do not know that Telly was a world-class poker player, degreed in psychology; a motorcycle racer, and lifeguard. He appeared in over 80 movies. In his capacity as Producer for "Kojak", he gave many stars their first break, as Burt Lancaster did for him. He was considered by those who knew him a generous, graceful, compassionate man.

Character actor Prior to being a successful movie star on the big screen, Savalas became one of the most charismatic and beloved character actors of all time during the late 1950s and the 1960s , where he made his very first guest-starring role on an episode of Armstrong Circle Theater, in fact, he appeared on the show, twice. He also made 54 more guest-appearances between 1959 - 1967 in most of these shows, Naked City, King of Diamonds, The Aquanauts, The Untouchables, Burke's Law, The Fugitive, Bonanza, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The F.B.I., among many others. He also had a recurring role as Brother Hendrickson on the popular crime drama series, 77 Sunset Strip, as his career already launched. Acting career On the cover of Newsweek magazine as Kojak Kojak Undoubtedly Savalas' most famous role was that of the tough detective Kojak on television. Lt.

Theo Kojak was a bald New York City detective who had a fondness for lollipops and whose trademark line was, "Who loves ya, baby?" Reportedly the lollipop gimmick was added in lieu of having the character smoke, a habit that fell out of vogue among TV series in the 1970s. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama series, two years in a row, but won the Emmy in 1974. He was also nominated for Golden Globes, four times in a year, and won between 1975 and 1976. In 1974 , prior to starring on Kojak, he also became a singer. In 1978, after a 5 season run on the air, CBS has decided to cancel the show due to low ratings. Telly portrayed Kojak in the following shows; The Marcus-Nelson Murders (1973) (TV) The pilot for the Kojak TV series.

Kojak (1973–78) TV Series Kojak: The Belarus File (1985) (TV) Kojak: The Price of Justice (1987) (TV) Kojak: Ariana (1989) (TV) Kojak: Fatal Flaw (1989) (TV) Kojak: None So Blind (1990) (TV) Kojak: It's Always Something (1990) (TV) Kojak: Flowers for Matty (1990) (TV) Telly's brother George played the recurring role of Detective Stavros. Newcomer from the Jackson Heights, Queens, Kevin Dobson, played the role of Kojak's trusted partner, Det. Bobby Crocker, and would be capable of helping out bad guys in and on the scene with Savalas. The on-screen chemistry of both Savalas & Dobson would become a instant success of the 1970s , and had the best relationship together, especially when the show was cancelled.

For most of the 16 years (after Kojak), Telly's co-star (Kevin Dobson) have been keeping the actor in touch prior to Dobson starring in a short-lived series in 1981 , just before he gained famed in a prime time 1980s , soap opera, Knots Landing, the following year, and before Savalas's own death. Soon, both Savalas & Dobson would later be reunited for one last time in the 1990 movie Kojak: It's Always Something where Kevin's character played a lawyer, instead of a police officer. Telly Savalas with wife Sally Adams to his left, and Rika Dialyna to his right Personal life Savalas was married 3 times. In 1948 , he married his college sweetheart, Katherine Nicolaides, right after his father's death from bladder cancer. They produced a daughter, Christina (named after his mother), (born 1950). After Katherine had found out from Telly that he was fleeing from debtors, she filed a divorce from Savalas in 1957 and urged him to move back to his parents' house, that same year.

While Savalas was going broke, he founded the Garden City Theater Center in his native Garden City, New York, area. When he was working with future actors, Marilyn Gardner, a theater teacher, met and fell in love with Savalas, and the couple got married in 1960. The following year, she gave birth to a daughter, Candace (born 1961) and to Penelope in 1963. In 1969, when working on the movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Savalas had to make a choice between the family he loved or another woman, (Sally Adams), he left his family behind him. He met Adams in England while on vacation starring in that movie, and just several years later, after she gave birth to Nick (born 1973 ), Gardner filed a divorced from Savalas in 1974.

His stepdaughter, (Adams' daughter, Nicollette Sheridan of Knots Landing and Desperate Housewives fame, born November 21 , 1963 ) is an actress, and his goddaughter, (Jennifer Aniston of Friends fame, born February 11 , 1969 ), is also an actress. In 1977 , he met Julie Hovland, who was a travel agent from Minnesota, on his last working days of Kojak and the 2 started dating. By the time he got to be 60, he married her, and had 2 more kids, Christian & Ariana. Relatives's death and his own last days After Savalas came back to reprise his role on Kojak in the 1980s , he started losing close relatives. George Savalas , his brother died in 1985 of leukemia; he was 58. And 4 years later, Christina, his mother who had always been his best friend, a supporter, and a devoted parent, died in 1989 . Later that year, Savalas was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

He refused to see a doctor until 1993 , when he didn't have much time to live. While fighting for his life , he continued to star in many roles, including a recurring role on The Commish. On January 21, 1994, Savalas celebrated his 70th (and last) birthday, surrounded by his family and his friends. The following day, on January 22 , 1994 , Savalas died of complications of prostate cancer at the Sheraton-Universal Hotel in Universal City, California. He was interred at the George Washington section of Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California. A portion of content for this article is credited to Wikipedia .

Content under GNU Free Documentation License(GFDL) Movie roles His silver screen career usually involved him being cast as the quintessential villain in such films as: Mad Dog Coll (1961), Cape Fear (1962), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), The Man from the Diner's Club (1963)The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Battle of the Bulge (1965), Genghis Khan (1965), Beau Geste]] (1966), The Dirty Dozen (1967), The Scalphunters (1968), The Assassination Bureau (1969), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Land Raiders (1969), Crooks and Coronets (1969), MacKenna's Gold (1969), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Violent City (1970), A Town Called Hell (1971), Pancho Villa (1972), Scenes from a Murder (1972), Horror Express (1973), Lisa and the Devil (1973), A

 Reason to Live, A Reason to Die (1973), Inside Out (1975), Escape to Athena (1979), and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979).

Other movie roles that Savalas didn't play the quintessential villains were: Love is a Ball (1963), The New Interns (1964), The Slender Thread (1965), Sol Madrid (1968), Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968), and Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971). Quotes by Telly "We're all born bald, baby." External links Hello, Mr. Bond: The Many Faces of Blofeld | Nerdist Hello, Mr. Bond: The Many Faces of Blofeld Posted by Kyle Anderson on November 26, 2014 Share: Films The big rumor for James Bond’s 24th official film is that Christoph Waltz will be playing the film’s villain and that that villain will be none other than Ernst Stavro Blofeld , international criminal and head of the worldwide network of terrorism and extortion known as SPECTRE. He’s known the world over and is James Bond’s arch nemesis, appearing in more novels and films than any other villain.

If this rumor is indeed true (and holy shit, how could it not be!?), Waltz will be joining an eclectic group of actors who’ve played the role throughout the years, beginning with the very second James Bond movie, From Russia with Love in 1963. In total, Blofeld has appeared in six official Bond movies and one unofficial one, which is where the interesting part of the character comes into play. First, a little bit of backstory: Ian Fleming, the author of the Bond novels, had been trying to get his spy character to the screen since the 1950s. At a certain point, he and two writers, Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham, came up with a basic premise and screen story for what would have been the first James Bond film. However, it ended up never materializing and Fleming turned that story into his novel Thunderball. In the 1960s, Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman obtained the rights to Fleming’s novels (except the first novel, Casino Royale) and made the first of them, Dr. No, in 1962.

Since they had purchased the rights to all the Bond novels, they also had the rights to all the characters within, which by that time included the 1961 Thunderball and Blofeld. However, by the time Thunderball was to be made into the fourth film (and the movie franchise proved to be insanely lucrative) McClory sued Fleming and EON Productions for having co-created the character of Blofeld, or so he claimed, based on the Thunderball treatment. Since Fleming, a bad businessman, hadn’t set anything in writing, there was no way to prove what had or hadn’t been part of those initial meetings and writing sessions, so McClory is listed as a producer on Thunderball and would forever attempt to get his own Bond films made. More on that in a bit, but first! Blofeld #1 – Anthony Dawson & Eric Pohlmann, From Russia with Love and Thunderball In his first two appearances, Blofeld was only seen — like Dr. Claw in Inspector Gadget. He was someone sitting in a chair aggressively petting a fluffy white cat. He is only called “Number 1,” the head of SPECTRE. He was played by Anthony Dawson and voiced by Eric Pohlmann.

You never saw his face, and in the above clip from Thunderball, they actually go out of their way to hide him. He is the one who sets the wheels in motion for both of those films, though he is little more than a, if you’ll pardon me, specter. Blofeld #2 – Donald Pleasence, You Only Live Twice They decided to make Blofeld not only more prominent in his third appearance, but to actually show him. The role was given to perennial creepy guy Donald Pleasence, whose bald visage and scar make-up are the gold standard for people’s memory of Blofeld. In fact, obviously, it’s Pleasence’s Blofeld that Mike Myers was spoofing with his Dr. Evil character. Pleasence’s Blofeld is supercilious evil, and is the only actor to play up the character’s Polish-Greek heritage in his accent. Nobody else even tries. Blofeld #3 – Telly Savalas, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Though George Lazenby is nobody’s favorite Bond, it’s hard to argue that On Her Majesty’s Secret Service isn’t easily one of the best films in the series.

For my money, as iconic as Pleasence’s Blofeld is, Savalas is the most purely evil and formidable, even engaging in a bobsleigh chase in the film’s climax. This represents the saddest ending in a Bond movie as well, with (SPOILERS) Blofeld and his henchwoman coming out of nowhere and murdering Bond’s new wife as they’re parked on the side of the road. It’s a tragic end that only a serious Blofeld like Savalas could have pulled off convincingly. Blofeld #4 – Charles Gray, Diamonds Are Forever This movie is just across-the-board silly and Sean Connery, who’d wanted nothing to do with the series anymore, was paid a lot of money to come back after the public dislike of Lazenby. So, he’s phoning it in, and the actor they got to play Blofeld for this one, Charles Gray, is perfectly fine, but certainly much more generic Bond villain than either of the previous two had been. He just comes across as an angry pompous git. That film happened in 1971 and represented all of the books in which Blofeld appeared, and even added him to From Russia with Love.

But, the popularity of the character would have given the producers reason to want to bring him back at least another time or two, but by this point McClory had been fighting in the courts over creative control over not just the Blofeld character, but the James Bond franchise as a whole, saying everything that is Bond onscreen was cooked up by him, or at least partially by him, and he should be the one to make the movies. Blofeld was the linchpin in this argument and hence the next and last time Blofeld appeared in the official canon. Ten years later, he’d go back to being an unnamed and hardly-shown figure whom Bond dispatches before the opening credits even role, a real EFF-YOU to McClory. Blofeld #5 – John Hollis and Robert Reitty, For Your Eyes Only For a villain who was as big a part of the franchise, for him to go out so undignified is a big of a shame, even if it was as a means of sticking it to McClory — by killing off his “creation” and ensuring he wouldn’t get any further royalties from it, if the courts so decided.

They didn’t even get a big actor to play him; that would have given it too much of a hat-tip. Instead they hired actor John Hollis, best known as being Lando Calrissian’s bald assistant Lobot in Empire to be the body of Blofeld while Robert Reitty did the voice. It’s… it’s just a bit pants. But, McClory did eventually win in court and was given license to make his own James Bond movie. However, the courts also decided that he only could prove that he created things that went into Thunderball, and so his sole contribution to the Bond pantheon, the unofficial Never Say Never Again from 1983, is little more than a remake of the earlier 1967 film. McClory brought Connery in to compete with EON’s Roger Moore, and Connery’s grudge against Cubby Broccoli was still so severe that he happily agreed, and he also expanded the part of Blofeld from the faceless cameo in the original film to being played by a very well known and fine actor indeed.

Blofeld #6 – Max Von Sydow, Never Say Never Again There isn’t even a video clip of Max von Sydow on YouTube, but he is to date the last actor to appear as Blofeld on screen. His Blofeld is actually pretty good, still doing the sophisticated evil that the best of the other actors did, but adding just that little air of Swedishness that made the character all the more mysterious. He also had a sweet Sigmund Freud beard-stache going on, which is always appreciated. While Kevin McClory always tried to make another James Bond movie, and even attempted to obtain the rights to Casino Royale when they became available in the 2000s (nearly snaking them from Barbara Broccoli), he was never able to do so. He passed away in 2006 at the age of 80 and his estate settled with EON Productions so that Blofeld could appear in another official James Bond film. If Waltz is the new Blofeld, I think he’s going to be a perfect addition to the ranks, perhaps mixing the quirkiness of Pleasence with the intensity of Savalas.

Given how good he is in everything we’ve seen him in, Waltz is absolutely the perfect choice. Now, whether he decides to go bald with it is probably best left to better people than I. Are you excited for the return of Blofeld? Who’s been your favorite thus far? Let me know below! Telly Savalas | Hollywood Walk of Fame Caucasian Aristotelis ?Telly? Savalas was an American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Best known for playing the title role in the 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz. His other movie credits include The Young Savages, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Battle of the Bulge, The Dirty Dozen, The Scalphunters, supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Kelly's Heroes , Pretty Maids All in a Row, Inside Out and Escape to Athena.

Savalas, the second of five children, was born as Aristotelis Savalas in Garden City, New York, to Greek American parents Christina, a New York City artist who was a native of Sparta, and Nick Savalas, a Greek restaurant owner. When he entered Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, New York, he initially only spoke Greek, yet learned English and graduated in 1940. After graduation, he worked as a lifeguard, but on one occasion, was unsuccessful at rescuing a man from drowning, an event which would haunt Savalas for the remainder of his life. When he entered Columbia University School of General Studies, Savalas took a variety of courses, such as English, radio and psychology, graduating in 1948. At that time, he fell in love with radio and television, which led to his interest in acting. Savalas also gained life experience with a three-year stint in the Army during World War II, working for the State Department as host of the "Your Voice of America" series, then at ABC News, before beginning an acting career in his late thirties.

In 1950, Savalas hosted a popular radio show called The Coffeehouse in New York City. Savalas started out as an executive director and then senior director of the news special events at ABC. He then became an executive producer for the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports where he gave Howard Cosell his first job. James Bond 007 :: MI6 - The Home Of James Bond MI6 looks back at the seven actors who have each portrayed James Bond's deadliest villain - Ernst Stavro Blofeld... The Actors Who Played Blofeld 31st July 2005 From the beginning, there are certain elements that have made the world of James Bond fascinating, and have brought fans back time and again: fast cars, sexy girls, cool gadgets, plenty of martinis (shaken, not stirred), and, of course, insanely over-the-top villains! Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s one megalomaniac dominated the underworld of the James Bond universe – Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

Seen first as the head of the evil organization known as SPECTRE (The SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, Extortion), and then apparently striking out on his own, Blofeld or his minions faced off against James Bond more times than any other villain. Now MI6 looks back at the actors who shaped the Blofeld legacy... Although Dr. No introduced filmgoers to SPECTRE in 1962, it was a year later before fans met “Number One” (Blofeld). In From Russia With Love , the role of Blofeld was portrayed by two actors. Anthony Dawson was shown on camera stroking a white Angora cat, but it was Eric Pohlman who provided the chilling voice of the character. Anthony Dawson was born 18 October 1916 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He began acting in the 1940s, and was often cast as sadistic characters. Bond fans first saw Anthony Dawson as Professor Dent in Dr.

No, but since Dawson’s face was not shown during From Russia With Love, he was able to fool audiences, and the credit even listed “Ernst Blofeld” as being played by “?” in an attempt to make the character that much more mysterious. Dawson would again reprise his role as the figure of Blofeld two years later in Thunderball , but again it was not his voice that audiences heard. Beyond Bond: After Bond, Dawson’s career never fully flourished. He did several Italian films, including a 1967 film called OK Connery (a.k.a. Operation Double 007 or Operation Kid Brother), which, coincidentally, starred Sean Connery’s younger brother, Neil, along with several other actors who appeared in Bond films, including Daniela Bianchi, Adolfo Celi, Bernard Lee, and Lois Maxwell. Dawson continued acting all his life, last appearing in the miniseries “Selling Hitler” in 1991. Dawson finally died of cancer in Sussex, England on 8 January 1992.

Eric Pohlmann, who provided the voice for Blofeld in From Russia With Love and Thunderball, was born 18 July 1913 in Vienna, Austria. Pohlmann studied at Max Reinhard School before becoming a stage entertainer in the 1930s. He met his wife, Liselotte Goettinger, on stage, and they were married after escaping to London in 1939. Pohlmann appeared often on stage and in television throughout his career, and began doing films in the late 1940s. He also guest starred in a few episodes of “The Saint” (starring Roger Moore), and one episode of “The Avengers” (which among other Bond-related names, starred Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg). Beyond Bond: Pohlmann’s love appeared to be for the stage, and he returned to Germany and Austria for several stage performances throughout the years after 1965. Sadly, his wife, Liselotte, died of a heart attack in September 1968.

Pohlmann continued doing stage, TV, and film appearances, though, and most notably landed roles in Inspector Clouseau (1968) and The Return of the Pink Panther (1975). Then, like his wife, Eric Pohlmann suffered a fatal heart attack on 25 July 1979, during final rehearsals for his 2nd appearance at the Salzburg Festival in Bavaria, Germany. Leading up to the release of You Only Live Twice , Bond producers announced that audiences would finally get to see the face of Ernst Stavro Blofeld. But the face fans saw in the film was not the face originally cast for the role. Czech actor Jan Werich was originally cast as Blofeld . Some sources claim that Werich became ill at the time of shooting, and had to retire from the picture because of this illness. Other sources – including director Lewis Gilbert – claim that the filmmakers simply realized that Werich was not right for the part. Regardless of the reason, Werich shot scenes as Blofeld for only five days before he was replaced by Donald Pleasence. Donald Pleasence was born 5 October 1919 in Worksop, England.

Pleasence took public speaking classes as a child, and began his acting career in a 1939 production of Wuthering Heights. He took a break from acting, however, when he joined the Royal Air Force during WWII. His plane was shot down, and he spent a year in a German POW camp. After the war, Pleasance returned to acting, and became one of Britain’s most popular actors, doing numerous stage and television performances, and acting in 145 films over the span of his career. Beyond Bond: Donald Pleasance was married four times and had five daughters (two by his first wife, two by his second wife, one by his third wife, and no children by his fourth wife). Besides his appearance as Blofeld in You Only Live Twice, Donald Pleasance is most recognized for his recurring role as Dr. Sam Loomis in the famed Halloween series. Pleasance died on 2 February 1995 in St. Paul de Vence, France, after complications from heart-valve replacement surgery. In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service , producers wanted to have a more active Blofeld , so they cast American actor Telly Savalas in the role.

Telly Savalas was born on 21 January 1924 in Garden City, New York. His birth name was Aristotelis Savalas. Savalas studied psychology at Columbia University before he dropped out to serve in WWII. He was injured in the line of duty, and received a Purple Heart upon discharge. In the 1950s, Savalas hosted his own talk show for ABC Radio before finally turning to acting at the age of 35. Beyond Bond: Savalas played several villainous characters over the years, but besides his role as Blofeld in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Telly Savalas is perhaps best known as Lt. Theo Kojak, appearing in the TV movie, The Marcus-Nelson Murders (1973). This movie launched the TV series “Kojak”, which ran from 1973 to 1978, and spawned seven more Kojak TV movies. Unfortunately, Savalas contracted bladder cancer in the ‘90s, and he died in Universal City, California on 22 January 1994, just one day after his 70th birthday.

In 1971, Blofeld got a makeover when he was portrayed by Charles Gray in Diamonds Are Forever . Charles Gray had been previously introduced to Bond fans as Dikko Henderson , one of Bond’s allies who had been killed by one of Blofeld’s men in You Only Live Twice. This makes Gray one of the few actors who have played both an ally and a villain in the James Bond universe. Although Gray’s Blofeld bore little physical resemblance to previous Blofeld incarnations, Bond instantly recognized the villain with the white Angora cat, and Blofeld’s evil plot was just as devious as ever. Beyond Bond: Charles Gray was born 29 August 1928 in Bournemouth, Dorset, England. His birth name was Donald Marshall Gray, but when he left his job as a clerk for a real-estate agent to become a Shakespearean stage actor at the age of 24, Gray had a difficult time making a name for himself. There was already a well-known British actor named Donald Gray, so he performed briefly under the name “Oliver Gray”, and was sometimes credited as “Charles D. Gray” (to avoid confusion with American actor Charles H. Gray) before settling on “Charles Gray”.

Over the years, Charles Gray found his niche, though, often playing authority figures and villains. Besides Blodeld, Gray was best known for his roles as Mycroft Holmes in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1978) and as the criminologist/narrator in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). Gray continued acting, and was last seen in the made-for-TV movie, Longitude (2000). Charles Gray died of cancer on 7 March 2000 in London, England. After Diamonds Are Forever, legal issues between Eon Productions and Kevin McClory, who worked on the original script for Thunderball with Ian Fleming in the 1950s, forced Blofeld to retire from the official series. Blofeld made an unofficial return to the Eon series ten years later, though, in the opening sequences of For Your Eyes Only in 1981, when John Hollis portrayed a faceless, wheelchair-bound, bald man with a white Angora cat.

It is clear that this character was intended to be Blofeld – the technique of hiding the character’s face evokes memories of Blofeld’s early appearances, and the wheelchair is an allusion to the events of OHMSS – but for legal reasons, his name was never mentioned in the film, nor was it listed in the film’s credits. Beyond Bond: John Hollis was born in 1935 in London, England. Not much is known about his personal life, but in addition to James Bond, Hollis has also made appearances in the Superman and Star Wars franchises, and also made an uncredited appearance in 1967’s unofficial Bond film, Casino Royale. Using his rights to Thunderball, Kevin McClory made the unofficial Bond film, Never Say Never Again, starring Sean Connery, in 1983. McClory’s version of Ernst Stavro Blofeld was played by Swedish legend, Max von Sydow. Again, the white cat was present, but this time, Blofeld’s appearance is reminiscent of the version first intended with Jan Werich, with grey hair and a goatee. Max von Sydow was born 29 April 1929 in Lund, Sweden.

As a teenager, von Sydow and some of his friends founded an amateur theatre company, and later he attended The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. In 1955, he moved to Malmö, where he met and began working with Ingmar Bergman, and his career really began to take off as he starred in Oscar-winning films produced by Bergman. Von Sydow went on to since star in such classics as The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and The Exorcist (1973), and more recently in blockbusters like Judge Dredd (1995) and Minority Report (2002). Beyond Bond: Bond producers originally asked Max von Sydow to play Dr. No, but he declined that offer. But besides portraying Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Never Say Never Again, Max von Sydow also has the distinction of having worked alongside at least two previous Blofeld actors.

First, he played alongside John Hollis in Flash Gordon (1980), and then he worked with Telly Savalas in the made-for-TV movie, Kojak: The Belarus File (1985) Year Portrayed Blofeld Telly Savalas - 必应 Sign in Telly Savalas Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas (Greek: Αριστοτέλης "Τέλλυ" Σαβάλας; January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was an American singer, film, television and character actor, whose career spanned four decades of television. He was noted for his deep, gravelly voice and his bald head. He also released the one-hit wonder song, "If?," which he introduced in the UK in 1975. He had also appeared as a guest on several talk and variety shows. Savalas's 33-year career began in films in 1961, whose movie credits include: The Young Savages (1961), The Greatest Story E ...

(展开) Ever Told (1965), Battle of the Bulge (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967), The Scalphunters (1968), supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971), Inside Out (1975), and Escape to Athena (1979). He then continued achieving success in the television crime drama Kojak (1973–1978), co-starring his real-life brother George Savalas, in which Savalas played the title role. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962). Early life. The second of five children, Telly Savalas was born Aristotelis Savalas on January 21, 1922, in Garden City, New York, to Greek-American ...

Ernst Stavro Blofeld | James Bond Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Share Donald Pleasence as Blofeld in You Only Live Twice (1967). Ernst Stavro Blofeld is a fictional character and a supervillain from the James Bond series of novels and films, who was created by Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory. An evil genius with aspirations of world domination, he is the archenemy of the British Secret Service agent James Bond and is head of the global criminal organisation SPECTRE . He was played on screen by Donald Pleasence , Telly Savalas , Charles Gray , Max von Sydow and Christoph Waltz , among others. Blofeld initially appeared in six James Bond films from Eon Productions: From Russia with Love (1963), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and For Your Eyes Only (1981) (the pre-title sequence of which marks his final appearance and the death of this version of the character).

Blofeld also appears in Never Say Never Again , the 1983 Warner Brothers remake of Thunderball. An updated version of the character made his return to the Eon series in the 2015 film SPECTRE .

Question: Telly Savalas played the role of Ernst Stavro Blofeld in which James Bond film?
Answer: ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE