Michael Lonsdale
Born: 1931-05-24 in Paris, France
Died: 2020-09-21
Known For: Acting
Biography
Michael Edward Lonsdale Crouch (24 May 1931 – 21 September 2020), commonly known as Michael Lonsdale and sometimes as Michel Lonsdale, was a French-British actor and author who appeared in over 180 films and television shows. He is often known in the English-speaking world for his roles as the villain Hugo Drax in the 1979 James Bond film Moonraker, deputy police commissioner Claude Lebel in The Day of the Jackal (1973), The Abbot in The Name of the Rose (1986) and Dupont d'Ivry in The Remains of the Day (1993). Lonsdale was born in Paris, the natural son of British Army officer Edward Lonsdale Crouch and Simone Calderon (née Béraud). He was brought up initially on the island of Jersey, then in London from 1935, and later, during the Second World War, in Casablanca, Morocco. He returned to Paris to study painting in 1947, but was drawn into the world of acting instead, first appearing on stage at the age of 24. Lonsdale was bilingual, and appeared in both English-language and French-language productions. He appeared in a starring role with Roger Moore in the 1979 James Bond film Moonraker. and with Sean Connery, in the 1986 film The Name of the Rose. He would later appear in Munich (2005), a film that also starred another Bond, Daniel Craig. In February 2011, he won a César Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Of Gods and Men. Lonsdale was also the author of ten books. A practising Roman Catholic, he was close to the Emmanuel Community. In his 2016 memoir Le Dictionnaire de Ma Vie, Lonsdale revealed he had fallen for Delphine Seyrig, having met her as a student in Tania Balachova's acting classes at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in 1947. He wrote that "it was her or nothing", which was why he never married. Lonsdale died in Paris on 21 September 2020, aged 89. Description above from the Wikipedia article Michael Lonsdale, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
2025
2024
- African Glory as Christopher Columbus
2023
- The Outsider as Narrator (Voice)
2022
- An Oral History of: The Name of the Rose as Self (archive footage)
2020
- Le Fantôme de Laurent Terzieff as Self
2019
- Salvador Dalí: Génie tragi-comique as Narrator
- Degas and I as Edgar Degas
2017
- Bazin's Film as Narrator
2016
- Sculpt
- The First, the Last as Jean-Berchmans
- Jean-Marie Serreau, découvreur de théâtres as Self
- Les Filles au Moyen-Âge as Daniel
- The Mysteries of Paris: Jacques Rivette's Out 1 Revisited as Self
2015
- The Visit as Self
2014
- Maestro as Cedric Rovère
- J.R.R. Tolkien: Designer of Worlds as (voice)
- Rosenn as (voice)
- N: The Madness Of Reason as Narrator
2013
- Le Renard jaune as Jean Virno
2012
- Gebo and the Shadow as Gebo
2011
- Hitler in Hollywood as Michael Lonsdale
- Titeuf as Le psy (voice)
- Free Men as Si Kaddour Ben Ghabrit
- Veilleurs dans la nuit - Une journée monastique à l'Abbaye Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux as Narrateur
- The Cardboard Village as Old Priest
2010
- Of Gods and Men as Luc
2009
- Agora as Theon
- Au siècle de Maupassant, contes et nouvelles du XIXe as Le Grand Loustalot
- You'll Miss Me as Max
2008
- The Man from London as Kocsmáros (voice)
- Le Silence de l'épervier as Antoine Carsac
- Les amants cinéma as Self
2007
- To Each His Own Cinema as The old blind man (segment "Le Don")
- The Last Mistress as le vicomte Prony
- Go West: A Lucky Luke Adventure as Bartleby (voice)
- Heartbeat Detector as Mathias Jüst
2006
- Goya's Ghosts as Inquisitor General
- Jeanne, à petits pas as Louis
- Les Mains d'Andréa
2005
- Munich as Papa
- The Perfume of the Lady in Black as Professor Stangerson
- The Separation as Paul Doumer
- Gentille as Jean
- Bye Bye Blackbird as Robert
- Invisible as Le gardien
2004
- Five Times Two as Bernard
- Under a False Name as David
- Adieu as Serge
2003
- Kaena: The Prophecy as Opaz (voice)
- The Mystery of the Yellow Room as Stangerson
- Le Furet as Don Salvadore
2002
- Le Mythe Cathare as Narrator
2001
- Those Facing Us as Mikaël
2000
- Actors as Man walking down the street
- Inside 'Moonraker' as Self
- Speaking of Buñuel as Self
- Delphine Seyrig, portrait d'une comète as Self
- Is Dead - Portrait incomplet de Gertrude Stein as Narrator (voice)
1999
- A Monkey's Tale as Maître Flavius (Voice)
1998
- Ronin as Jean-Pierre
- Don Juan as Don Luis
- Let There Be Light! as Monseigneur Loublié
1997
- Mauvais Genre as Honoré de Balzac
- Jean Eustache's Wasted Breath as (voice)
- Noise of Love and War as The director
1996
- La Plante Humaine as Michel
1995
- Jefferson in Paris as Louis XVI
- Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud as Dollabella
- Vroum-vroum
1994
- Dieu sait quoi as Narrator
1993
- The Remains of the Day as Dupont D'Ivry
- Woyzeck as Le capitaine
- L'ordre du jour as Stark
1991
- Maigret as Guillaume Serre
- Seul face au crime as Procuratore
- My Life Is Hell as Gabriel
1990
- Film sur Georges Perec as Self
- Out 1 as Thomas
1989
- Souvenir as Xavier Lorion
- Cela s'appelle l'amour as Self
- Earthen Man as (voice)
1988
- The Tribulations of Balthazar Kober as Cammerschulze
1987
- Der Madonna-Mann as Tanzmann
1986
- The Name of the Rose as The Abbot
- Emile Reynaud as Narrator
- Le Tiroir secret as Philippe Jolivet
- The Abbey of Crime: Umberto Eco's 'The Name of the Rose' as Self
- The Memory of the Eye E.J. Marey as Narrator
- Rendez-vous manqués as Moralès
- L'air d'aimer as Raymond
1985
- The Holcroft Covenant as Ernst Manfredi
- Le Génie du faux as Constantin Escher
- The Insomniac on the Bridge as Antonie
- Billy Ze Kick as Commissaire Bellanger
1984
- Good King Dagobert as Saint Eloi
- The Judge as Le docteur
- The Colour of Words as Self
1983
- Erendira as Senator Onésimo Sanchez
- The Boulugres as Le roi (voice)
- Chronopolis as Narrator (voice)
- La Rényon lontan as Narrator (voice)
- Une jeunesse as Béjardy
1982
- Smiley's People as Anton Grigoriev
- Enigma as Bodley
- Le rose et le blanc as Léon
- Mora ... (Writer)
- Trompe-l'oeil as Self (voice)
- Sweet Inquest on Violence as Ash, the financier
- Mersonne ne m'aime as Commissioner Bancau
1981
- Un paquebot dans la tête as Roland Gougean-Roland
- The Bunker as Martin Bormann
- The Games of Countess Dolingen as Bertrand Haines-Pearson
- Alone as Ludovic
1980
- Jean-Sans-Terre as Jean Papeuil
1979
- Moonraker as Hugo Drax
- The Passage as Renoudot
- Ève avait l'éclat métallique de l'été
1978
- Ciné regards as Self
- The Left-Handed Woman as The Waiter
- The Risk of Living as narrator
1977
- A Dirty Story as The voyeur
- The Accuser as Abéraud
- Aurais dû faire gaffe... le choc est terrible
- The Devil in the Box as Georges Aubert
1976
- Mr. Klein as Pierre
- Cygne II as Narrator (voice)
- Les Écrans déchirés as Michael
- La nuit du beau marin peut-être? as Boris
- Son nom de Venise dans Calcutta désert as The Vice Consul of Lahore
- Scrambled Eggs as The President of the Republic
- Bartleby as L'Huissier
1975
- Les Rendez-vous du dimanche as Self
- India Song as Le Vice-Consul de Lahore
- Né as Self
- Special Section as Pierre Pucheu - le ministre de l'intérieur
- The Romantic Englishwoman as Swan
- Mad Enough to Kill as Stephane Mostri
- Serious as Pleasure as Inspecteur Fournier
- Galileo as Cardinal Barberini (later Pope Urban VIII)
- The Track as David Sutter
- The Pink Telephone as M. Morrison, président de la Fielding
- Aloïse as le médecin
- A Whale That Had a Toothache as Le peintre
1974
- The Phantom of Liberty as Hatter
- Stavisky... as Docteur Mézy
- Successive Slidings of Pleasure as The Judge
- Malaventure as Georges Mortier
- Caravan to Vaccarès as Duc de Croyter
- La Confession d'un enfant du siècle as Smith
- No Pockets in a Shroud as Raymond
- The Suspects as Judge Souftries
- Right to the city as Narrator
- Film sur Hans Bellmer as Narrator
- La Grande Paulette as Paul
- The Truth About the Imaginary Passion of an Unknown as Le reporter TV / Ponce Pilate
1973
- The Day of the Jackal as Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel
- Out 1: Spectre as Thomas
- The Girl with the Cello as Philippe Lariel
- Les grands sentiments font les bons gueuletons as Stéphane
1972
- Le Grand Échiquier as Self
- There Once Was a Cop as Commissioner Lucas
- The Old Maid as Monod
- Autumn as Julien, le réalisateur
- Chut ! as Sergel
- Les Années Lumière as Narrator (voice)
1971
- Samedi soir as Self
- Out 1 as Thomas
- Murmur of the Heart as Father Henri
- Spring as L'homme qui fuit
- Law Breakers as Inspector Bertrand
- Jaune, Le Soleil as Un juif
- Papa, the Lil' Boats as Hippolyte the brother of Marylène
1970
- Les Cent Livres des Hommes as Socrates
- The Stud as Commissioner Donald Both
- Le revolver et la rose as Philippe de la Tour / Dimitri Korkesky
- La Fenêtre as Bracquemont
- Un troisième as Le réalisateur
1969
- Hibernatus as Edouard Loriebat
- Winter as Julien & Marc
- Destroy, She Said as Stein
- The Nail Clippers as Le mari
1968
- Stolen Kisses as Georges Tabard
- The Bride Wore Black as Morane
- The Man in the Buick as L'inspecteur Farjon de la P.J.
- Zoo Story as Peter
- The Big Wash as Delaroche
- Concerto for an Exile as Un acteur au théâtre
1967
- Order of the Daisy as Lastac / Lataque, expert en écritures / Le juge (voice)
- Judoka-Secret Agent as Thomas Perkins
- The Authentic Trial of Carl Emmanuel Jung as L'Avocat de la Défense
1966
- Is Paris Burning? as Debu-Bridel (uncredited)
- Your Money or Your Life as Speaker at the Shy People's Club
- Comédie as L'homme (M)
1965
- Hail! Mafia as Hyman
- The Buddies as Lamendin
- The Ghostly Rental as Kernan
1964
- Behold a Pale Horse as Reporter
- Jaloux comme un tigre as The grimacing motorist
- The Little Misses as L'elève
- Le Petit Nicolas as The father
1962
- The Trial as Priest
- Adorable Liar as Albert
- The Immoral Moment as Mercier
- Crime Does Not Pay as Acteur
- Snobs! as Charles Dufaut
- Le bureau des mariages
1960
- The Itchy Palm as Nobert
- The Door Slams as Georges
- Les Trois Sœurs as Andreï Prodarov
1956
- It Happened in Aden as Sinclair