ACTOR
Donald Pleasence
28 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (28)
- #001
One of the stars of The Great Escape (1963) was himself a World War II prisoner of war: Hannes Messemer, who played the camp commandant Colonel Lugo, was a German soldier in World War II, was captured by American troops and held in a POW camp until the end of the war. He was also a prisoner of war in Russia. When he politely offered suggestions to director John Sturges, he was courteously asked to keep his "opinions" to himself. Later, when another star of the film informed Sturges that Pleasence had in fact been an RAF officer in a German World War II POW camp, Sturges sought Pleasence's technical advice and input on historical accuracy from that point on.
- #002
He would joke with friends and family that before Halloween (1978) came out he was typecast as villains and psychopaths and was never given the chance to play a good man or a hero. After playing the Van Helsing-like hero Dr. Sam Loomis in Halloween, however, he faced the opposite problem: no one wanted to see him play villains anymore, and the only roles offered to him were avengers and heroes.
- #003
Shortly before his death in 1995, Pleasence was set to appear in a production of "King Lear" that would have featured his daughters Angela Pleasence, Polly Jo Pleasence and Miranda Pleasence.
- #004
He was flying Lancaster NE112 "AS-M" when he was shot down on 9 September 1944.
- #005
He is the only actor to appear in both The Great Escape (1963) and its television sequel The Great Escape II: The Untold Story (1988). Ironically, he played one of the great escapees in the first film and one of the German executioners in the second. Strangely, he even played Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS and Gestapo, in The Eagle Has Landed (1976). Heinrich Himmler was the man who ordered the secret killing of "the 50" prisoners of war. Pleasence is therefore likely one of the few actors to have played all three roles of murder conspirator, executioner and victim (though technically he was not among the 50; his character had died earlier).
- #006
He was known for his eye for detail and authenticity, including his costumes. For the shooting of Wake in Fright (1971) he arrived in Sydney with the kind of beard favoured by forest rangers, immediately rejected the costume he was given and preferred to buy his own clothes from a Vinnies second-hand shop.
- #007
He was appointed an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1994 Queen's New Year Honours for his services to drama.
- #008
According to one of his daughters, the actor struggled with alcohol for many years. He then gave it up completely from the early 1980s onwards.
- #009
He felt he had become a staple of horror films but preferred to remain a working actor.
- #010
He and his The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) co-stars Telly Savalas and Max von Sydow later all played Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld: Pleasence in You Only Live Twice (1967), Savalas in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and von Sydow in Never Say Never Again (1983).
- #011
His role as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in You Only Live Twice (1967) would always influence the Dr. Evil character in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999). Both Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) and Pleasence's Blofeld have a large scar on their face.
- #012
He served as a wireless operator on Lancaster bombers with No. 166 Squadron of the Royal Air Force.
- #013
His father was a station master.
- #014
His daughter Jean is an occupational therapist at a psychiatric hospital.
- #015
He took elocution lessons as a child.
- #016
Before his death in 1995, Pleasence had agreed to play the role of Puppet Master Toulon in three Puppet Master sequels to be shot back-to-back in Romania over roughly ten weeks. He was also to play King Lear on stage in a production to be directed by Harold Pinter, with his three actress daughters Angela, Polly and Miranda playing Lear's daughters.
- #017
He wanted to be an actor from an early age but was rejected by around 40 repertory companies before being accepted by one in Jersey. He made a long, slow climb through other companies before being accepted by the Bristol Old Vic.
- #018
One of Donald Pleasence's closest friends in the acting profession was Peter Vaughan.
- #019
One of his greatest stage triumphs was Harold Pinter's play The Caretaker in the West End, which led to a New York Critics' Award nomination on Broadway and then to a film version in 1963. In 1991 he appeared in another staging of the play.
- #020
He appeared in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and Jesus of Nazareth (1977). Both were star-studded biblical epics depicting the life of Jesus Christ.
- #021
Donald Pleasence also made films in various countries outside the United States and Britain, among them Italy, the Middle East, France and Australia.
- #022
His final stage performance came in July 1994 at His Majesty's Theatre in Perth, Australia, playing Captain Shotover in George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House alongside his actress daughter Polly Pleasence.
- #023
He grew up in the village of Grimoldby in Lincolnshire, England, six miles from the market town of Louth.
- #024
His children were Angela, born 1941; Jean, born 1951; Lucy, born 1960; Polly, born 1962; and Miranda, born 1970.
- #025
He was good in school plays and won awards.
- #026
He was among the actors considered for the roles of Dr. Hans Fallada and Sir Percy Heseltine in Lifeforce (1985). Frank Finlay and Aubrey Morris won the respective roles.
- #027
He lived in a large house by the River Thames near Windsor Castle and drove a black limousine.
- #028
He was Carrie Anderson's great-uncle.
Continue through the archive
- Prince of Darknessas Priest
- The Monster Clubas Pickering (segment: Vampire Story)
- Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myersas Dr. Sam Loomis
- Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myersas Dr. Loomis
- Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myersas Loomis
- Phenomenaas Professor John McGregor
- Alone in the Darkas Dr. Leo Bain
- THX 1138as SEN
- Draculaas Seward
- Escape to Witch Mountainas Deranian
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