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The death of actor Herbert Lom was announced today; his family said he died peacefully in his sleep. He had a career of around one hundred films, but would be most remembered for his role as Inspector Dreyfus in the Pink Panther movies opposite Peter Sellers (and indeed, without Peter Sellers as the series continued). Although he had mixed feelings about the association, movie buffs loved to see him in those and other films where his deep, rich tones could be applied to all sorts of villainy and mystery - his Czech accent helped a lot.
Having begun his career in Eastern Europe, he moved to the United Kingdom to escape World War II, and began to secure parts in the movie and television industry there. One of his first was as Napoleon in Young Mr Pitt, and before long he was instantly recognisable in such efforts as The Seventh Veil, Night and the City, The Ladykillers, War and Peace (as Napoleon again), Hell Drivers, Chase a Crooked Shadow, North West Frontier, Spartacus, Mysterious Island (as Captain Nemo), El Cid, The Phantom of the Opera (Hammer version; title role) and then A Shot in the Dark, his first Clouseau outing.
In spite of trouble with the Blacklist, he worked steadily during the sixties and beyond: Gambit, Villa Rides, Journey to the Far Side of the Sun, Jess Franco's Count Dracula, Mark of the Devil, Asylum (a favourite on late night TV), And Now the Screaming Starts!, two versions of And Then There Were None, The Man with Bogart's Face, David Cronenberg's The Dead Zone, King Solomon's Mines, The Sect and his last cinema film, Son of the Pink Panther. He also wrote a couple of novels. He was always worth watching: no film with Herbert Lom is a complete dead loss thanks to his way with a line and a look. |
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