Michael Lonsdale

Actor · 1931–2020 · Paris, France

Highest rated as cast or director

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.

Acted in 167

2020s

2025
The Life of Mirrors
Movie
2024
African Glory
Christopher Columbus

2010s

2019
Degas and I
Edgar Degas
2016
Sculpt
Movie
The First, the Last
Jean-Berchmans
63
Les Filles au Moyen-Âge
Daniel
2014
J.R.R. Tolkien: Designer of Worlds
(voice)
67
Maestro
Cedric Rovère
Rosenn
(voice)
2013
Le Renard jaune
Jean Virno
Marguerite Yourcenar: Alchimie du paysage
Movie
2012
Gebo and the Shadow
Gebo
2011
Veilleurs dans la nuit - Une journée monastique à l'Abbaye Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux
Narrateur
The Cardboard Village
Old Priest
Free Men
Si Kaddour Ben Ghabrit
Hitler in Hollywood
Michael Lonsdale
Titeuf
Le psy (voice)
58
2010
Of Gods and Men
Luc
Le Fauteuil hanté
Le Grand Loustalot

2000s

2009
You'll Miss Me
Max
Agora
Theon
64
Au siècle de Maupassant, contes et nouvelles du XIXe
Le Grand Loustalot · 1 episode
2008
The Man from London
Kocsmáros (voice)
Le Silence de l'épervier
Antoine Carsac · 8 episodes
2007
To Each His Own Cinema
The old blind man (segment "Le Don")
75
Heartbeat Detector
Mathias Jüst
Go West: A Lucky Luke Adventure
Bartleby (voice)
63
The Last Mistress
le vicomte Prony
68
2006
Goya's Ghosts
Inquisitor General
57
Jeanne, à petits pas
Louis
2005
Munich
Papa
75
Gentille
Jean
The Separation
Paul Doumer
Bye Bye Blackbird
Robert
56
The Perfume of the Lady in Black
Professor Stangerson
Invisible
Le gardien
2004
Under a False Name
David
Adieu
Serge
Five Times Two
Bernard
65
2003
Le Furet
Don Salvadore
The Mystery of the Yellow Room
Stangerson
Kaena: The Prophecy
Opaz (voice)
2001
Those Facing Us
Mikaël
2000
Actors
Man walking down the street
58

1990s

1999
A Monkey's Tale
Maître Flavius (Voice)
59
1998
Ronin
Jean-Pierre
70
Let There Be Light!
Monseigneur Loublié
Don Juan
Don Luis
1997
Mauvais Genre
Honoré de Balzac
Jean Eustache's Wasted Breath
(voice)
Noise of Love and War
The director
1996
La Plante Humaine
Michel
1995
Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud
Dollabella
Jefferson in Paris
Louis XVI
1993
The Remains of the Day
Dupont D'Ivry
83
Woyzeck
Le capitaine
L'ordre du jour
Stark
1991
My Life Is Hell
Gabriel
Maigret
Guillaume Serre, Sir Lampson · 1 episode
79
1990
Out 1
Thomas

1980s

1989
Souvenir
Xavier Lorion
Earthen Man
(voice)
1988
The Tribulations of Balthazar Kober
Cammerschulze
1987
Der Madonna-Mann
Tanzmann
1986
Le Tiroir secret
Philippe Jolivet · 1 episode
The Name of the Rose
The Abbot
71
L'air d'aimer
Raymond
1985
Billy Ze Kick
Commissaire Bellanger
Le Génie du faux
Constantin Escher · 4 episodes
The Insomniac on the Bridge
Antonie
The Holcroft Covenant
Ernst Manfredi
49
1984
Good King Dagobert
Saint Eloi
The Judge
Le docteur
1983
Une jeunesse
Béjardy
Erendira
Senator Onésimo Sanchez
The Boulugres
Le roi (voice)
1982
Enigma
Bodley
58
Smiley's People
Anton Grigoriev · 2 episodes
83
Mersonne ne m'aime
Commissioner Bancau
Sweet Inquest on Violence
Ash, the financier
Le rose et le blanc
Léon
1981
Alone
Ludovic
The Games of Countess Dolingen
Bertrand Haines-Pearson
The Bunker
Martin Bormann
67
Un paquebot dans la tête
Roland Gougean-Roland

1970s

1979
Moonraker
Hugo Drax
63
The Passage
Renoudot
51
1978
The Left-Handed Woman
The Waiter
1977
Aurais dû faire gaffe... le choc est terrible
Movie
A Dirty Story
The voyeur
The Accuser
Abéraud
The Devil in the Box
Georges Aubert
1976
Bartleby
L'Huissier
Mr. Klein
Pierre
74
Son nom de Venise dans Calcutta désert
The Vice Consul of Lahore
Scrambled Eggs
The President of the Republic
1975
The Pink Telephone
M. Morrison, président de la Fielding
Mad Enough to Kill
Stephane Mostri
The Romantic Englishwoman
Swan
65
India Song
Le Vice-Consul de Lahore
The Track
David Sutter
Special Section
Pierre Pucheu - le ministre de l'intérieur
A Whale That Had a Toothache
Le peintre
Aloïse
le médecin
Galileo
Cardinal Barberini (later Pope Urban VIII)
Serious as Pleasure
Inspecteur Fournier
1974
La Confession d'un enfant du siècle
Smith · 1 episode
The Suspects
Judge Souftries
No Pockets in a Shroud
Raymond
The Phantom of Liberty
Hatter
79
Malaventure
Georges Mortier · 6 episodes
Caravan to Vaccarès
Duc de Croyter
The Truth About the Imaginary Passion of an Unknown
Le reporter TV / Ponce Pilate
Stavisky...
Docteur Mézy
67
La Grande Paulette
Paul
Successive Slidings of Pleasure
The Judge
1973
Les grands sentiments font les bons gueuletons
Stéphane
The Girl with the Cello
Philippe Lariel
Out 1: Spectre
Thomas
The Day of the Jackal
Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel
81
1972
Autumn
Julien, le réalisateur
Chut !
Sergel
There Once Was a Cop
Commissioner Lucas
The Old Maid
Monod
1971
Spring
L'homme qui fuit
Out 1
Thomas · 8 episodes
Law Breakers
Inspector Bertrand
Murmur of the Heart
Father Henri
79
Papa, the Lil' Boats
Hippolyte the brother of Marylène
Jaune, Le Soleil
Un juif
1970
Le revolver et la rose
Philippe de la Tour / Dimitri Korkesky
Un troisième
Le réalisateur
La Fenêtre
Bracquemont
Les Cent Livres des Hommes
Socrates · 1 episode
The Stud
Commissioner Donald Both
57