Personal Info
Known For:
Acting
Birthday:
May 24, 1931
Place of Birth:
Paris, France
Social Media
Michael Lonsdale
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.
Known For
Filmography
| Year | Movie | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | The Life of Mirrors | |
| 2024 | African Glory | Christopher Columbus |
| 2023 | The Outsider | Narrator (Voice) |
| 2020 | Le Fantôme de Laurent Terzieff | Self |
| 2019 | Degas and I | Edgar Degas |
| 2019 | Salvador Dalí: Génie tragi-comique | Narrator |
| 2017 | Bazin's Film | Narrator |
| 2016 | Jean-Marie Serreau, découvreur de théâtres | Self |
| 2016 | The First, the Last | Jean-Berchmans |
| 2016 | Les Filles au Moyen-Âge | Daniel |
| 2016 | The Mysteries of Paris: Jacques Rivette's Out 1 Revisited | Self |
| 2016 | Sculpt | |
| 2015 | The Visit | Self |
| 2014 | Maestro | Cedric Rovère |
| 2014 | N: The Madness Of Reason | Narrator |
| 2014 | J.R.R. Tolkien: Designer of Worlds | (voice) |
| 2014 | Rosenn | (voice) |
| 2013 | Le Renard jaune | Jean Virno |
| 2012 | Gebo and the Shadow | Gebo |
| 2011 | Titeuf | Le psy (voice) |
| 2011 | Free Men | Si Kaddour Ben Ghabrit |
| 2011 | The Cardboard Village | Old Priest |
| 2011 | Hitler in Hollywood | Michael Lonsdale |
| 2011 | Veilleurs dans la nuit - Une journée monastique à l'Abbaye Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux | Narrateur |
| 2010 | Of Gods and Men | Luc |
| 2009 | Agora | Theon |
| 2009 | You'll Miss Me | Max |
| 2008 | Les amants cinéma | Self |
| 2007 | The Last Mistress | le vicomte Prony |
| 2007 | Go West: A Lucky Luke Adventure | Bartleby (voice) |
| 2007 | Heartbeat Detector | Mathias Jüst |
| 2007 | To Each His Own Cinema | The old blind man (segment "Le Don") |
| 2006 | Jeanne, à petits pas | Louis |
| 2006 | Goya's Ghosts | Inquisitor General |
| 2006 | Les Mains d'Andréa | |
| 2005 | Munich | Papa |
| 2005 | The Perfume of the Lady in Black | Le professeur Stangerson |
| 2005 | Invisible | Le gardien |
| 2005 | Gentille | Jean |
| 2005 | Bye Bye Blackbird | Robert |
| 2005 | The Separation | Paul Doumer |
| 2004 | Five Times Two | Bernard |
| 2004 | Under a False Name | David |
| 2004 | Adieu | Serge |
| 2003 | Le Furet | Don Salvadore |
| 2003 | Kaena: The Prophecy | Opaz (voice) |
| 2003 | The Mystery of the Yellow Room | Stangerson |
| 2002 | Le Mythe Cathare | Narrator |
| 2001 | Those Facing Us | Mikaël |
| 2000 | Actors | Man walking down the street |
| 2000 | Delphine Seyrig, portrait d'une comète | Self |
| 2000 | Is Dead - Portrait incomplet de Gertrude Stein | Narrator (voice) |
| 2000 | Inside 'Moonraker' | Self |
| 2000 | Speaking of Buñuel | Self |
| 1999 | A Monkey's Tale | Maître Flavius (Voice) |
| 1998 | Ronin | Jean-Pierre |
| 1998 | Let There Be Light! | Monseigneur Loublié |
| 1998 | Don Juan | Don Luis |
| 1997 | Mauvais Genre | Honoré de Balzac |
| 1997 | Jean Eustache's Wasted Breath | (voice) |
| 1997 | Noise of Love and War | The director |
| 1996 | La Plante Humaine | Michel |
| 1995 | Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud | Dollabella |
| 1995 | Jefferson in Paris | Louis XVI |
| 1995 | Vroum-vroum | |
| 1994 | Dieu sait quoi | Narrator |
| 1993 | Woyzeck | Le capitaine |
| 1993 | The Remains of the Day | Dupont D'Ivry |
| 1993 | L'ordre du jour | Stark |
| 1991 | My Life Is Hell | Gabriel |
| 1991 | Seul face au crime | Procuratore |
| 1990 | Film sur Georges Perec | Self |
| 1990 | Out 1 | Thomas |
| 1989 | Souvenir | Xavier Lorion |
| 1989 | Cela s'appelle l'amour | Self |
| 1989 | Earthen Man | (voice) |
| 1988 | The Tribulations of Balthazar Kober | Cammerschulze |
| 1987 | Der Madonna-Mann | Tanzmann |
| 1986 | The Name of the Rose | The Abbot |
| 1986 | L'air d'aimer | Raymond |
| 1986 | The Abbey of Crime: Umberto Eco's 'The Name of the Rose' | Self |
| 1986 | Rendez-vous manqués | Moralès |
| 1986 | Emile Reynaud | Narrator |
| 1986 | The Memory of the Eye E.J. Marey | Narrator |
| 1985 | The Holcroft Covenant | Ernst Manfredi |
| 1985 | The Insomniac on the Bridge | Antonie |
| 1985 | Billy Ze Kick | Commissaire Bellanger |
| 1984 | Good King Dagobert | Saint Eloi |
| 1984 | The Judge | Le docteur |
| 1984 | The Colour of Words | Self |
| 1983 | Erendira | Senator Onésimo Sanchez |
| 1983 | Chronopolis | Narrator (voice) |
| 1983 | Une jeunesse | Béjardy |
| 1983 | The Boulugres | Le roi (voice) |
| 1983 | La Rényon lontan | Narrator (voice) |
| 1982 | Enigma | Bodley |
| 1982 | Sweet Inquest on Violence | Ash, the financier |
| 1982 | Trompe-l'oeil | Self (voice) |
| 1982 | Mersonne ne m'aime | Commissioner Bancau |
| 1982 | Le rose et le blanc | Léon |
| 1981 | The Bunker | Martin Bormann |
| 1981 | The Games of Countess Dolingen | Bertrand Haines-Pearson |
| 1981 | Alone | Ludovic |
| 1981 | Un paquebot dans la tête | Roland |
| 1980 | Jean-Sans-Terre | Jean Papeuil |
| 1979 | Moonraker | Hugo Drax |
| 1979 | The Passage | Renoudot |
| 1979 | Ève avait l'éclat métallique de l'été | |
| 1978 | The Left-Handed Woman | The Waiter |
| 1978 | The Risk of Living | narrator |
| 1977 | A Dirty Story | The voyeur |
| 1977 | The Accuser | Abéraud |
| 1977 | The Devil in the Box | Georges Aubert |
| 1977 | Aurais dû faire gaffe... le choc est terrible | |
| 1976 | La nuit du beau marin peut-être? | Boris |
| 1976 | Son nom de Venise dans Calcutta désert | The Vice Consul of Lahore |
| 1976 | Mr. Klein | Pierre |
| 1976 | Cygne II | Narrator (voice) |
| 1976 | Scrambled Eggs | The President of the Republic |
| 1976 | Bartleby | L'Huissier |
| 1976 | Les Écrans déchirés | Michael |
| 1975 | The Romantic Englishwoman | Swan |
| 1975 | Aloïse | le médecin |
| 1975 | The Track | David Sutter |
| 1975 | India Song | Le Vice-Consul de Lahore |
| 1975 | Special Section | Pierre Pucheu - le ministre de l'intérieur |
| 1975 | The Pink Telephone | M. Morrison, président de la Fielding |
| 1975 | Galileo | Cardinal Barberini (later Pope Urban VIII) |
| 1975 | Mad Enough to Kill | Stephane Mostri |
| 1975 | Né | Self |
| 1975 | A Whale That Had a Toothache | Le peintre |
| 1975 | Serious as Pleasure | Inspecteur Fournier |
| 1974 | The Phantom of Liberty | The Hatter |
| 1974 | Right to the city | Narrator |
| 1974 | The Suspects | Judge Souftries |
| 1974 | Stavisky... | Docteur Mézy |
| 1974 | No Pockets in a Shroud | Raymond |
| 1974 | Successive Slidings of Pleasure | The Judge |
| 1974 | Caravan to Vaccarès | Duc de Croyter |
| 1974 | Film sur Hans Bellmer | Narrator |
| 1974 | La grande Paulette | Paul |
| 1974 | The Truth About the Imaginary Passion of an Unknown | Le reporter TV / Ponce Pilate |
| 1973 | The Day of the Jackal | Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel |
| 1973 | The Girl with the Cello | Philippe Lariel |
| 1973 | Les grands sentiments font les bons gueuletons | Stéphane |
| 1973 | Out 1: Spectre | Thomas |
| 1972 | The Old Maid | Monod |
| 1972 | There Once Was a Cop | Commissioner Lucas |
| 1972 | Les années Lumière | Narrator (voice) |
| 1972 | Autumn | Julien, le réalisateur |
| 1972 | Chut ! | Sergel |
| 1971 | Law Breakers | Inspector Bertrand |
| 1971 | Murmur of the Heart | Father Henri |
| 1971 | Spring | L'homme qui fuit |
| 1971 | Papa, the Lil' Boats | Hippolyte the brother of Marylène |
| 1971 | Jaune, Le Soleil | Un juif |
| 1970 | Un troisième | Le réalisateur |
| 1970 | Le revolver et la rose | Philippe de la Tour / Dimitri Korkesky |
| 1970 | The Stud | Commissioner Donald Both |
| 1970 | La Fenêtre | Bracquemont |
| 1969 | Hibernatus | Edouard Loriebat |
| 1969 | Destroy, She Said | Stein |
| 1969 | The Nail Clippers | Le mari |
| 1969 | Winter | Julien & Marc |
| 1968 | Stolen Kisses | Georges Tabard |
| 1968 | The Bride Wore Black | Morane |
| 1968 | The Man in the Buick | L'inspecteur Farjon de la P.J. |
| 1968 | The Big Wash | Delaroche |
| 1968 | Concerto for an Exile | Un acteur au théâtre |
| 1968 | Zoo Story | Peter |
| 1967 | The Authentic Trial of Carl Emmanuel Jung | L'Avocat de la Défense |
| 1967 | Order of the Daisy | Lastac / Lataque, expert en écritures / Le juge (voice) |
| 1967 | Judoka-Secret Agent | Thomas Perkins |
| 1966 | Your Money or Your Life | Speaker at the shy people's club |
| 1966 | Is Paris Burning? | Debu-Bridel (uncredited) |
| 1966 | Comédie | L'homme (M) |
| 1965 | The Buddies | Lamendin |
| 1965 | Hail! Mafia | Hyman |
| 1965 | The Ghostly Rental | Kernan |
| 1964 | Le petit Nicolas | The father |
| 1964 | The Little Misses | L'elève |
| 1964 | Jaloux comme un tigre | The grimacing motorist |
| 1964 | Behold a Pale Horse | Reporter |
| 1962 | Adorable Liar | Albert |
| 1962 | Snobs! | Charles Dufaut |
| 1962 | Crime Does Not Pay | Acteur |
| 1962 | The Trial | Priest |
| 1962 | The Immoral Moment | Mercier |
| 1962 | Le bureau des mariages | |
| 1960 | The Door Slams | Georges |
| 1960 | Les Trois Sœurs | Andreï Prodarov |
| 1960 | The Itchy Palm | Nobert |
| 1958 | A Bullet in the Gun Barrel | |
| 1956 | It Happened in Aden | Sinclair |
| Year | TV Show | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Au siècle de Maupassant, contes et nouvelles du XIXe | Le Grand Loustalot |
| 2008 | Le Silence de l'épervier | Antoine Carsac |
| 1991 | Maigret | Guillaume Serre |
| 1991 | Maigret | Sir Lampson |
| 1986 | Le Tiroir secret | Philippe Jolivet |
| 1985 | Le Génie du faux | Constantin Escher |
| 1982 | Smiley's People | Anton Grigoriev |
| 1975 | Les Rendez-vous du dimanche | Self |
| 1974 | La Confession d'un enfant du siècle | Smith |
| 1972 | Le Grand Échiquier | Self |
| 1971 | Out 1 | Thomas |
| 1971 | Samedi soir | Self |
| 1970 | Les Cent Livres des Hommes | Socrates |