Michel Lonsdale

Michel Lonsdale Headshot

Actor

Birth Date: May 24, 1931

Death Date: September 21, 2020

Birth Place: Paris, France

A highly respected character actor for over five decades, Michael Lonsdale was an understated but consistently believable presence in European films, as well as Hollywood efforts lensed there, including "The Bride Wore Black" (1966), "The Day of the Jackal" (1973), "Moonraker" (1979)" and "Of Gods and Men" (2010).

His quiet but forceful presence frequently led to him being cast as religious figures, like the Benedictine abbot in "The Name of the Rose" (1986) and the philosophical monk in "Gods and Men," but he also essayed his share of lawyers, businessmen, government officials, and a few royals, to which he brought carefully measured layers of humanity. Lonsdale's success in Europe attracted the attention of Hollywood, but save for a few studio pictures like the James Bond adventure "Moonraker," he assiduously avoided American features in favor of continental fare.

He grew busier as he grew older, yielding greater acclaim and awards, including a Cesar for "Of Gods and Men" in his eighth decade. Lonsdale's commitment to his art, and the sheer quantity of exceptional performances to his name, made him one of Europe's most well-regarded players.

Born May 24, 1931 in Paris, France, Michael Lonsdale spent the first nine years of his life in London before relocating with his parents to Morocco in 1939. His father planned to establish a business there, but the outbreak of World War II halted these plans. The arrival of Allied forces in North African brought Lonsdale's first exposure to Hollywood films through officers who befriended his parents and invited his family to Army screenings. He began to explore acting as a teenager after moving to Paris to study painting, and made his stage debut there at the age of 24. Bilingual in French and English from an early age, Lonsdale began appearing in French features and television productions as early as 1956.

Billed frequently as Michel Lonsdale, he worked steadily if anonymously for the next half-decade before gaining his first international production with Orson Welles' "The Trial" (1962), based on the novel by Franz Kafka.

From there, Lonsdale became a regularly featured player in European films, as well as Hollywood pictures lensed there. His innate gravitas and rich voice made him a natural as authority figures, frequently with a spiritual bent. Lonsdale soon amassed an impressive CV, filled with small but significant collaborations with such noted filmmakers as Fred Zinnemann on "Behold a Pale Horse" (1964), René Clément on "Is Paris Burning?" (1966), Marguerite Duras on "Détruire dit-elle" (1969), Jacques Rivette on the epic "Out 1" (1971) and Louis Malle on the international hit "Murmur of the Heart" (1971). Francois Truffaut cast him as one of Jeanne Moreau's victims in the suspenseful "The Bride Wore Black" (1966) and later, as the much-loathed shoe salesman under investigation by the hapless Jean-Pierre Leaud in "Stolen Kisses" (1968).

Lonsdale came to international attention with Zinneman's "The Day of the Jackal" (1973), for which he was second-billed as the chief French investigator on the trail of Edward Fox's shadowy assassin. He received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor, which led to more substantive roles in features like Alan Resnais' crime comedy "Stavisky " (1974) and as the masochistic hatter in Luis Bunuel's surreal "The Phantom of Liberty" (1975).

Lonsdale also continued to maintain his working relationship with directors like Duras with 1974's "Night Song," which he later described as his favorite film, thanks to his role as a psychologically tortured vice-consul.

In 1979, Lonsdale was cast as Sir Hugo Drax, a villainous industrialist who planned to wipe out humanity in order to rule a colony in space in the James Bond thriller "Moonraker." Despite its popularity, he resisted offers from Hollywood, citing Europe and its cinema as his home. High-profile pictures still followed, including "The Bunker" (CBS, 1981), with Lonsdale as Joseph Goebbels opposite Anthony Hopkins' Adolf Hitler, and "The Holcroft Covenant" (1985) with Michael Caine.

In 1986, he played a sympathetic Benedictine abbot whose abbey was the site of a murder in Jean-Jacques Annaud's "The Name of the Rose," then returned to French and Italian features for nearly a decade before re-emerging in the Merchant-Ivory productions "The Remains of the Day" (1993) and "Jefferson in Paris" (1995), the latter of which cast him as King Louis XVI. That same year, he earned a Cesar nomination as a mysterious figure in Claude Sautet's "Nelly & Mr. Arnaud," and enjoyed a choice turn three years later as another shadowy individual in John Frankenheimer's thriller "Ronin" (1998).

Lonsdale grew busier than ever in the 21st century, appearing in three to four films a year. Most of these were French productions, though he appeared as Daniel Craig's father in Steven Spielberg's "Munich" (2005). Two years later, he earned a second Cesar nomination as a CEO with a Nazi past in Nicolas Klotz's "Heartbeat Detector" (2007).

In 2010, he received some of the best reviews of his career as a philosophical monk whose Algerian abbey came under assault by Islamic fundamentalists in "Of Gods and Men." The film earned Lonsdale his first Cesar in 2011 and brought the eighty-year-old to international acclaim. Michael Lonsdale died on September 21, 2020 at the age of 89.

Credits

Krishnamurti, la révolution du silence

Voice
Movie
2024

Degas et Moi

Actor
Edgar Degas
Movie
2019

Le film de Bazin

Narrator
Movie
2017

Les premiers, les derniers

Actor
Jean-Berchmans
Movie
2016

Salvador Dali, génie tragi-comique

Narrator
Show
2015

Tolkien, des mots, des mondes

Voice
Show
2014

Faut pas croire

Guest
Show
2014

Salvador Dali Tragicomic Genius

Narrator
Movie
2014

Maestro

Actor
Cedric Rovere
Movie
2014

Le féminisme médiéval expliqué aux enfants

Actor
Movie
2014

Rosenn

Voice
Movie
2014

Le renard jaune

Actor
Jean Virno
Movie
2013

Gebo and the Shadow

Actor
Gebo
Movie
2012

The Cardboard Village

Actor
Il vecchio prete
Movie
2011

Free Men

Actor
Si Kaddour Ben Ghabrit
Movie
2011

Tootuff

Voice
Le psy
Movie
2011

Of Gods and Men

Actor
Luc
Movie
2010

Même l'avenir dure longtemps

Actor
Movie
2010

Agora

Actor
Theon
Movie
2009

Faits divers

Actor
Show
2008

Je vais te manquer

Actor
Movie
2008

Le Vivarium

Actor
Movie
2007

Une Vieille maîtresse

Actor
Le Vicomte de Prony
Movie
2007

Tous à l'Ouest: une aventure de Lucky Luke

Voice
Movie
2007

La Question Humaine

Actor
Mathias Jüst
Movie
2007

Heartbeat Detector

Actor
Mathias
Movie
2007

Goya's Ghosts

Actor
Inquisitor General
Movie
2006

Once Upon a Tomorrow

Actor
Le vieux monsieur
Movie
2006

La séparation

Actor
Paul Doumer
Movie
2005

Les Invisibles

Actor
Movie
2005

MunichStream

Actor
Papa
Movie
2005
78%

Gentille

Actor
Jean
Movie
2005

Bye Bye Blackbird

Actor
Robert
Movie
2005

The Perfume of the Lady in Black

Actor
Professor Stangerson
Movie
2005

5x2

Actor
Bernard
Movie
2004

Under a False Name

Actor
David Ginsberg
Movie
2004

Adieu

Actor
Serge
Movie
2003

Le furet

Actor
Don Salvadore
Movie
2003

Le Mystère de la chambre jaune

Actor
Stangerson
Movie
2003

Maigret et la croqueuse de diamants

Actor
Movie
2001

A Monkey's Tale

Voice
Maître Flavius
Movie
2000

RoninStream

Actor
Jean-Pierre
Movie
1998
70%

Don Juan

Actor
Don Luis
Movie
1998

Un prete tra noi

Actor
vescovo
Show
1997

Dieu sait quoi

Narrator
Movie
1997

Mauvais genre

Actor
Honoré de Balzac
Movie
1997

Nelly et monsieur Arnaud

Actor
Dolabella
Movie
1996

Jefferson in Paris

Actor
Louis XVI
Movie
1995

The Remains of the DayStream

Actor
Dupont D'Ivry
Movie
1993
96%

Seul face au crime: L'Affaire de la plage

Actor
Movie
1992

MaigretStream

Actor
Monsieur Serre
Series
1991

My Life Is Hell

Actor
Gabriel
Movie
1991

Maigret and the Burglar's Wife

Actor
Monsieur Serre
Movie
1991

Souvenir

Actor
Xavier Lorion
Movie
1988

L'Enfant et le président

Actor
Movie
1988

Der Madonna-Mann

Actor
Tanzmann
Movie
1987

Le tiroir secret

Actor
Philippe Jolivet
Show
1986

Le Loufiat

Actor
Movie
1986

The Name of the Rose

Actor
The Abbot
Movie
1986

The Holcroft Covenant

Actor
Ernst Manfredi
Movie
1985

La voix humaine

Director
Movie
1983

Erendira

Actor
Senator Onésimo Sanchez
Movie
1983

Chronopolis

Narrator
Movie
1982

Enigma

Actor
Bodley
Movie
1982

Seuls

Actor
Movie
1981

The Bunker

Actor
Martin Bormann
Movie
1981

L'Agent secret

Actor
Movie
1981

Les Jeux de la comtesse Dolingen de Gratz

Actor
Movie
1980

The Passage

Actor
Alain Renoudot
Movie
1979

MoonrakerStream

Actor
Hugo Drax
Movie
1979
59%

A Dirty Story

Actor
Movie
1977

The Left-Handed Woman

Actor
Der Kellner
Movie
1977

Monsieur KleinStream

Actor
Pierre
Movie
1976
100%

Les écrans déchirés

Actor
Michel
Movie
1976

Les écrans déchirés

Music
Movie
1976

Le Diable dans la boite

Actor
Movie
1976

Bartleby

Actor
Movie
1976

La Traque

Actor
David Sutter
Movie
1975

Folle à Tuer

Actor
Stéphane Mostri
Movie
1975

India Song

Actor
Le vice-consul de Lahore
Movie
1975

Special Section

Actor
Pierre Pucheu
Movie
1975

The Romantic Englishwoman

Actor
Swan
Movie
1975

Sérieux comme le plaisir

Actor
L'inspecteur Fournier
Movie
1975

Le Téléphone rose

Actor
Morrison
Movie
1975

Section spéciale

Actor
Pierre Pucheu
Movie
1975

The Pink Telephone

Actor
Morrison
Movie
1975

Glissements progressifs du plaisir

Actor
Movie
1974

Un linceul n'a pas de poches

Actor
Raymond
Movie
1974

Stavisky

Actor
Docteur Mézy
Movie
1974

La vérité sur l'imaginaire passion d'un inconnu

Actor
Le reporter TV / Ponce Pilate
Movie
1974

Caravan to Vaccares

Actor
Duc de Croyter
Movie
1974

The Suspects

Actor
Le juge Souftries
Movie
1974

Les grands sentiments font les bons gueuletons

Actor
Stéphane
Movie
1973

Les Grands Sentiments Font Les Bons Gueuletons

Actor
Movie
1973

The Day of the JackalStream

Actor
Lebel
Movie
1973
90%

La Grande Paulette

Actor
Movie
1973

Chut !

Actor
Movie
1972

Il était une fois un flic

Actor
Lucas
Movie
1972

Out 1

Actor
Thomas
Show
1971

Le printemps

Actor
Movie
1971

L'automne

Actor
Julien
Movie
1971

La vieille fille

Actor
Monod
Movie
1971

Papa les petits bateaux

Actor
Hippolyte
Movie
1971

Murmur of the Heart

Actor
Father Henri
Movie
1971

Un troisième

Actor
Movie
1970

Hibernatus

Actor
Le professeur Édouard Loriebat
Movie
1969

La pince à ongles

Actor
Le mari
Movie
1969

L'Étalon

Actor
Both
Movie
1969

Destroy, She Said

Actor
Stein
Movie
1969

The Bride Wore Black

Actor
Rene Morane
Movie
1968

Stolen Kisses

Actor
Georges Tabard
Movie
1968

Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret

Actor
Show
1967

Les Compagnons de la Marguerite

Actor
Lastac / Lataque, expert en écritures / La voix du juge d'instruction
Movie
1967

The Authentic Trial of Carl Emmanuel Jung

Actor
Defense
Movie
1966

Hail, Mafia

Actor
Hyman
Movie
1965

La Redevance du fantôme

Actor
Movie
1964

The Trial

Actor
Priest
Movie
1963

Snobs!

Actor
Charles Dufaut
Movie
1961

Une balle dans le canon

Actor
Movie
1958