Oliver Reed

Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor, known for his upper-middle class, macho image and his heavy-drinking, "hellraiser" lifestyle. His screen career spanned over 40 years, between 1955 and 1999. At the peak of his career, in 1971, British exhibitors voted Reed fifth-most-popular star at the box office.

After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his notable film roles included La Bete in ''The Trap'' (1966), Bill Sikes in ''Oliver!'' (a film directed by his uncle Carol Reed that won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Picture), Gerald in ''Women in Love'' (1969), the title role in ''Hannibal Brooks'' (1969), Urbain Grandier in ''The Devils'' (1971), Athos in ''The Three Musketeers'' (1973) and ''The Four Musketeers'' (1974), Uncle Frank in ''Tommy'' (1975), Dr. Hal Raglan in ''The Brood'' (1979), Dolly Hopkins in ''Funny Bones'' (1995) and Antonius Proximo in ''Gladiator'' (2000).

For playing the old, gruff gladiator trainer in Ridley Scott's ''Gladiator'', in what was his final film, Reed was posthumously nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture in 2000.

The British Film Institute (BFI) stated that "partnerships with Michael Winner and Ken Russell in the mid-[19]60s saw Reed become an emblematic Brit-flick icon", but from the mid-1970s his alcoholism began affecting his career, with the BFI adding: "Reed had assumed Robert Newton's mantle as Britain's thirstiest thespian". Provided by Wikipedia