Oliver Reed
![Reed in 1968](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Oliver_Reed_1968_recropped.jpg)
For playing Antonius Proximo, 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 in 2000. At the peak of his career, in 1971, British exhibitors voted Reed fifth-most-popular star at the box office. 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