| Herbert Lom |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT HERBERT LOM | |
| 1917 births | |
| lom, herbert | |
| living people | |
| czech actors | |
| film actors | |
| british film actors | |
| british television actors | |
| czech expatriates | |
| people from prague | |
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He moved to Britain in 1939 and made many appearances in British films throughout the 1940s, usually in villainous roles, although he later appeared in comedies as well. He managed to escape being typecast as a European heavy by securing a diverse range of castings, including as Napoleon Bonaparte in '' The Young Mr. Pitt '' (1942) (and again in the 1956 version of '' War And Peace ''). In a rare starring role Lom played twin trapeze artists in ''Dual Alibi'' (1946). He continued into the 1950s with roles opposite Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers in '' The Ladykillers '', and opposite Robert Mitchum , Jack Lemmon and Rita Hayworth in ''Fire Down Below'' (1957). (whom he resembled), Lom didn't get as many starring assignments as he rated, but makes a lasting impression in character parts.” THE 1960S The 1960s was an outstanding decade for Lom, securing him a wide range of assignments, starting with '' Spartacus '' in 1960, '' El Cid '', and the role of Captain Nemo in '' Mysterious Island '', both in 1961. Finally he returned to top billing again in Hammer Films ' production of '' The Phantom Of The Opera ''. Lom's English is noted for a precise, elegant delivery. The phantom mask in this version is a full face mask, which made casting an actor with his vocal talents a wise choice. "It was wonderful to play such a part, but I was disappointed with the picture," Lom says. "This version of the famous Gaston Leroux story dragged. The Phantom wasn't given enough to do, but at least I wasn't the villain, for a change. Michael Gough was the villain." Hammer Films produced endless low-budget horror films. Lom recalled in one interview how producers expected actors to throw themselves into their work: "For one of my scenes, the Hammer people wanted me to smash my head against a stone pillar, because they said they couldn't afford one made of rubber," Lom reveals. "I refused to beat my head against stone, of course. This caused a 'big crisis,' because it took them half a day to make a rubber pillar that looked like stone. And of course, it cost a few pennies more. Horror indeed!" THE PINK PANTHER He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Charles Dreyfus , Inspector Clouseau 's long-suffering superior in Blake Edwards 's Pink Panther films. Lom's Dreyfus is eventually driven mad by the incompetent antics of Clouseau, and reduced to a sputtering, inchoate wreck, with a twitching eye. Sellers was a comic giant; nevertheless, Lom's full-body performance, coupled with his intelligent, well-spoken delivery manages to stand on equal footing with Sellers's. WRITING Lom has also written two historical novels, one on the playwright Christopher Marlowe (''Enter a Spy: The Double Life of Christopher Marlowe'', 1971) and another on the French Revolution (''Dr. Guillotin: The Eccentric Exploits of an Early Scientist'', 1992). The movie rights to the latter have been purchased but no film to date has been produced. QUOTES
TRIVIA Lom has portrayed four characters who played the organ: the Phantom of the Opera, René Marot, Charles Dreyfus and Captain Nemo. SELECTED FILMS
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