Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 â€" 2 May 1999) was an English
actor known for his upper-middle class, macho image and "hellraiser"
lifestyle. Notable films include The Trap (1966), playing Bill Sikes
in the Best Picture Oscar winner Oliver! (1968), Women in Love (1969),
Hannibal Brooks (1969), The Devils (1971), portraying Athos in The
Three Musketeers (1973), Tommy (1975), The Brood (1979), Lion of the
Desert (1981), Castaway (1986), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
(1988), Funny Bones (1995) and Gladiator (2000).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 5th most popular
star at the box office. An alcoholic, Reed's issues with drink were
well publicised, from appearances on chat shows to a high-profile
friendship with drinking partner and The Who drummer Keith Moon, whom
he met while working on Tommy.Reed was born on 13 February 1938 at 9
Durrington Park Road, Wimbledon, to Peter Reed, a sports journalist
and Marcia (née Napier-Andrews). He was the nephew of film director
Sir Carol Reed, and grandson of the actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm
Tree and his mistress, Beatrice May Pinney (who later assumed the name
'Reed'), she being "the only person who understood, listened to,
encouraged and kissed Oliver". Reed claimed to have been a descendant
(through an illegitimate step) of Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia.
Reed attended 14 schools, including Ewell Castle School in Surrey.
Oliver's brother Simon Reed, a sports journalist, works for British
Eurosport. "My father thought I was just lazy," Reed later said. "He
thought I was a dunce."
actor known for his upper-middle class, macho image and "hellraiser"
lifestyle. Notable films include The Trap (1966), playing Bill Sikes
in the Best Picture Oscar winner Oliver! (1968), Women in Love (1969),
Hannibal Brooks (1969), The Devils (1971), portraying Athos in The
Three Musketeers (1973), Tommy (1975), The Brood (1979), Lion of the
Desert (1981), Castaway (1986), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
(1988), Funny Bones (1995) and Gladiator (2000).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 5th most popular
star at the box office. An alcoholic, Reed's issues with drink were
well publicised, from appearances on chat shows to a high-profile
friendship with drinking partner and The Who drummer Keith Moon, whom
he met while working on Tommy.Reed was born on 13 February 1938 at 9
Durrington Park Road, Wimbledon, to Peter Reed, a sports journalist
and Marcia (née Napier-Andrews). He was the nephew of film director
Sir Carol Reed, and grandson of the actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm
Tree and his mistress, Beatrice May Pinney (who later assumed the name
'Reed'), she being "the only person who understood, listened to,
encouraged and kissed Oliver". Reed claimed to have been a descendant
(through an illegitimate step) of Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia.
Reed attended 14 schools, including Ewell Castle School in Surrey.
Oliver's brother Simon Reed, a sports journalist, works for British
Eurosport. "My father thought I was just lazy," Reed later said. "He
thought I was a dunce."
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