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Veteran actor Herbert Lom passes away

Veteran actor Herbert Lom passes away

THE veteran actor Herbert Lom has passed away. He was 95.

Mr. Lom, whose real name was Herbert Kuchacevich Schuldepacheru, was born in what was to become Czechoslovakia but moved to England in the late 1930s to escape the Nazis. He had already worked as an actor in Czech films but decided to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art when he reached London.

His first film role in Britain was that of Napoleon in The Young Mr. Pitt (1942). By the 1950s he was becoming a familiar face to cinema audiences, often playing sinister characters but it was in comedy films that he enjoyed his greatest success.

He was to secure his place in British film history after being cast as one of the hapless criminals in the 1955 Ealing comedy The Ladykillers (see below).

During his 60-year acting career, Mr. Lom was to appear in more than 100 films including Fire Down Below, Spartacus and El Cid. But for many fans he will always being associated with the Pink Panther movies and his role as Charles Dreyfuss (see below) the boss of Inspector Clouseau, played by Peter Sellers.

He first appeared in the role in A Shot In The Dark in 1964 and in subsequent films in the series his character became more mentally unstable as a result of having to deal with Clouseau’s incompetence.

Away from acting, Mr. Lom was a writer and had two novels published — Enter A Spy, which was published in 1971, and Dr. Guillotine which came out in 1993.

His final acting role was as Professor Dufosse in the 2004 TV movie Agatha Christie’s Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage.

To view an excerpt from The Ladykillers, click here.

To see a tribute which features excerpts of Mr. Lom as Charles Dreyfuss, click here.

 

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