Denholm Elliott

Denholm Mitchell Elliott CBE
Birth name	Denholm Mitchell Elliott
Born	31 May 1922(1922-05-31) Ealing, London, England
Died	6 October 1992 (aged 70) Ibiza, Spain
Years active	1949–1992
Spouse(s)	Virginia McKenna (1954) Susan Robinson (1962-death)
Awards BAFTA Awards Best Supporting Actor 1983 Trading Places 1984 A Private Function 1985 Defence of the Realm

Denholm Mitchell Elliott, CBE (31 May 1922 – 6 October 1992) was a distinguished English actor, with over 120 major film and TV credits.^[1] He was also a distinguished stage actor.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Personal life 2 Filmography 3 References 4 External links

Biography

Early life

Elliott was born in London, England to Nina Mitchell and Myles Layman Elliott.^[2] He attended Malvern College, trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and afterwards served as a radio operator and gunner in the Royal Air Force during World War II.^[3] In 1942, he was shot down over Denmark and spent the rest of the war in a P.O.W. camp in Silesia.

Career

After the war, he made his film debut in Dear Mr. Prohack (1949). He went on to play a large range of parts, often playing ineffectual and occasionally seedy characters, such as the journalist Bayliss in Defence of the Realm, the abortionist in Alfie, and the washed-up film director in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. He made many television appearances, notably in plays by Dennis Potter, including Follow The Yellow Brick Road (1972), Brimstone and Treacle (1976) and Blade on the Feather (1980). He took over from an ill Michael Aldridge for one season of The Man in Room 17 (1966) and also appeared in series such as Thriller (1975). In the 1980s he won three consecutive BAFTA awards as best supporting actor for Trading Places as Dan Aykroyd's kindly butler, A Private Function and Defence of the Realm, as well as an Academy Award nomination for A Room with a View. He also became familiar to a wider audience as the well meaning but ineffectual Dr. Marcus Brody in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In 1988, Elliott was awarded the CBE for his services to acting. His career included many stage performances, including with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Personal life

Openly bisexual,^[4] Elliott was married twice, the first time to the British actress, Virginia McKenna for a few months in 1954, and the second an 'open marriage' to actress Susan Robinson, with whom he had two children.^[4] His daughter Jennifer Elliott (born in 1964) died by suicide in 2003.^[4] Elliott was diagnosed with HIV in 1987,^[4] and died of AIDS-related tuberculosis at the age of 70 at his home on Ibiza, Spain. His widow Susan Elliott set up a charity, the Denholm Elliott Project, in his honour and collaborated on his biography.^[5] She also worked closely with the UK Coalition of People living with HIV and AIDS. She died on April 7, 2007 following a fire in her flat in London.^[4]

Filmography

Awards
Preceded by Denholm Elliott for A Private Function	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role 1986 for Defence of the Realm	Succeeded by Ray McAnally for The Mission
Preceded by Denholm Elliott for Trading Places	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role 1985 for A Private Function	Succeeded by Denholm Elliott for Defence of the Realm
Preceded by Jack Nicholson for Reds	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role 1984 for Trading Places	Succeeded by Denholm Elliott for A Private Function

References

External links

• Denholm Elliott at the Internet Movie Database
• Denholm Elliott at the British Film Institute's Screenonline

Persondata
NAME	Elliott, Denholm Mitchell
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	actor
DATE OF BIRTH	May 31 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH	Ealing, London
DATE OF DEATH	October 6 1992
PLACE OF DEATH	Ibiza, Spain