Douglas William Bradley (born 7 September 1954) is an English actor and author, best known for his role as the lead Cenobite "Pinhead" in the ''Hellraiser'' film series and for narration on various Cradle of Filth albums. He is also starring in the upcoming animated film ''Dagon: Troll World Chronicles'' as the forest monster Goeyre Heddagh.

Early life

Bradley was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and attended Quarry Bank High School.

Career

Bradley is best known for playing the role of Pinhead, the lead Cenobite, in the first eight ''

Hellraiser ''Hellraiser'' is a 1987 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, and produced by Christopher Figg, based on Barker's 1986 novella ''The Hellbound Heart''. The film marked Barker's directorial debut. Its plot invol ...

'' films, as well as Captain Elliot Spencer in two of the films, '' Hellbound: Hellraiser II'' (1988) and '' Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth'' (1992). He is one of only six actors to play the same horror character at least six consecutive times, the others being Christopher Lee (who portrayed

Count Dracula Count Dracula () is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. He is considered to be both the prototypical and the archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by some ...

Robert Englund Robert Barton Englund (born June 6, 1947) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing the supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger in the '' Nightmare on Elm Street'' film series. Classically trained at the Royal Academy o ...

(who portrayed

Freddy Krueger Freddy Krueger () is a fictional character and the primary antagonist in the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' film series. He was created by Wes Craven and made his debut in Craven's '' A Nightmare on Elm Street'' (1984) as the malevolent spirit ...

Warwick Davis Warwick Ashley Davis (born 3 February 1970) is an English actor. He played the title character in ''Willow'' (1988) and the ''Leprechaun'' film series (1993–2003), several characters in the ''Star Wars'' film series (1983–2019), most nota ...

(who portrayed the Leprechaun),

Brad Dourif Bradford Claude Dourif (; born March 18, 1950) is an American actor. He was nominated for an Oscar, and won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for his film debut role as Billy Bibbit in ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (1975). He is also kno ...

(who portrayed

Chucky Chucky may refer to: *Chucky (name) *Chucky (character), a fictional character in the ''Child's Play'' franchise **'' Chucky: Slash & Dash'', a 2013 video game ** ''Chucky'' (TV series), a 2021 TV series *Chucky madtom (''Noturus crypticus''), en ...

) and

Tobin Bell Tobin may refer to: Name * Tobin (surname) * Tobin (given name) Places in the United States * Tobin, California * Tobin Bridge, near Boston, Massachusetts * Tobin Range, a mountain range in Nevada * Tobin Township, Perry County, Indiana * Tobi ...

(who portrayed John Kramer/"Jigsaw"). Due to his eventual skill at application and removal of the Pinhead appliances and costume, he has been credited in some of the ''Hellraiser'' films as an assistant make-up artist named Bill Bradley, using his middle name. Bradley appeared as a gym teacher in an advertisement for Direct Line insurance in the UK. He has performed narrations on several songs by Cradle of Filth, an English extreme metal band. The first was 2000's "Her Ghost in the Fog", as well as "Death Magick for Adepts" and "Tortured Soul Asylum", from the album ''Midian''. However, he could not appear in the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

and was replaced by actor David McEwen. Bradley also appeared on "Swansong for a Raven" and "Satyriasis" from the band's 2004 album, ''

Nymphetamine ''Nymphetamine'' is the sixth studio album by Cradle of Filth. Recorded between February and July 2004, it was released on 28 September by record label Roadrunner. ''Nymphetamine'' marks the first recorded appearance of guitarist James McIlroy ...

''. In 2006, he lent his narrations to "Rise of the Pentagram" and "Tonight in Flames" from the album ''

Thornography ''Thornography'' is the seventh studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It was released on 17 October 2006, by record label Roadrunner. It was produced by former Anthrax guitarist Rob Caggiano, engineered by Dan Turner and mi ...

''. Continuing in this vein, Bradley has contributed guest vocals to Cradle of Filth's 2008 album ''

Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder ''Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder'' (subtitled ''The Life and Crimes of Gilles de Rais'') is the eighth studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It was released on 28 October 2008, through record label Roadrunner. It is the ...

'', on all songs except "Tragic Kingdom". He returned for their 2021 album, ''Existence'' ''is'' ''Futile'', on the songs "Sisters of the Mist" and "Suffer Our Dominian". Bradley has appeared in many short horror films, such as ''Red Lines'' and ''On Edge''. He is a member of the UK animation company

Renga Media Renga Media (originally Renga Studios) is a British multimedia and animation company located in Brighton. It was established in 1995, and is run by creator Tony Luke alongside producers Simon Moorhead and Doug Bradley. Partners include Alan Grant, ...

, makers of the independent '' Dominator'' films and shorts, dividing job roles between producer and voice actor. He voiced the Loc-Nar in the short animated crossover ''Heavy Metal vs. Dominator'', in which characters from the ''Dominator'' universe meet and fight with characters from the film ''Heavy Metal 2000''. After his roles in the ''Hellraiser'' films and the 1990 horror film ''

Nightbreed ''Nightbreed'' is a 1990 American dark fantasy horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, based on his 1988 novella ''Cabal''. It stars Craig Sheffer, Anne Bobby, David Cronenberg, Charles Haid, Hugh Quarshie, and Doug Bradley. The film f ...

'', 2006 saw Bradley star in '' Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes'' and 2008 saw Bradley once again returning to

Clive Barker Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English novelist, playwright, author, film director, and visual artist who came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories, the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading h ...

's cinematic universe by way of a featured appearance in ''

Book of Blood A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

''. He had a small guest star appearance in the 2008 black comic horror '' The Cottage''. In 2010, he starred in the Anglo-Spanish horror film '' Exorcismus'', and he joined the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

zombie horror ''The 4th Reich'' in March 2010. In 2011, he played a man called the Doctor in the British film noir ''

Jack Falls ''Jack Falls'' is a 2011 British independent feature film starring Simon Phillips, Jason Flemying, Dexter Fletcher, Alan Ford, Adam Deacon, Martin Kemp, Tamer Hassan, Olivia Hallinan, Doug Bradley, Jing Lusi and Zach Galligan and the thir ...

''. In June 2011, it was announced that Bradley would be providing a

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non- diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentation ...

for an independent film called ''Lucifer's Unholy Desire'', as well as performing in the film ''

The Reverend The Reverend is an honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. ''The Reverend'' is correctly ...

''. In 2012, he played "Maynard" in the fifth film of the '' Wrong Turn'' series, '' Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines''. In 2013, he performed in the indie film '' Scream Park''. Bradley voiced the Sith Emperor for the

massively multiplayer online role-playing game A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

'' Star Wars: The Old Republic'', based in the '' Star Wars'' universe. In 2018, Bradley joined Blackcraft Wrestling as “The Preacher”, a cult leader who acts as a General Manager type figure to the promotion. In 2020, he created a YouTube channel on which he reads books and poems out loud. He returned on Cradle of Filth's 2021 album '' Existence Is Futile'', providing narration for the track "Suffer Our Dominion" and the bonus track "Sisters of the Mist". In 2022 Bradley voiced the character Goayre Heddagh alongside actor Tim Curry in the animated horror film Dagon Troll World Chronicles.

Writing

Bradley is the author of ''Sacred Monsters: Behind the Mask of the Horror Actor'', which explores the history of masks in society and their applications in horror films.

Personal life

Bradley is a longtime close friend of novelist

, the two having met when they attended secondary school. He has worked with Barker in various projects since the early 1970s, most notably ''Hellraiser'', which is adapted from Barker's novella '' The Hellbound Heart''. He lives in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and is married to Steph Sciullo.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, Doug 1954 births Male actors from Liverpool English male film actors English male soap opera actors English expatriates in the United States Living people People educated at Calderstones School People educated at Quarry Bank High School