Clive Revill is a New Zealand actor, best known for his performances in

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

and the London stage. A veteran of the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

, he has also starred in numerous films and television programmes, often in character parts. He is a two-time Tony Award nominee; Best Featured Actor in a Musical for ''Irma La Douce'' and Best Actor in a Musical for ''

Oliver! ''Oliver!'' is a coming-of-age stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre, southwest London in 1960 before op ...

'' He was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Billy Wilder's ''

Avanti! ''Avanti!'' is a 1972 American/Italian international co-production comedy film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon and Juliet Mills. The screenplay by Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond is based on Samuel A. Taylor's play, w ...

'' (1972). A distinguished voice actor, his roles include voicing

the Emperor ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

in the original theatrical edition of '' The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980).

Early life

Revill was born in Wellington, the son of Eleanor May (née Neel) and Malet Barford Revill. He attended

Rongotai College Rongotai College is a state single-sex boys' secondary school in the southeastern suburb of Rongotai, Wellington, New Zealand. Serving Years 9 to 13 (ages 12 to 18), the school has 622 students as of July 2015. About 40 per cent of the student ...

Career

Stage

He originally trained to be an accountant in New Zealand, but decided to change his career path in 1950 when he made his stage debut as Sebastian in '' Twelfth Night''. He moved to London in 1950 and studied acting there at the Old Vic Theatre. He appeared in The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company's celebrated 1956–1958 season of productions in Stratford, which included '' Hamlet'', ''

Love's Labour's Lost ''Love's Labour's Lost'' is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s for a performance at the Inns of Court before Elizabeth I of England, Queen Elizabeth I. It follows the King of Navarre and ...

'', '' The Merchant of Venice'', ''

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

'' and '' The Tempest''. He went on to have such varied stage roles as Bob (narrator) in ''

Irma la Douce ''Irma la Douce'' (, "Irma the Sweet") is a 1963 American romantic comedy film directed by Billy Wilder from a screenplay he co-wrote with I. A. L. Diamond, based on the 1956 French stage musical of the same name by Marguerite Monnot and Alexa ...

'', Ratty in ''

Toad of Toad Hall ''Toad of Toad Hall'' is a play written by A. A. Milne – the first of several dramatisations of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 novel ''The Wind in the Willows'' – with incidental music by Harold Fraser-Simson. It was originally produced by Willia ...

'' and

Jean-Paul Marat Jean-Paul Marat (; born Mara; 24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793) was a French political theorist, physician, and scientist. A journalist and politician during the French Revolution, he was a vigorous defender of the ''sans-culottes'', a radical ...

in '' Marat/Sade''. He made his Broadway debut in 1952, playing Sam Weller in '' The Pickwick Papers'', and subsequently appeared in ''

Irma La Douce ''Irma la Douce'' (, "Irma the Sweet") is a 1963 American romantic comedy film directed by Billy Wilder from a screenplay he co-wrote with I. A. L. Diamond, based on the 1956 French stage musical of the same name by Marguerite Monnot and Alexa ...

'', '' The Incomparable Max'' and ''

'', for which his Fagin was nominated for a Tony Award. He is also known for his roles in the operettas of

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

, on both stage and television. He starred in the first national tour of the musical '' Drood'', replacing George Rose, who was murdered during the run. He also participated in the workshop production of '' Tom Jones: The Musical'', playing the role of Squire Western and reprising it on the cast recording.

Film

His red hair and distinctive

Mr. Punch Punch and Judy is a traditional puppet show featuring Mr. Punch and his wife Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically Mr. Punch and one other character w ...

-like features often saw him cast as comic eccentrics in a number of British films of the 1960s and 1970s such as '' Kaleidoscope'' (1966), '' Modesty Blaise'' (1966), '' The Double Man'' (1967), ''

Fathom A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an International Standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally-accepted non-SI unit. Hi ...

'' (1967), '' The Assassination Bureau'' (1969), ''

A Severed Head ''A Severed Head'' is a satirical, sometimes farcical 1961 novel by Iris Murdoch. It was Murdoch's fifth published novel. Primary themes include marriage, adultery, and incest within a group of civilised and educated people. Set in and around ...

'' (1970), '' The Black Windmill'' (1974) and '' One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing'' (1975). He also had notable supporting turns in Otto Preminger's '' Bunny Lake Is Missing'' (1965) opposite

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the Theatre of the U ...

, and his American film debut '' A Fine Madness'' (1966), as well as a rare leading role in the horror film ''

The Legend of Hell House ''The Legend of Hell House'' is a 1973 supernatural horror film directed by John Hough, and starring Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill, and Gayle Hunnicutt. It follows a group of researchers who spend a week in the former home of a ...

'' (1973). He was often cast as humorous foreign characters (he has played everything from Chinese to Russian). Two of his highest profile roles of this kind were in two films for Billy Wilder: '' The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes'' (1970) and ''

'' (1972), for which he was nominated for a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

for his part as put-upon hotel manager Carlo Carlucci.

Television

In the 1978 television miniseries '' Centennial'', he played the Scottish accountant Finlay Perkin. He played both Ko-Ko (the starring role) in '' The Mikado'', and the title character, John Wellington Wells, in '' The Sorcerer'' for the Brent Walker television series of Gilbert and Sullivan productions, shown by the BBC in 1983. After relocating to the United States, he guest-starred in many television series, such as ''

Columbo ''Columbo'' () is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originally aired on NBC f ...

'' (1978, "The Conspirators"), '' Hart to Hart'', '' Dynasty'', '' Magnum, P.I.'', '' The Love Boat'', '' Remington Steele'', ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

'', '' Babylon 5'', '' The Feather and Father Gang'', '' Newhart'', '' MacGyver'', '' Dear John'', '' The Fall Guy'', '' Maude'', and '' Star Trek: The Next Generation''. He starred as the wizard Vector in the short-lived series '' Wizards and Warriors''.

Voice work

Revill is known for his proficiency with accents. He is also known for his voice work in feature-length films and animated series, which includes Alfred Pennyworth in the first three episodes of '' Batman: The Animated Series'', the voice of Chico in the seven episodes of '' Chico the Rainmaker'' (The Boy with the Two Heads) (1974), the voice of Emperor Palpatine/

Darth Sidious Sheev Palpatine, also known by his Sith name Darth Sidious, is a fictional character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. Initially credited as the Emperor in the original trilogy films, ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) ...

in the original 1980 version of '' The Empire Strikes Back'' (he was later replaced by Ian McDiarmid in the 2004 DVD version though Revill is still credited) numerous cartoons such as '' The Transformers'', '' Batman: The Animated Series'' and '' DuckTales'' and more video games, including '' Marvel: Ultimate Alliance'' and '' Conquest: Frontier Wars''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Other

* '' Peter Pan's Flight'' (1955)

Stage credits (partial)

Notes

References

External links

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Clive Revill
at Aveleyman.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Revill, Clive Living people 20th-century New Zealand male actors 21st-century New Zealand male actors Audiobook narrators New Zealand male film actors New Zealand male stage actors New Zealand male television actors New Zealand male video game actors New Zealand male voice actors Male actors from Wellington City People educated at Rongotai College Year of birth missing (living people)