Clive Revill, who appeared in such movies as Bunny Lake is Missing (1965) and The Assassination Bureau (1969), and who provided voice work for everything from TV cartoons to The Empire Strikes Back (1980), where he was the original voice of the Emperor, died on March 11 2025 at the age of 94.
Clive Revill was born on April 18 1930 in Wellington, New Zealand. Clive Revill was a great admirer of Shakespeare, but he initially became an accountant rather than an actor. He3 made his stage debut in 1950 in a production of Twelfth Night. It was an encounter with Laurence Olivier and his wife Vivien Leigh that changed his life forever. Laurence Olivier encouraged him to go to his Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol where he could study acting. Clive Revill then moved from New Zealand to England.
In the United Kingdom in the Fifties, Clive Revill appeared in productions of Listen to the Wind, The Tempest, and The Toast of Toad Hall. He made his Broadway debut in Mr. Pickwick in 1952. Towards the end of the decade he appeared on Broadway in Irma La Douce. He made his television debut in the TV production Strike in 1955. He guest starred on the shows BBC Sunday Night-Theatre, The Adventures of Robin Hood, ITV Play of the Week, and BBC Sunday-Night Play. He made his film debut in Reach for the Sky in 1956. He appeared in the movies The Horse's Mouth (1958) and The Headless Ghost (1959).
In the Sixties Clive Revill appeared in the movies Bunny Lake is Missing (1965), Modesty Blaise (1966), A Fine Madness (1966), Kaleidoscope (1966), The Double Man (1967), Fathom (1967), Italian Secret Service (1968), Nobody Runs Forever (1968), The Shows of the Fisherman (1969), The Assassination Bureau (1969), The Buttercup Chain (1970), and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970). He guest starred on the TV shows The DuPont Show of the Week, Chronicle, Theatre 625, The Inside Man, The Wednesday Play, and ITV Playhouse. He appeared on Broadway in Oliver! and Sherry!.
In the Seventies Clive Revill provided the original voice of the Emperor in The Empire Strikes Back (1980). His voice would be replaced by that of Ian McDiarmid in the 2004 release of the film on DVD. He appeared in the films A Severed Head (1971), Boulevard de Rhum (1971), Escape to the Sun (1972), Avanti! (1972), The Legend of Hell House (1973), The Black Windmill (1974), The Little Prince (1974), Ghost in the Noonday Sun (1974), Galileo (1975), One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing (1975), and Mathilda (1978). He guest starred on the shows Brett, Jason King, Thirty-Minute Theatre, Arthur of the Britons, ITV Saturday Night Theatre, Ski-Boy, Churchill's People, Maude, The Feather and Father Gang, The New Avengers, Young Dan'l Boone, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, Play for Today, Columbo, BBC Play of the Month, A Man Called Sloane, and Nobody's Perfect. He appeared in the mini-series The Lives of Benjamin Franklin, and Centennial. He appeared on Broadway in The Incomparable Max and Sherlock Holmes.
In the Eighties he was a regular on the short-lived TV show Wizards and Warriors. He was a regular or recurring voice on the television cartoons Snorks, The Transformers, Dragon's Lair. and Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone. He provided voices for the cartoons The New Scooby-Doo Movies, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Pound Puppies, My Little Pony 'n' Friends, Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, Smurfs, and others. He guest starred on the shows Vega$, Hart to Hart, The Devlin Connection, Remington Steele, Dynasty, The Facts of Life, . T. J. Hooker, Three's a Crowd, The Fall Guy, Faerie Tale Theatre, Magnum P.I., The Twilight Zone, The Love Boat, Newhart, Sledge Hammer!, MacGyver, Mama's Boy, The New Gidget, Murder She Wrote, Probe, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Dear John, Hunter, and Get a Life. He appeared on Broadway in Lolita. He appeared in the movies Zorro: The Gay Blade (1981), The Frog Prince (1986), Rumpelstiltskin (1987), The Emperor's New Clothes (1987), C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud (1989), and Mack the Knife (1989). He was a voice in the animated movie Transformers: The Movie (1986).
In the Nineties he was the voice of Alfred Pennyworth on the first thee episodes of Batman: The Animated Series (Efrem Zimbalist Jr. took over for the rest of the series). He provided voices for the animated shows Tiny Toon Adventures, Tom and Jerry Kids Show, The Legend of Prince Valiant, The Little Mermaid, Freakazoid!, Pinky and the Brain, and others. He guest starred on the shows Shades of LA; Star Trek: The Next Generation, Babylon 5, Fortune Hunter, The Preston Episodes, Murphy Brown, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Touched by an Angel, Step by Step, and Clueless. He appeared in the movies Let Him Have It (1991), Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), The Wacky Adventures of Dr. Boris and Nurse Shirley (1995), Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995), Possums (1998), and Intrepid (2000).
In the Naughts Clive Revill was a voice regular on the animated series Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future. He provided voices for the animated shows All Grown Up! and Secret Mountain Fort Awesome. He guest starred on The Closer. He appeared in the movies Crime and Punishment (2002), and Gentleman Broncos (2009). He last appeared in a movie in La reina de España (2016).
Clive Revill was an incredibly versatile actor and played a wide array of roles throughout his career. He played the police officer Andrews in Bunny Lake is Missing. In Legend of Hell House he played Dr. Lionel Barrett, the physicist hired by an eccentric millionaire to investigate his haunted house. In the final episode of the original run of Columbo, "The Conspirators," he played an Irish author and poet who was clandestinely a gunrunner for the Irish Republican Army. In The Assassination Bureau he played the ill-fared Cesare Spado, the Italian member of the Bureau. In The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes he played Rogozhin, the representative of Russian ballerina Madame Petrova (Tamara Toumanova) who is convinced Holmes and Watson are gay lovers. Clive Revill could play a wide variety of roles and he played all of them well.
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