Ronald Lacey

Ronald William Lacey (28 September 1935 – 15 May 1991) was an English actor.^[1] He made numerous television and film appearances over a 30-year period and is perhaps best remembered for his roles as Harris in Porridge, Gestapo agent Major Arnold Ernst Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Bishop of Bath and Wells in Blackadder II.^[1]

Career

Lacey attended Harrow Weald Grammar School. After a brief stint of national service and at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, he began his acting career in 1961 in a TV play, The Secret Agent. His first notable performance was at the Royal Court Theatre in 1962's Chips with Everything. Lacey had an unusual pug look with beady eyes, an upturned nose, liver lips, an overbite, and an absence of both eyebrows and eyelashes. This unique combination of features landed him repeatedly in bizarre roles on both stage and screen.

Lacey performed on British television throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with roles spanning from a part in Kenneth Clark's Civilisation television series, as the gravedigger, in a re-enactment of the gravedigger scene from Hamlet, with Ian Richardson as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart as Horatio, to a guest shot as the "Strange Young Man" on The Avengers episode "The Joker," to as Harris in the sitcom Porridge, with the latter finally landing him in the role for which his unusual physical characteristics could be repeatedly used to full advantage.^[2] Disappointed with his acting career by the late 1970s, he began to consider starting a talent agency. Spielberg then cast him as the Nazi agent Arnold Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark. He followed this with a series of various villain roles for the next five to six years: Sahara with Brooke Shields, and 1985's Red Sonja with Arnold Schwarzenegger, in addition to 1982's Firefox with Clint Eastwood, in which he played a scientist helping the West behind the Iron Curtain.

Lacey then made two movies for Ice International Films - Assassinator starring alongside John Ryan and George Murcell, and Into the Darkness starring with Donald Pleasance, John Ryan, and Brett Paul.

Lacey turned in two cinematic performances in full drag: Disney's Trenchcoat with Margot Kidder from 1982 and Invitation to the Wedding from 1985 — in which he played a husband/wife couple.

Lacey played a number of villainous roles and was known for his trademark smile, which would turn into a gleaming malicious leer. He also had a rather large mole on his left cheek, which he chose not to have removed — as well as having a highly distinctive voice. In 1982's Trenchcoat, he used the mole as a beauty mark in his role as Princess Aida, a mysterious and sleazy drag queen on the island of Malta.

Personal life

Lacey was born in Harrow, Middlesex. He was known for his generosity and warmth to fans, but equally known in the London theatre scene for his smoking and drinking habits. Often the actor was noted among the gossip pages.

Lacey was twice married. Originally wed to actress Mela White, he became the father of two children, the actors Rebecca and Jonathan Lacey in the 1960s. After a turbulent divorce, he remarried in 1972. Joanna Baker, his second wife, gave birth to his third child, Matthew. His daughter, Rebecca, became a television success on the BBC series Casualty. His son Matthew is the godson of Hammer Films' Barbara Shelley.

He was of Welsh descent and he owned a family cottage in Pontypool, which was passed on to his three children after his death. The family would spend their holidays together at the cottage.

He had his lower intestines removed in his early twenties and as a result had to have a colostomy bag fitted. Over the years he was refused certain film roles in other countries at his doctor's request. He gained and lost weight over the last 10 years of his life, as he was ill with cancer. He finally succumbed to the cancer when it spread to his liver.

Death

Lacey died in London of liver failure on 15 May 1991. At the time, he was under the care of his daughter, Rebecca. Ian Bartholomew sang "Sometimes When We Touch" at Lacey's memorial service which took place at St James in Covent Garden, three months after his death.

Filmography

Films

TV

References

External links

• Ronald Lacey at the Internet Movie Database
• Ronald Lacey at Find a Grave