John Hollis | |
---|---|
Born |
Bertie Wyn Hollis 12 November 1927 Fulham, London, England, UK |
Died | 18 October 2005 London, England, UK |
(aged 77)
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1959–1999 |
Spouse(s) |
Gabrielle Hamilton (m. 1953–65) Sheila Forrester (m. 1966–2005) |
John Hollis (12 November 1927 – 18 October 2005) was a British actor of TV and film.
John Hollis was born Bertie Wyn Hollis in southwest London in 1927.
He played the role of Lobot in The Empire Strikes Back and the German porter at the chateau in The Dirty Dozen. He appeared in the Christopher Reeve Superman films Superman and Superman II as an elder of Krypton, and in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace as a Russian General.
He also played the role of Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the cold open of the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only, going uncredited due to the controversy over the film rights and characters of Thunderball. In this sequence, his character was famously lifted from a wheelchair and dropped to his death down a chimney stack by Bond (Roger Moore) after he had attempted to kill Bond by using a remote control link to Bond's MI6 helicopter.
Hollis' other film work included minor roles in Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter for Hammer Films and Gene Wilder's The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother. In television, Hollis took the role of Sondergaard in the Jon Pertwee era of Doctor Who in the story The Mutants, and appeared in The Avengers episode The Cybernauts as a sensei and also in The Tomorrow People. He also appeared as "Kaufmann" with a young Julie Christie in the BBC classic 'lost series' A for Andromeda.