Clive Revill

 ( 1930 Births ) 

Clive Selsby Revill (18 April 1930 – 11 March 2025) was a New Zealand actor, best known for his performances in musical theatre and the London stage. A veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he also starred in numerous films and television programmes, often in Character actor. He was a two-time Tony Award nominee, as Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Irma La Douce and Best Actor in a Musical for Oliver! He was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Billy Wilder's Avanti! (1972).

His roles also included voicing Palpatine in The Empire Strikes Back (1980).

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Early life Revill was born on 18 April 1930 in Wellington, the son of Eleanor May (née Neel) and Malet Barford Revill.

(1981). 9780810302341, University of California. . ISBN 9780810302341

He attended Rongotai College.

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Career

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Stage Revill 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. In the same year, he moved to London, where he studied acting 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, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar and The Tempest. He went on to have such varied stage roles as Bob (narrator) in Irma la Douce, Ratty in Toad of Toad Hall and Jean-Paul Marat in Marat/Sade.

He made his Broadway theatre debut in 1952, playing Sam Weller in The Pickwick Papers, and subsequently appeared in Irma La Douce, The Incomparable Max and Oliver!, for which his Fagin was nominated for a Tony Award. He was also known for his roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas, on both stage and television. He starred in the first national tour of the musical Drood in 1988, replacing George Rose, who was murdered during the run.

Revill also participated in the workshop production of , playing the role of Squire Western and reprising it on the cast recording.

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Film Revill's red hair and distinctive Mr. Punch-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 (1967), The Assassination Bureau (1969), A Severed Head (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, 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 (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 Avanti! (1972), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his part as put-upon hotel manager Carlo Carlucci.

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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 (which he had played in 1962 at Sadler's Wells Opera), 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.Turnbull, Stephen. "Obituary", Sir Arthur Sullivan Society Magazine, No. 117, Spring 2025

After relocating to the United States, he guest appearance in many television series, such as Columbo (1978, "The Conspirators"); Hart to Hart; Dynasty; Magnum, P.I.; The Love Boat (S9 E22 as Slade 1986); Remington Steele; Murder, She Wrote; Babylon 5; The Feather and Father Gang; Newhart; MacGyver; Dear John; The Fall Guy; Maude; and . He starred as the wizard Vector in the short-lived series Wizards and Warriors.

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Voice work Revill was known for his proficiency with accents. He was also known for his voice work in feature-length films and animated series, which includes Alfred Pennyworth in the first three episodes of , the voice of Chico in the seven episodes of Chico the Rainmaker (The Boy with the Two Heads) (1974), the voice of Palpatine/Palpatine in the original The Empire Strikes Back (he was replaced by Ian McDiarmid in the 2004 DVD version, though Revill is still credited, to create continuity with Return of the Jedi and the prequel trilogy, as Revill's voice greatly differed from McDiarmid's). Revill has also featured in numerous cartoons such as The Transformers and DuckTales and more video games, including and .

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Personal life and death

Revill was married twice and had a daughter, Kate, with his second wife. He died of complications from dementia at a Sherman Oaks nursing home, on 11 March 2025, at the age of 94.Turnbull, Stephen. "Obituary", Sir Arthur Sullivan Society Magazine, No. 117, Spring 2025, p. 4

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Filmography

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Film

1956	Reach for the Sky	RAF Medical Orderly	Uncredited
1958	The Horse's Mouth	Art Student
1959	The Headless Ghost	Ambrose Dudley
1965	Bunny Lake Is Missing	Sgt. Andrews
1966	A Fine Madness	Dr. Menken
	Italian Secret Service	Charles Harrison
	Kaleidoscope	Inspector McGinnis
	Modesty Blaise	McWhirter, Sheik Abu Tahir
1967	Fathom	Serapkin
	The Double Man	Frank Wheatly
1968	Nobody Runs Forever	Joseph
	The Shoes of the Fisherman	Tovarich Vucovich
1969	The Assassination Bureau	Cesare Spado
1970	The Buttercup Chain	George
	The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes	Rogozhin
	A Severed Head	Alexander Lynch-Gibbon
1972	Avanti!	Carlo Carlucci	Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1973	The Legend of Hell House	Dr. Barrett
1974	The Black Windmill	Alf Chestermann
1975	One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing	Quon
1976	The Great Houdini	Dundas Slater
1980	The Empire Strikes Back	Palpatine (voice)	Original theatrical release A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
1981	Zorro, The Gay Blade	Garcia
1986		Kickback (voice)
	The Frog Prince	King William
1987	Alice Through the Looking Glass	Snark, Goat (voice)
1993		Fire Marshall
1993	The Thief and the Cobbler	King Nod (voice)
1995	Delta of Venus	Radio Announcer (voice)
2002	Return to Never Land	Elderly Officer, Narrator (voice)
2003		Additional voices
2004	Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas	Narrator (voice)
2012		King Richard, Referee (voice)
2016	The Queen of Spain	John Scott

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Television

1957	The Adventures of Robin Hood	Horatio	Episode: "Too Many Earls"
1975	Churchill's People	King Henry II	Episode: "A Sprig of Broom"
1977	The New Avengers	Mark	Episode: "Dead Men are Dangerous"
1978	Play for Today	John Fennel	Episode: "Licking Hitler" (1987). 9780571131327, Faber. ISBN 9780571131327
	Columbo	Joe Devlin	Episode: "The Conspirators"
	Centennial	Finlay Perkin	3 episodes
1982	Harts on their Toes	Zabin	1 episode
1983	Wizards and Warriors	Wizard Vector	8 episodes
1984	George Washington	Lord Loudoun	3 episodes
	Snorks	Dr. Galio Seaworthy (voice)	65 episodes
1985, 1988	Murder, She Wrote	Jonathan Hawley, Bert Davies	2 episodes
1984	Alvin and the Chipmunks	Additional voices	13 episodes
	The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show	Additional voices	Episode: "Happy Birthday, Scooby-Doo"
	Dragon's Lair	Storyteller (voice)	Episode: "Tale of the Enchanted Gift"
1984–1986	The Transformers	Kickback (voice)	5 episodes
1986	The Twilight Zone	Agent	Episode: "Personal Demons"
	Magnum PI	Walter "Inky" Gilbert	Episode: "I Never Wanted To Go to France, Anyway"
	Pound Puppies	Dumas, Lord Belveshire (voice)	2 episodes
1987		Additional voices	6 episodes
	DuckTales	Shedlock Jones (voice)	Episode: "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. McDuck"
	The Law & Harry McGraw	Oscar Wendell	Episode: "She's Not Wild About Harry"
1988	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Hector	Episode: "Twist"
1989–1990	Paddington Bear	Additional voices	2 episodes
1990		Potsworth (voice)	13 episodes
	Tiny Toon Adventures	William Shakespeare (voice)	Episode: "Weirdest Story Ever Told"
1991		Sir Guy of Gisborne	Episode: "Qpid"
1991–1993	The Legend of Prince Valiant	The Mighty Om (voice)	3 episodes
1992		Alfred Pennyworth (voice)	3 episodes; replaced by Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
1993	The Little Mermaid	Sorcerer Blowfish (voice)	2 episodes
	The Sea Wolf	Thomas C. "Cookie" Mugridge
1994	Babylon 5	Trakis	Episode: "Born to the Purple"
1995–1997	Freakazoid!	Lyle Spanger, Baffeardin, Hermil Sioro (voice)	3 episodes
1996	Murphy Brown	Hendricks	Episode: "When a Lansing Loves a Woman"
	Adventures from the Book of Virtues	Midas, Minister (voice)	Episode: "Self-Discipline"
	The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest	Hunter, Trench Harpooner, Medical Officer (voice)	2 episodes
		Sorcerer	Episode: "Soul Mates"
1997	Step by Step	Professor Robert Nesler	Episode: "Talking Trash"
	Johnny Bravo	W (voice)	Episode: "Bravo, James Bravo"
1998	Pinky and the Brain	King Claudius (voice)	Episode: "Melancholy Brain"
		Hustus McPhil (voice)	Episode: "DeadLoch"
1999	Oh Yeah! Cartoons	Herb, New Guy, Security Guy (voice)	Episode: "Herb"
2002	Fillmore!	Shop Owner (voice)	Episode: "The Currency of Doubt"
2004	All Grown Up!	Moderator (voice)	Episode: "Susie's Choice"
2011–2012	Secret Mountain Fort Awesome	Helmet Head, Wise One (voice)	3 episodes

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Video games

1993		General Dodonna
1995	The Jungle Book	Bagheera
1996	Down in the Dumps	Bad Punk, Friar Tuck, Prince John
1996		Imperial Officer #2	Credited as Clive Revel
2001		Hawkes
2003	The Hobbit	Thorin Oakenshield
2004	The Bard's Tale
2006	Gothic 3	Rhobar	English dub
		Doctor Doom
2007	Jeanne d'Arc	Duke of Bedford	English dub
		British Officers
2009		Jetfire
2011		Admiral Davos, Admiral Riserre, Darth Gravus

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Other

• Peter Pan's Flight (1955)

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Stage credits (partial)

1950	Twelfth Night	Sebastian
1952	Mr. Pickwick	Sam Weller	Plymouth Theatre
1955	Listen to the Wind	Pearson	Arts Theatre
1957	The Tempest	Trinculo	Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
	Toad of Toad Hall	Ratty
1958–1960	Irma La Douce	Bob-Le-Hotu	Lyric Theatre
1960–1961			Plymouth Theatre	Nominated – Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical
1962	The Mikado	Ko-Ko	Sadler's Wells Theatre
1963–1964	Oliver!	Fagin	Imperial Theatre	Nominated – Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical
1964	Marat/Sade	Jean-Paul Marat	Royal Shakespeare Company
	The Jew of Malta	Barabas
1967	Sherry!	Sheridan Whiteside	Alvin Theatre
1968–1969	The Unknown Soldier and His Wife	The General	Chichester Festival Theatre
	The Tempest	Caliban
1969	A Who's Who of Flapland		Royal Court Theatre
			Theatre Upstairs
1971	The Incomparable Max	Max Beerbohm	Royale Theatre
1974–1976	Sherlock Holmes	Professor James Moriarty	Broadhurst Theatre	Replacement
1981	Lolita	Clare Quilty	Brooks Atkinson Theatre
1981–1982	The Pirates of Penzance	Major-General Stanley	Tour
1988	Drood	William Cartwright, Your Chairman

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External links

• Clive Revill at Aveleyman.com

Categories: 1930 Births, 2025 Deaths, 20th-century New Zealand Male Actors, 21st-century New Zealand Male Actors, Audiobook Narrators, Deaths From Dementia In California, New Zealand Male Film Actors, New Zealand Male Stage Actors, New Zealand Male Television Actors, New Zealand Male Musical Theatre Actors, New Zealand Male Video Game Actors, New Zealand Male Voice Actors, Male Actors From Wellington City, People Educated At Rongotai College

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