Ronald Lewis (actor)

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Ronald Lewis (born December 11, 1928 in Port Talbot , Wales , United Kingdom , † January 11, 1982 in London - Pimlico , United Kingdom) was a Welsh actor in stage, film and television.

Live and act

Lewis came to London at the age of seven, but was returned to his old home a few years later when numerous children were evacuated to safer Wales during the Battle of Britain . There he took part in school performances and played, for example, Bassanio in a production of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice . Back in London shortly after the war ended, Lewis received professional acting training from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art . In 1950 he made his professional debut in a performance of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband . Two years later, Ronald Lewis stood in front of a film camera for the first time.

Lewis, a man with a powerfully virile appearance, was given preference for roles of “whole guys”, which, however, were by no means always sympathetic. He was the nameless prisoner guard in Peter Glenvilles political thriller The prisoner , the polycyclic officer Peter Burroughs in the colonial adventure Storm Over the Nile , of Aeneas , a hero from Greek mythology, in Robert Wise's The beautiful Helen , the escapee from a Japanese POW camp, Fenwick , in the love drama ... because the wind can't read , the president of a fraternity and competitor Hardy Krügers for the favor of a fellow student in the love comedy With the head through the wall , an Italian, former prison camp manager in the world war drama Conspiracy of Hearts and the villainous mastermind in a murder plot against an heiress in the horror shocker A dead man plays the piano . In addition to this intensive film activity, Lewis remained loyal to the theater. a. In 1955, in Eugene O'Neill's mourning, Elektra had to carry and the following year at Vivien Leigh's side in the play " South Sea Bubble ".

His later film appearances (after his leading role as the London doctor Sir Robert Cargrave in William Castle's horror story The Eerie Mr. Sardonicus and a small role as the masthead lookout Enoch Jenkins in Peter Ustinov's The Damned of the Seas , both shot in 1961) were far less expressive. After that he was still seen, according to his old role cliché, as a powerful “He-Man” in the two costume and adventure strips The Sword of the King and The Last of Fort Kandahar , before his career began to descend steeply: in 1965 his wife accused him of serious assault. As a result, Ronald Lewis, who at that time had just been busy with the play “ Peter Pan ” at the theater, received hardly any offers from the cinema and over the years shifted his activities more and more to television. He was seen in an abundance of series, occasionally with continuous roles. Lewis himself had not received any offers from television since the late 1970s, and he even had to file for bankruptcy in 1981. Allegedly he had amassed what was then a considerable debt of £ 21,188. A few months later, at the beginning of 1982, Ronald Lewis committed in a small pension suicide .

Filmography

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ronald Lewis on walesartsreview.org
  2. ↑ Lewis on walesartsreview.org
personal data
SURNAME Lewis, Ronald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Welsh actor in stage, film and television
DATE OF BIRTH December 11, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Port Talbot , Wales , United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH January 11, 1982
Place of death London - Pimlico , United Kingdom