Background
Elliott, Denholm Mitchell was born on May 31, 1922 in London. Son of Myles Layman and Nina (Michell) Elliott.
Elliott, Denholm Mitchell was born on May 31, 1922 in London. Son of Myles Layman and Nina (Michell) Elliott.
The graduate from Malvern College had been a fine young lieutenant in The Cruel Sea (53, Charles Fi end) and a hero with distinct hints of class.
He made his debut in Dear Mr Prohack (49, Thornton Freeland) and then got a break in The Sound Barrier (52, David Lean). After that lie was in The Holly and the Ivy (52, George More O'Ferrall); The Ringer (52, Guy Hamilton); The Heart of the Matter (53, O’Ferrall); They Who Dare (53, Lewis Milestone); Lease of Life (54, Frend); The Man Who Loved Redheads (54, Harold French); The Night My Number Came Up (55, Leslie Norman); Pacific Destiny (56, Wolf Rilla).
There was then a notable gap in his work, coinciding with the failure of his marriage to McKenna. He picked up again with Scent of Mystery (60, Jack Cardiff); Station Six Sahara (63, Seth Holt); Nothing but the Best (63, Clive Donner); The High Bright Sun (64, Ralph Thomas); You Must Be Joking (65, Michael Winner); King Rat (65, Bryan Forbes); Alfie (66, Lewis Gilbert)—surely a signal moment in that Elliott was still in support, but to a very novel kind of English actor, Michael Caine; The Spy with a Cold Nose (67, Daniel Petrie); Maroc 7 (67, Gerald O'Hara); Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (67, Donner).
By now, Elliott had a new international reputation as a reliable support, as evident in occasional trips to Hollywood: The Night They Raided Minsky’s (68, William Friedkin); The Sea Gull (68, Sidney Lumet); Too Late the Hero (70. Robert Aldrich), with Caine again; The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (70, Kevin Billington); Percy (71. Thomas); Quest for Love (71, Thomas); A Doll’s House (73, Patrick Garland); Madame Sin (73, David Greene); The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (74, Ted Kotcheff); Russian Roulette (75, Lou Lombardo); Robin and Marian (76, Richard Lester), as Will Scarlett; To the Devil a Daughter (76, Peter Sykes); a weatherman in A Bridge Too Far (77, Richard Attenborough); The Boys from Brazil (78, Franklin J. Schaffner); brilliant and fully appreciated in Saint Jack (79, Peter Bogdanovich).
He was in Cuba (79, Lester); the husband in Bad Timing (80, Nicolas Roeg); Sunday Lovers (80, Bryan Forbes); Raiders of the Lost Ark (81, Steven Spielberg); The Missionary (82, Richard Loncraine); Brimstone and Treacle (82, Loncraine); The Wicked Lady (83, Winner); The Hound of the Baskervilles (83, Douglas Hickox); Trading Places (83, John Landis); The Razor's Edge (84, John Byrum); A Piivate Function (85, Malcolm Mowbray); A Room with a View (86, James Ivon); superb as the aging journalist in Defence of the Realm (86, David Drury); Maurice (87, Ivory); September (87, Woody Allen); The Bourne Identity (88. Roger Young); in the twelfth century in Stealing Heaven (88, Donner); Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (89, Spielberg); Toy Soldiers (91, Daniel Petrie Jr.); Noises Off (92, Bogdanovich)—with Caine once more, and brilliant.
Served with Royal Air Force, 1939-1945. Member Actors' Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, American Federation television and Radio Artists, British Academy Film and television Arts. Clubs: Garrick.
In 1968, in his Guide to British Cinema, Denis Gifford said of Denholm Elliott that he was a “gentlemanly lead now skillfully adding a touch of mannered decay to character parts. Well, indeed.
Elliott had been a prisoner of war of the Germans for three years. He let down some of those hopes, and if the “decay” became a little florid at times, still Elliott (who died of AIDS) was for years a cherished character actor in whom the flickering light of decency never went out—no matter the temptation or the opportunity.
He was the kind of actor adored by other actors, which is a way of saying that his combined resources of technique, observation, and kindness could get away with nearly anything. The list is long, but one must always remember that an actor at Elliott's level lived from one phone call to the next. That surely helps account for his con¬fused look of desperation and absurdity.
He was married to Virginia McKenna in the mid-fifties.