Background
John Hollis was born to Bertie Wyn Hollis in 1931.
John Hollis was born to Bertie Wyn Hollis in 1931.
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 classic 1978 film Superman as one of the Elders of Krypton, and reprised his role in the 1980 theatrical version of Superman World War II He also played the role of Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the cold open of the 1981 James Bond film Foreign 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 s 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 British Broadcasting Corporation classic "lost series" A for Andromeda.
John Hollis was a versatile character actor for British Broadcasting Corporation Radio. Notable roles include Magwitch in Great Expectations, Leonard Bast in Howards End, Conan Doyle"s Inspector Lestrade and Shakespeare"s Bardolph.
He also took part in some commercial recordings, in parts as various as the March Hare in Alice"s Adventures in Wonderland and the Murderer of the Duke of Clarence in Richard III. He broadcast his own recollections of a cockney childhood, for the British Broadcasting Corporation in the 1970s.