Donald Pleasence
Birthday: 1919-10-05 Place of Birth: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, UK
Synopsis
Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, (5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades. Often typecast as villainous and/or psychopathic characters, Pleasence is arguably best-known for his work in two of cinema's most successful franchises - James Bond and Halloween. Description above from the Wikipedia article Donald Pleasence, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Acting
Escape from New Jersey
Picking up right where John Carpenter's "Escape From New York" ended, we find Snake Plissken stuck in New Jersey with his new found freedom on the line when his path crosses that of Armando Barone, the crime kingpin of the Garden State. With his Presidential pardon in Barone's grasp, Snake is once again forced to re-steal the money that got him sent to New York Prison in the first place. Can Snake pull off the job? Will he ever truly be free? But more importantly, can he escape New Jersey?
Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest
Using original interviews with director John Carpenter, stars Jamie Lee Curtis and P.J. Soles, and crew members, Halloween: A Cut Above The Rest unveils the production of the horror classic and how the ingenuity of Carpenter and his team, coupled with the shoestring budget of $325,000, drove the filmmakers to create one of the most influential horror films of all time.
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
Six years after being kidnapped by a cult, Jamie tries to escape the clutches of her serial killer uncle, Michael Myers.
The Thief and the Cobbler
It is written among the limitless constellations of the celestial heavens, and in the depths of the emerald seas, and upon every grain of sand in the vast deserts, that the world which we see is an outward and visible dream, of an inward and invisible reality ... Once upon a time there was a golden city. In the center of the golden city, atop the tallest minaret, were three golden balls. The ancients had prophesied that if the three golden balls were ever taken away, harmony would yield to discord, and the city would fall to destruction and death. But... the mystics had also foretold that the city might be saved by the simplest soul with the smallest and simplest of things. In the city there dwelt a lowly shoemaker, who was known as Tack the Cobbler. Also in the city... existed a Thief, who shall be... nameless.
Guinevere
As border wars break out in Camelot, the young princess Guinevere is taken to live in safety with the High Priestess L'Fei. When King Arthur claims the crown, Guinevere is promised to him and she must leave her true love, Prince Lancelot in order to unite the land. In a tale of honor, loyalty and the price of war, Guinevere is forced to choose between the only man she has ever loved and her duty to her kingdom.
The Hour of the Pig
In medieval France, young lawyer Richard Courtois leaves Paris for the simpler life in the country. However, he is soon drawn into amorous and political intrigues. At the same time, he is pushed to defend a pig, owned by the mysterious gypsy Samira. The pig has been arrested for the murder of a young boy.
Diên Biên Phu
Vietnam, 1954. An American reporter finds himself in the middle of the battle of Điện Biên Phủ, between the French army and the Vietminh.
American Rickshaw
After a stripper tricks him into filming a sex tape, Scott Edwards (Olympic Gold Medalist Mitch Gaylord), a Miami rickshaw runner, becomes embroiled in the murder of a televangelist's son when he inadvertently takes the wrong videotape. With the help of the stripper and an Asian witch, Edwards sets out to clear his name while avoiding the assassin dead-set on retrieving the tape.
Casablanca Express
It is 1942 and the conflict between the U.S. and Germany is getting heated, U.S. Intelligence soon discovers that the Natzis are planning to capture Winston Churchill. In order to protect him they send commando Al Cooper to guard Churchill who is going by train to Casablanca where he will meet with Roosevelt and Stalin.
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
One year later, Michael Myers' traumatized young niece is horrified to discover she has a telepathic bond with her evil uncle... and that he is on the way back to Haddonfield to begin the carnage again.
Buried Alive
A young woman goes to teach at the Ravenscroft Institute, a spooky old girls' school overrun by ants and staffed by some unusual types. Spurred on by a series of horrific hallucinations, she begins to investigate the mysterious disappearances of several students.
River of Death
An adventurer (Hamilton) decides to go in search of the Lost City in the Amazon jungle. A motley crew of other people decide to join him for the wealth of the city, for reasons of their own. But to their horror they find out that they have bitten off more than they can chew, what with a Nazi doctor still using the place for his human experiments.
The House of Usher
An updated version of the classic horror tale by Edgar Allen Poe. Ryan and his girlfriend Molly are going to visit Ryan's uncle, Roderick Usher, at his mansion. They find, however, that Roderick's brother Walter has gone insane, and Roderick himself isn't far behind. Can Ryan and Molly escape from the doomed mansion before the curse of Usher claims them as well?
Nosferatu in Venice
Professor Paris Catalano visits Venice, to investigate the last known appearance of the famous vampire Nosferatu during the carnival of 1786.
The Great Escape II: The Untold Story
Allied prisoners tunnel out of a stalag, then return to avenge fellow escapees executed by the Nazis.
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
Michael returns to Haddonfield for Jamie Lloyd – the orphaned daughter of Laurie Strode – and her babysitter Rachel. Can Dr. Loomis stop him before the unholy slaughter reaches his innocent young niece?
The Commander
Lewis Collins is back to leading mercenaries on the move in Southeast Asia. This time the cast is unusually good including Lee Van Cleef, Brett Halsey (Cop Game), Romano Puppo (Robowar), Mike Monty (Raiders of Atlantis), Bobby Rhodes (The Great Alligator), etc. Anyway, Van Cleef has Collins go on some random mission to locate a disc with all sorts of valuable crazy intelligence data on it. It just happens that Donald Pleasence, a random government official, hires another mercenary-for-hire Manfred Lehman to tag along and make sure the data ends up in the right hands. Van Cleef isn't taking any chances, and since he is crooked and murders Collins's other bosses quickly, he places Romano Puppo in the group as well to make sure the operation runs smoothly. Collins may not be too expressive but at least he seems to figure out quickly who's out to get him, so the mission continues with lots of double-crosses, twists and turns, and of course lots of explosions!
Phantom of Death
Police Comissioner Datti is investigating the murder of a female doctor whose murderer seems to be a thirty-fivish year old man. Soon another murder follows: Pianist Robert Dominici's girlfriend is found killed. The killer also challenges Datti on the phone and says he can't be caught since he has a secret which makes him invulnerable. In the meantime the clues seems to point in strange directions...
Django Strikes Again
Former gunfighter Django has become a monk and abandoned his violent former ways. His daughter is kidnapped by rogue Hungarian soldiers using slave labor to run a silver mine. Django casts off his habit and digs up his machine gun to practice a little liberation theology.
Prince of Darkness
A group of graduate students and scientists uncover an ancient canister in an abandoned church, but when they open it, they inadvertently unleash a strange liquid and an evil force on all of humanity.
Basements
Basements is the title for the omnibus film that brings together two plays by Harold Pinter – The Dumb Waiter and The Room – each, once again, set in a single location.
Specters
A mysterious tomb is unearthed in the catacombs under Rome, the contents of which contain evidence of an ageless evil that may once have preyed on man.
Ground Zero
A second generation cameraman in Australia finds evidence that his father had filmed a nuclear test that allowed aboriginies to be exposed to and killed by radiation. He begins a search for a secret that if true, his government has already killed people to keep quiet.
Double Target
After several American and British military personnel are killed in suicide attacks throughout southeast Asia, the U.S. begins to suspect a plot by the Vietnam government. To uncover the truth, the U.S. army calls upon a former commando who is looking for his long-lost son in Vietnam. While his military commanders want to see the commando succeed in his mission, his political overseers have a different set of plans.
Cobra Mission
Ten years after the end of the war in Vietnam, four ex-Marines decide to return to S.E. Asia to investigate reports of American POWs still being held there. These four include Roger, whose daughter's just been married, the unemployed James, Mark, who's quit his job at an Arizona roadside tavern, and Richard, recently a patient at a mental hospital. In the jungles of S.E. Asia they discover American POWs but also find out about a U.S. Government plot to keep this knowledge a secret.
Arch of Triumph
Arch of Triumph is a 1985 British made-for-television film based on the novel Arch of Triumph by Erich Maria Remarque, which was previously adapted in 1948 for a film of the same name with Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. Dr. Ravic (Anthony Hopkins) is an Austrian doctor who helps Jews escape from the Nazis. In 1939, he meets Joan Madou (Lesley-Anne Down), a woman he saves from suicide, and their relationship flourishes until he is arrested as a refugee without documentation and realizes he has some unfinished business with the Nazis. After a prolonged separation, without explanation, the two are finally reunited and struggle to put their relationship back on the right course as mayhem breaks out all around them.
Treasure of the Amazon
An adventurer and his buddies race a former Nazi and others to diamonds in the South American jungle.
Phenomena
A young girl, with an amazing ability to communicate with insects, is transferred to an exclusive Swiss boarding school, where her unusual capability might help solve a string of murders.
Black Arrow
In 15th century England, a civil war called Wars of the Roses is being fought between two rival houses who want the throne. Fresh from battle, a knight finds his family dead. He joins the outlaws led by the Black Arrow (Stephan Chase) to seek justice. The noble Black Arrow foils Sir Brackley's (Oliver Reed) plan to kill one ward (Benedict Taylor) and marry the other. This is a classic story by Robert Louis Stevenson turned into film by Disney pictures.
