Clive Revill

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 parts.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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!<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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 the Emperor in the original theatrical edition of The Empire Strikes Back (1980).

Early life

Revill was born on 18 April 1930 in Wellington, the son of Eleanor May (née Neel) and Malet Barford Revill.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He attended Rongotai College.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Career

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.<ref name= led>Template:Cite news</ref> 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 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Revill also participated in the workshop production of Tom Jones: The Musical, playing the role of Squire Western and reprising it on the cast recording.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref name= MB>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>Turnbull, Stephen. "Obituary", Sir Arthur Sullivan Society Magazine, No. 117, Spring 2025</ref>

After relocating to the United States, he guest-starred in many television series, such as Columbo (1978, "The Conspirators");<ref name= led /> 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 Star Trek: The Next Generation.<ref name= MB /> He starred as the wizard Vector in the short-lived series Wizards and Warriors.

Voice work

Revill was known for his proficiency with accents.<ref name= led/> 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 Batman: The Animated Series, the voice of Chico in the seven episodes of Chico the Rainmaker (The Boy with the Two Heads) (1974), the voice of Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious in the original 1980 version of The Empire Strikes Back (he was later replaced by Ian McDiarmid in the 2004 DVD version though Revill is still credited). This was an editing decision done to maintain continuity with Return of the Jedi and the prequel trilogy, as Revill's voice greatly differed from McDiarmid's.<ref name= "DVDChanges">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Revill has also featured in numerous cartoons such as The Transformers and DuckTales and more video games, including Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and Conquest: Frontier Wars.

Personal life and death

Revill was married twice and had a daughter, Kate, with his second wife.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=obit>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He died of complications from dementia at a Sherman Oaks nursing home, on 11 March 2025, at the age of 94.<ref name=obit/><ref>Turnbull, Stephen. "Obituary", Sir Arthur Sullivan Society Magazine, No. 117, Spring 2025, p. 4</ref>

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
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	The Emperor (voice)	citation	CitationClass=web }} 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.</ref>
1981	Zorro, The Gay Blade	Garcia
1986	The Transformers: The Movie	Kickback (voice)	<ref name="btva" />
	The Frog Prince	King William
1987	Alice Through the Looking Glass	Snark, Goat (voice)	<ref name="btva" />
1993	Robin Hood: Men in Tights	Fire Marshall
1993	The Thief and the Cobbler	King Nod (voice)	<ref name="btva" />
1995	Delta of Venus	Radio Announcer (voice)
2002	Return to Never Land	Elderly Officer, Narrator (voice)
2003	101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure	Additional voices
2004	Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas	Narrator (voice)	<ref name="btva" />
2012	Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse	King Richard, Referee (voice)	<ref name="btva" />
2016	The Queen of Spain	John Scott

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
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"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
	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	Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures	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	Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone	Potsworth (voice)	13 episodes
	Tiny Toon Adventures	William Shakespeare (voice)	Episode: "Weirdest Story Ever Told"<ref name="btva" />
1991	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Sir Guy of Gisborne	Episode: "Qpid"
1991–1993	The Legend of Prince Valiant	The Mighty Om (voice)	3 episodes
1992	Batman: The Animated Series	Alfred Pennyworth (voice)	3 episodes; replaced by Efrem Zimbalist Jr.<ref name="btva" />
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<ref name="btva" />
1996	Murphy Brown	Hendricks	Episode: "When a Lansing Loves a Woman"
	Adventures from the Book of Virtues	King Midas, Minister (voice)	Episode: "Self-Discipline"
	The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest	Hunter, Trench Harpooner, Medical Officer (voice)	2 episodes<ref name="btva" />
	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Sorcerer	Episode: "Soul Mates"
1997	Step by Step	Professor Robert Nesler	Episode: "Talking Trash"
	Johnny Bravo	W (voice)	Episode: "Bravo, James Bravo"<ref name="btva" />
1998	Pinky and the Brain	King Claudius (voice)	Episode: "Melancholy Brain"<ref name="btva" />
	Godzilla: The Series	Hustus McPhil (voice)	Episode: "DeadLoch"
1999	Oh Yeah! Cartoons	Herb, New Guy, Security Guy (voice)	Episode: "Herb"<ref name="btva" />
2002	Fillmore!	Shop Owner (voice)	Episode: "The Currency of Doubt"<ref name="btva" />
2004	All Grown Up!	Moderator (voice)	Episode: "Susie's Choice"
2011–2012	Secret Mountain Fort Awesome	Helmet Head, Wise One (voice)	3 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Star Wars: X-Wing	General Dodonna	<ref name="btva" />
1995	The Jungle Book	Bagheera
1996	Down in the Dumps	Bad Punk, Friar Tuck, Prince John	<ref name="btva" />
1996	Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter	Imperial Officer #2	Credited as Clive Revel
2001	Conquest: Frontier Wars	Hawkes
2003	The Hobbit	Thorin Oakenshield	<ref name="btva" />
2004	The Bard's Tale
2006	Gothic 3	Rhobar	English dub
	Marvel: Ultimate Alliance	Doctor Doom	<ref name="btva" />
2007	Jeanne d'Arc	Duke of Bedford	English dub<ref name="btva" />
	Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End	British Officers
2009	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	Jetfire	<ref name="btva" />
2011	Star Wars: The Old Republic	Admiral Davos, Admiral Riserre, Darth Gravus

Other

• Peter Pan's Flight (1955)

Stage credits (partial)

Year	Title	Role	Theatre	Notes
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

External links

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