James Bond actor Michael Lonsdale has passed away at his Paris home at the age of 89 according to his agent Olivier Loiseau.
The movie star, who racked up over 240 acting credits to his name according to IMDb, has been arguably best-known for his role as the villain Hugo Drax in The Moonraker.
In the 1979 movie, Lonsdale portrayed an obsessed billionaire and owner of Drax Industries who aimed to annihilate the human race with the use of chemical weapons before repopulating the planet with a small group of the chosen individuals.point 558 | 1
Besides his role in the James Bond franchise, the actor also made an astounding appearance in dozens of renowned movies including The Day of the Jackal.
In this 1973 classic, Lonsdale appeared as the Parisian detective Claude Lebel who worked to solve the mystery surrounding ‘The Jackal’, an infamous hitman hired to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle.
Throughout his career, which lasted for more than six decades, the actor added over two hundred acting credits to his name.
Previously, the movie star opened up about his role as The Moonraker’s main villain and revealed “it was a great experience to make a very popular film” even though he didn’t play the hero.
“Not at all! On the contrary!” Lonsdale told Mi6-HQ fan page when asked if he was concerned about playing a villain in the eleventh James Bond installment by Eon Productions.
“Because, I made so many films that were not really very popular or didn’t make much money, and I only made poor films, so I thought I might like to be in a rich film.”
As the actor added, “it was a great experience to make a very popular film” and “everybody was so kind.”
“Roger Moore, Lois Chiles and Richard Kiel were all wonderful. There was a beautiful understanding between the actors, and so I was very happy to do that,” Lonsdale said.
May he rest in peace.
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