Donald Pleasence.
by alexanderdavies-99382 | created - 18 Feb 2019 | updated - 26 Jun 2019 | PublicAn actor of variety, Donald Pleasence excelled at playing both villains and anti heroes. He has become an icon of both extravagant and lower budget movies, totalling something in the region of 135 films and numerous TV appearances. Apart from America and Great Britain, the actor worked in countries like Iran, France, Italy, Australia amongst others. In addition, he was always keen to return to acting in the theatre, with his final stage appearance being in 1991.
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1. Halloween (1978)
R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran, Nancy Kyes
Votes: 304,339 | Gross: $47.00M
2. Halloween II (1981)
R | 92 min | Horror
While Dr. Loomis hunts for Michael Myers, a traumatized Laurie is rushed to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, and The Shape is not far behind her.
Director: Rick Rosenthal | Stars: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Charles Cyphers, Jeffrey Kramer
Votes: 100,939 | Gross: $25.53M
3. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
R | 88 min | Horror, Thriller
Ten years after his original massacre, the invalid Michael Myers awakens on Halloween Eve and returns to Haddonfield to kill his seven-year-old niece. Can Dr. Loomis stop him?
Director: Dwight H. Little | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Ellie Cornell, Danielle Harris, George P. Wilbur
Votes: 58,209 | Gross: $17.77M
4. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
R | 96 min | Horror, Thriller
One year after the events of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988), the Shape returns to Haddonfield once again in an attempt to kill his now-mute niece.
Director: Dominique Othenin-Girard | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Danielle Harris, Ellie Cornell, Beau Starr
Votes: 46,698 | Gross: $11.64M
5. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
R | 87 min | Horror, Thriller
Six years after Michael Myers last terrorized Haddonfield, he returns there in pursuit of his niece, Jamie Lloyd, who has escaped with her newborn child, for which Michael and a mysterious cult have sinister plans.
Director: Joe Chappelle | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Paul Rudd, Marianne Hagan, Mitchell Ryan
Votes: 41,661 | Gross: $15.12M
6. Dracula (1979)
R | 109 min | Drama, Horror, Romance
In 1913, the charming, seductive and sinister vampire Count Dracula travels to England in search of an immortal bride.
Director: John Badham | Stars: Frank Langella, Laurence Olivier, Donald Pleasence, Kate Nelligan
Votes: 10,984 | Gross: $20.16M
7. The Monster Club (1981)
Unrated | 104 min | Comedy, Horror, Musical
A writer of horror stories is invited to a "monster club" by a mysterious old gentleman. There, three gruesome stories are told to him; between each story some musicians play their songs.
Director: Roy Ward Baker | Stars: Vincent Price, John Carradine, Anthony Steel, Roger Sloman
Votes: 4,459
8. The Devonsville Terror (1983)
Not Rated | 82 min | Horror
Dr. Worley investigates a 300-year-old witch's curse in the New England town of Devonsville. Three liberated, assertive women move into town, which angers the bigoted, male-dominated town ... See full summary »
Director: Ulli Lommel | Stars: Suzanna Love, Robert Walker Jr., Donald Pleasence, Paul Willson
Votes: 1,307
9. The Devil's Men (1976)
PG | 88 min | Horror
Tourists are kidnapped by a devil-worshipping cult, and a priest tries desperately to save them. A gruesome tale of the devil and human sacrifice.
Director: Kostas Karagiannis | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Peter Cushing, Luan Peters, Kostas Karagiorgis
Votes: 1,748
10. The Flesh and the Fiends (1960)
94 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In 1828 Scotland, Edinburgh surgeon Dr. Knox does medical research on cadavers he buys from murderers Burke and Hare, without questioning the unethical procurement methods.
Director: John Gilling | Stars: Peter Cushing, June Laverick, Donald Pleasence, George Rose
Votes: 2,299
11. Dr. Crippen (1963)
TV-PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, History
The real-life story of Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen, who was hanged in London in 1910 for poisoning his wife so he could be with his young lover. But was he truly guilty of murder?
Director: Robert Lynn | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Samantha Eggar, Coral Browne, Donald Wolfit
Votes: 716
12. Circus of Horrors (1960)
Approved | 88 min | Drama, Horror
Dr. Rossiter, a plastic surgeon wanted by the police, flees to France and under an assumed name acquires, by murder, a run-down circus. His first recruit is a woman criminal. He transforms her face by surgery and trains her.
Director: Sidney Hayers | Stars: Anton Diffring, Erika Remberg, Yvonne Monlaur, Donald Pleasence
Votes: 2,361
13. Vampire in Venice (1988)
TV-MA | 97 min | Horror
Professor Paris Catalano visits Venice, to investigate the last known appearance of the famous vampire Nosferatu during the carnival of 1786.
Directors: Augusto Caminito, Klaus Kinski | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Barbara De Rossi, Yorgo Voyagis, Anne Knecht
Votes: 1,451
14. Buried Alive (1989)
R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller
A new teacher at a facility for juvenile delinquent girls starts to suspect foul play when girls begin to inexplicably disappear one by one.
Director: Gérard Kikoïne | Stars: Robert Vaughn, Donald Pleasence, Karen Lorre, John Carradine
Votes: 1,156
15. Prince of Darkness (1987)
R | 102 min | Horror
A group of graduate students and scientists uncover an ancient canister in an abandoned church, but when they open the container, they inadvertently unleash a strange liquid and an evil force on all humanity.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Lisa Blount, Jameson Parker, Victor Wong
Votes: 49,368 | Gross: $14.18M
16. The Uncanny (1977)
Not Rated | 89 min | Horror
Wilbur Gray, a horror writer, has stumbled upon a terrible secret, that cats are supernatural creatures who really call the shots. In a desperate attempt to get others to believe him, Wilbur spews three tales of feline horror.
Director: Denis Héroux | Stars: Peter Cushing, Ray Milland, Joan Greenwood, Roland Culver
Votes: 2,110
17. From Beyond the Grave (1974)
PG | 97 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
An anthology of four short horror stories revolving around a mysterious antique shop owner and his antique pieces, each of which hides a deadly secret.
Director: Kevin Connor | Stars: Peter Cushing, Ian Bannen, Ian Carmichael, Diana Dors
Votes: 5,227
18. Tales That Witness Madness (1973)
R | 90 min | Horror
A psychiatrist tells stories of four special cases to a colleague.
Director: Freddie Francis | Stars: Jack Hawkins, Donald Pleasence, Georgia Brown, Donald Houston
Votes: 2,104
19. The Mutations (1974)
R | 92 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A scientist experiments with crossing humans and plants, for which he uses his students.
Director: Jack Cardiff | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Tom Baker, Brad Harris, Julie Ege
Votes: 2,093
20. Death Line (1972)
Unrated | 87 min | Horror
When a government official disappears in the London tunnels, after several reports of missing people in the same location, Scotland Yard start to take the matter seriously, along with a couple who stumble into a victim by accident.
Director: Gary Sherman | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Norman Rossington, David Ladd, Sharon Gurney
Votes: 5,351
21. Alone in the Dark (1982)
R | 92 min | Horror, Thriller
A few dangerous and delusional mental patients break out of a mental asylum during a power blackout, and lay siege to their new doctor's house, who, they believe, killed their previous doctor.
Director: Jack Sholder | Stars: Jack Palance, Donald Pleasence, Martin Landau, Dwight Schultz
Votes: 6,914
22. The Pumaman (1980)
90 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Thousands of years ago, aliens visited Earth and fathered the Pumaman, a man-god with supernatural powers entrusted by a gold mask with the ability to control people's minds, which in present-day London, falls upon the wrong hands.
Director: Alberto De Martino | Stars: Walter George Alton, Donald Pleasence, Miguel Ángel Fuentes, Sydne Rome
Votes: 4,666
23. Night Creature (1978)
PG | 83 min | Adventure, Horror, Thriller
A big-game hunter brings a killer leopard to his private island and turns it loose so he can hunt it down. However, unexpected visitors arrive at the island and interrupt his hunt. ... See full summary »
Director: Lee Madden | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Nancy Kwan, Ross Hagen, Jennifer Rhodes
Votes: 291
24. Frankenstein's Great Aunt Tillie (1984)
100 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
The descendants of Baron Frankenstein return to the family castle to search for the family fortune that is supposed to be hidden there.
Director: Myron J. Gold | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Yvonne Furneaux, June Wilkinson, Miguel Ángel Fuentes
Votes: 145
25. Eye of the Devil (1966)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror, Mystery
Workers employed at a French vineyard quietly follow old pagan rituals that call for the life of the marquis owner to save his crops during dry seasons.
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: David Niven, Sharon Tate, Deborah Kerr, Donald Pleasence
Votes: 3,171
26. Spettri (1987)
Unrated | 90 min | Horror
A US professor of archaeology and his young research team uncover a sealed ancient pagan tomb under the mausoleum of the real life Roman Emperor Domitian. This unleashes an evil deity that starts haunting people involved with the dig.
Director: Marcello Avallone | Stars: John R. Pepper, Trine Michelsen, Donald Pleasence, Massimo De Rossi
Votes: 414
27. The House of Usher (1989)
R | 92 min | Horror
An engaged couple going to the man's uncle's house get into a car accident. The woman becomes trapped in the house with deranged residents and weird happenings.
Director: Alan Birkinshaw | Stars: Oliver Reed, Donald Pleasence, Romy Walthall, Rufus Swart
Votes: 824
28. The Hands of Orlac (1960)
95 min | Crime, Horror, Sci-Fi
A pianist who loses his hands in a plane crash receives the transplanted hands of an executed criminal but his new hands have the murderous tendencies of their previous owner.
Director: Edmond T. Gréville | Stars: Mel Ferrer, Christopher Lee, Dany Carrel, Lucile Saint-Simon
Votes: 485
29. Shadows and Fog (1991)
PG-13 | 85 min | Comedy
With a serial strangler on the loose, a bookkeeper wanders around town searching for the vigilante group intent on catching the killer.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Michael Kirby, David Ogden Stiers
Votes: 18,032 | Gross: $2.74M
30. Phantom of Death (1987)
R | 90 min | Horror, Thriller
In Italy, a pianist suffering from the Progeria genetic disease becomes distraught and goes on a mad killing spree prompting a police inspector to investigate.
Director: Ruggero Deodato | Stars: Michael York, Edwige Fenech, Donald Pleasence, Mapi Galán
Votes: 1,054
31. The Great Escape (1963)
Approved | 172 min | Adventure, Drama, History
Allied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson
Votes: 256,928 | Gross: $12.10M
32. Fantastic Voyage (1966)
PG | 100 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
When a blood clot renders a scientist comatose, a submarine and its crew are shrunk and injected into his bloodstream in order to save him.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, Edmond O'Brien, Donald Pleasence
Votes: 20,537
33. The Night of the Generals (1967)
Not Rated | 148 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In 1942, a Polish prostitute and German Agent is murdered in Warsaw. Suspicion falls on three Generals, and Major Grau of German Intelligence seeks justice which ends up taking decades.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, Donald Pleasence
Votes: 8,691
34. Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972)
PG | 125 min | Biography, Drama
On his deathbed, King Henry VIII looks back over his eventful life and his six marriages.
Director: Waris Hussein | Stars: Keith Michell, Donald Pleasence, Charlotte Rampling, Jane Asher
Votes: 931
35. Kidnapped (1971)
G | 100 min | Adventure, Drama
In eighteenth century Scotland, during the Jacobite Rebellion, David Balfour claims his inheritance from his uncle who has him shanghaied on a ship where David meets fugitive Jacobite rebel Alan Breck.
Director: Delbert Mann | Stars: Michael Caine, Trevor Howard, Lawrence Douglas, Vivien Heilbron
Votes: 1,516
36. The Black Windmill (1974)
PG | 106 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A British agent's son is kidnapped and held for ransom.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Michael Caine, Donald Pleasence, Delphine Seyrig, Clive Revill
Votes: 3,303
37. Innocent Bystanders (1972)
PG | 111 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
Experienced British spy must retrieve a defecting Soviet scientist from Turkey. When a pretty female innocent bystander gets kidnapped by mistake by his enemies, he feels responsible and decides to help her as well.
Director: Peter Collinson | Stars: Stanley Baker, Geraldine Chaplin, Donald Pleasence, Dana Andrews
Votes: 340 | Gross: $0.31M
38. The Wind of Change (1961)
Not Rated | 64 min | Drama
Frank is an unemployed, discontented and rebellious teenage, living at home with his mild-mannered father, domineering mother and sister Josie. Frank harbors a deep-seated resentment and ... See full summary »
Director: Vernon Sewell | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Johnny Briggs, Ann Lynn, Hilda Fenemore
Votes: 118
39. Spare the Rod (1961)
Not Rated | 93 min | Drama
It is London in the year 1960 and John Saunders enthusiastically begins his new teaching career at a tough slum-area school. His class are bored pupils in their last term before leaving. Will he handle the grave problems that lie ahead?
Director: Leslie Norman | Stars: Max Bygraves, Donald Pleasence, Geoffrey Keen, Betty McDowall
Votes: 243
40. Jaguar Lives! (1979)
PG | 90 min | Action
The world's new Karate hero (Joe Lewis) is out to stop drug dealers, gangs, and help save the world from an evil con (Sir Christopher Lee).
Director: Ernest Pintoff | Stars: Joe Lewis, Christopher Lee, Donald Pleasence, Barbara Bach
Votes: 542
41. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)
PG | 113 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
A small-town band hits it big, but it must battle a nefarious plot in the music industry.
Director: Michael Schultz | Stars: Peter Frampton, Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
Votes: 6,933 | Gross: $20.38M
42. Hanna's War (1988)
PG-13 | 148 min | Biography, Drama, War
During WW2 Hanna Szenes, a Hungarian Jew living in British Palestine, volunteers to go behind enemy lines to rescue Jews from deportation to death camps.
Director: Menahem Golan | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Maruschka Detmers, Anthony Andrews, Donald Pleasence
Votes: 472 | Gross: $0.14M
43. River of Death (1989)
R | 101 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
An adventurer (Hamilton) decides to go in search of the lost city in the Amazon jungle. A motley crew of other people with reasons of their own decide to join him for the wealth of the lost... See full summary »
Director: Steve Carver | Stars: Michael Dudikoff, Donald Pleasence, Robert Vaughn, Herbert Lom
Votes: 1,488 | Gross: $0.54M
44. The Jerusalem File (1972)
PG | 95 min | Action, Drama, Thriller