LONDON -- Denholm Elliott, 70, the veteran British actor who brought a rumpled authority and charm to dozens of films and plays, died Oct. 6 at his home on the island of Ibiza in Spain. He had AIDS.

He was in the top rank of British character actors, moving easily from Hollywood films such as "Raiders of the Lost Ark" to "A Room With A View" and "Maurice," both low-budget films adapted from E.M. Forster novels. His performance as Mr. Emerson in "Room" brought him a 1985 Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

His other recent film credits include "The Missionary" (1983), "A Private Function" (1984), the H.G. Wells-inspired "Underworld" (1985), Woody Allen's "September" (1987), and the blockbuster "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1988). His most recent film was "Noises Off," based on the hit British stage comedy.

With his creased face and effortless charm, he was a comic natural for roles such as Eddie Murphy's butler in "Trading Places" (1983). He often played seedy characters with weather-beaten faces and a penchant for booze. Known for crystal-clear English diction when not affecting to be the worse for drink, Mr. Elliott rarely played the leading man but earned a reputation for being an expert scene-stealer.

"I would rather stay in the second line," he once said. "As a character actor you get interesting parts, you earn good money and get enough time off to enjoy it, and you're in a very good position to steal the film."

"Never act with children, dogs or Denholm Elliott" was the British film industry's line on the actor.

Mr. Elliott, who was born into a family of lawyers, had an unhappy childhood. He was sent to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London on a psychiatrist's recommendation, but did not fit in and was kicked out after a year.

In World War II, while serving in the Royal Air Force, he was shot down over Denmark and spent three years as a prisoner in Silesia. There he developed his passion for acting, forming a drama group called The No Name Players with fellow prisoners.

He launched his theater career in 1946, appearing three years later with Laurence Olivier in "Venus Observ'd." His film career took off when he was chosen by director David Lean for his 1949 movie "The Sound Barrier." A string of other films soon followed, including "The Cruel Sea" in 1953, "They Who Dare" in 1954 and "Pacific Destiny" in 1956.

But, after a spectacular start, Mr. Elliott soon wearied of clean-cut middle-class roles. His marriage to "Born Free" actress Virginia McKenna ended in divorce in 1957. There followed a period of heavy drinking.

He kept working, however, both in television and film in Britain and the United States. But it was his performance as the sleazy, back-street abortionist in the 1966 film "Alfie" that really marked the turning point in his career.

His lived-in looks began to crop up everywhere, and he soon became the film industry's favorite supporting actor, recognized on both sides of the Atlantic. Mr. Elliott had a succession of unforgettable supporting roles that won him a clutch of awards.

In "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" (1974), he rampaged as a drunken director; in "The Defense of the Realm" (1986), he gloried in the part of a drunken journalist.

In a 1985 TV adaptation of Charles Dickens's "Bleak House," Mr. Elliott was memorably cast against type as the noble, somewhat humorless philanthropist, Jarndyce.

Mr. Elliott last appeared on the West End in 1989 playing a grandly preening thespian in David Mamet's two-character play "A Life In the Theater."

Survivors include his wife, the American actress Susan Robinson, and two children.

JOHN L. SLOOP

NASA Official

John L. Sloop, 76, an electrical engineer who was a retired official of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, died of cancer Oct. 4 at Sibley Memorial Hospital. A resident of the Washington area since 1960, he lived in Bethesda and had a vacation home in Marathon, Fla.

Mr. Sloop retired in 1972 as assistant associate administrator for advanced research and propulsion. He had worked for NASA and its predecessor agency, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, for more than 30 years, starting as an electrical engineer at the Langley Laboratory in Hampton, Va.

He later was head of rocket research at the NACA's Cleveland laboratory and a technical adviser and director of propulsion for NASA in Washington.

After he retired, Mr. Sloop was an alternate energy consultant to P.R.C. Corp. and formed his own company, International Consultants in Energy Systems, working on alternate energy projects in Africa, the Caribbean, South America and Mexico. He retired again in 1988.

Mr. Sloop was a native of Charlotte, N.C. He attended the University of North Carolina and was a graduate of the University of Michigan.

He wrote the book, "Liquid Hydrogen as a Propulsion Fuel, 1945-1959."

Mr. Sloop shared the NASA's Goddard Award in 1974 for contributions in the development of rocket engines.

He was a fellow and officer of the American Institute of Astronautics and Aeronatics and held offices in the American Rocket Society. He was a member of the Society for the History of Technology and the U.S. Power Squadron.

Survivors include his wife of 52 years, Atlasse Sloop of Bethesda and Marathon; three children, Linda Carr of Gaithersburg, Judith Farrell of Upper Marlboro and John Robert Sloop of Orlando, Fla., a judge of the Seminole County, Fla., County Court; two sisters, Eleanor Cashion of Monroe, N.C., and Ernestine Walker of Sequim, Wash.; and four grandchildren. A son, William L. Sloop, died in 1969.

JOHN R. RUDD

Airplane Pilot

John Robert Rudd, 60, a retired United Airlines pilot who had been based in the Washington area from 1955 to 1975, died in an airplane crash Oct. 4 in Hattiesburg, Miss.

The Associated Press reported his airplane, an aerobatic biplane, crashed shortly after takeoff, following a refueling stop at the Hattiesburg Airport. The crash is under investigation.

A resident of Mukilteo, Wash., Mr. Rudd was enroute to a retirement home he was having built in Naples, Fla., at the time of the crash. A passenger in his aircraft also died in the crash.

Mr. Rudd was born in Bellevue, Ky. He served in the Air Force during the Korean War, then in 1955 he came to Washington to work for Capitol Airlines, which later was acquired by United Airlines. He retired from United Airlines Sept. 1. At his retirement, Mr. Rudd was flying 747s on international flights out of San Francisco and Chicago.

He had lived in Mukilteo since leaving this area.

Survivors include his wife of 28 years, Ulla Rudd of Mukilteo; three sons, Robert William Rudd of Arlington, Wash., John Randall Rudd of Miami and Stephen Eric Rudd of Tacoma, Wash.; and a grandson.

BERNARD ISAAC FORMAN

Teacher and Lobbyist

Bernard Isaac Forman, 82, a retired teacher in New Jersey and Minnesota who became a volunteer lobbyist on behalf of senior citizens on Capitol Hill and elsewhere, died Oct. 1 at the Manor Care nursing home in Albuquerque. He had diabetes.

A former resident of Reston and Silver Spring, Dr. Forman was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. He graduated from New York University, where he also received master's degrees in English and education. He received a doctorate in education from Rutgers University.

In 1976, when he retired from Mankato State University in Mankato, Minn., he moved to the Washington area and became a volunteer with the National Senior Citizens Law Center. He also was a lobbyist for the Gray Panthers and a member of the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations and the American Association of Retired Persons.

He moved to Albuquerque in 1987.

Survivors include his wife of 51 years, Shirley Orgel Forman of Albuquerque; three children, Marcia Grossman of Chevy Chase, Judith St. George of Van Nuys, Calif., and Rachel Justus of Albuquerque; a brother, Edward A., Forman of Englewood, N.J.; and three grandchildren.

MOUSSA SALIBA TAWIL

Accountant

Moussa Saliba Tawil, 85, a retired accountant with Shell Oil Co. who was an international lay leader of Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, died of complications of diabetes and strokes Oct. 4 at Fairfax Hospital. He had lived in McLean since coming to the United States in 1976.

Mr. Tawil was born in Adana, Turkey, and raised in Jerusalem, where he attended the College of St. John Baptist de la Salle.

He worked for Shell in the Middle East, principally in accounting, from 1929 until he retired in 1957. He later had real estate businesses in Lebanon and Jordan.

Mr. Tawil was a member of the lay board of Syriac Orthodox Church, overseeing education, charities and social activities internationally. He was an adviser to the Saint Aphraim Benevolent Society in the Washington area.

Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Nijmeh Marto Tawil of McLean; seven children, Mary Jabra, Samira Tawil and Rita Tawil, all of McLean, Georges Tawil of Washington, Anis Tawil of Nicosia, Cyprus, Samir Tawil of Paris, and Dr. Hilda Tawil-Vollero of Houston; and five grandchildren.

LaVERN DUFFY

Senate Investigator

LaVern Duffy, 67, former assistant counsel and chief investigator for the Senate Government Operations Committee's permanent investigations subcommittee, died Sept. 21 at a hospital in Independence, Iowa, after a heart attack. A resident of Washington, he was vacationing in Iowa when he was stricken.

Mr. Duffy was born in Buchanan County, Iowa. He served in the Marine Corps in the Pacific during World War II. He graduated from Marquette University and Georgetown University law school.

He retired from the Senate staff in the early 1980s after 28 years. Mr. Duffy's career as an investigator and counselor included investigations of the Teamsters Union during the 1950s when Robert F. Kennedy was chief counsel to the committee and also investigations of other unions. He also investigated instances of fraud in connection with the operations of noncommissioned officers clubs and post exchanges in Vietnam during the war there.

Survivors include two brothers and three sisters.

DOROTHY D. TRAPANI

Businesswoman

Dorothy DeVan Trapani, 62, a retired Upper Marlboro businesswoman who was active in women's groups, died of cancer Oct. 6 at her home in Bowie.

Mrs. Trapani owned and operated the Marlboro Copy Center in Upper Marlboro from 1985 to 1990.

She was a past president of the Bowie Business and Professional Women's Club and the Seroptimists International of Bowie-Crofton. She had served as state chairman of the committee for women for the Maryland State Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, and was a recipient of the federation's woman-of-the-year award.

Mrs. Trapani, who had lived in the area since 1965, was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. She had accompanied her husband, Renato V. Trapani, who is now a retired Air Force colonel, on his assignments in Germany, Japan and Puerto Rico.

In addition to her husband, who lives in Crofton, survivors include two daughters, Victoria Trapani and Nancy Harper, both of Bowie; and two grandchildren.