RIP Michael Lonsdale – Sir Hugo Drax in Moonraker

Farewell Michael Lonsdale. We are heartbroken!

Michael Edward Lonsdale-Crouch was born on 24 May 1931, Paris, France and died on 21 September 2020, Paris, France. He was born as the son of English Army officer Edward Lonsdale-Crouch and his half-French, half-Irish wife Simone Béraud, and brought up initially on the island of Guernsey, then in London in 1935, and later, during World War II, in Casablanca, Morocco. He returned to Paris to study painting in 1947, but was drawn into the world of acting instead, first appearing on stage at the age of 24.

Lonsdale was bilingual and appeared in both English- and French-language productions.

He is best-known as his appearance in Bond film “Moonraker” (1979), where his role was a main villain Hugo Drax. Roger Moore was James Bond in that movie. Lonsdale reprised his role as Drax in a videogame “007 Legends” (2012).

Lonsdale starred also with Sean Connery in “The Name of the Rose” (1986), his role in that film was “The Abbot”

“When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure.”