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Films: I is for...

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

“I am Adolf Hitler, you *will* obey me! Hmph!” A lengthy showcase for Michael ‘Bronson’ Sheard’s fourth on-screen outing as the great dictator (in the grounds of crumblin’ toff’s academy Stowe, Home Counties location fans). He’s played Himmler three times, too, plus sundry lower-ranking Nazis for the past forty-odd years. There’s some other stuff involving snakes and hats in here too, and someone appears to have recorded a rather poor edition of The Adventure Game over the last half hour, but don’t let that put you off.

6 Comments

6 Comments

  1. Glenn Aylett

    April 26, 2023 at 6:57 pm

    Michael Sheard, while never A list, must be a very successful member of the B list of actors as his credits are long and thanks to playing the dreaded and bloody brilliant Mr Bronson in Grange Hill, his other roles became more noticeable from his earlier career. Completely versatile, I’ve seen him play a German football commentator in Randall and Hopkirk Deceased, the Lahndan accented depot manager in Holiday On The Buses and Admiral Ozzel in The Enpire Strikes Back, how Sheard evaded greatness and bigger roles beats me. However, maybe he was happy not taking the biggest role( Bronson was deputy head in Grange Hill) and taking whatever work interested him.

    • George White

      April 27, 2023 at 8:13 am

      I think he was one of those actors who enjoyed acting whatever the part. Recently saw him in probably his biggest (in terms of screentime) film role, Green Ice (1981), a late period ITC potboiler about emeralds starring Ryan O’Neill, Omar Sharif, and Anne Archer, where Sheard, 7th billed has a major part, is on location in Mexico and SPOILER- kills Sharif. On the other hand, the lab interiors look like something from a late period ITC show.
      Apparently, he was 2nd choice for Toht in Raiders, and was given a role as the U-Boat captain but was cut bar one long shot.

      • Sidney Balmoral James

        April 27, 2023 at 7:26 pm

        I’ve heard also that Klaus Kinski was first choice for Toht, but turned it down (presumably due to a combination of the very small number of lines and the money – Kinski famously preferred to make two crappy films that paid well, than one good film that didn’t – he chose Venom over Raiders). Green Ice also includes a role for Philip Stone, another great minor actor in the Sheard class (and an alumnus of an Indiana Jones film), who had an even better cult role as Delbert Grady in The Shining. I’d put Julian Glover also in this category, and Michael Byrne – both excellent in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

        • Glenn Aylett

          April 27, 2023 at 9:04 pm

          @ Sidney Balmoral James, Kinski probably rivalled Rex Harrison for the most obnoxious actor of the last century. He was terrible to work with, misogynistic, obsessed with money and upset nearly everyone he encountered. I don’t think he would have got along with Harrison Ford, who would probably have refused to work with Kinski or knocked him out.

          • Richardpd

            April 27, 2023 at 10:24 pm

            Kinski played the Hunchbacked aptly named Wilde in For A Few Dollars More.

  2. Richardpd

    April 26, 2023 at 10:20 pm

    Michael Sheard was in Dr Who a few times over the years, some of which show he could play more than jobsworth authority figures.

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