Denholm Elliott was born in London & made his film debut in 1949. He went on to play a large range of parts in films as diverse as Alfie, Trading Places, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Brimstone & Treacle, Maurice, & my favorite film of all time- A Room with a View. He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his role as Mr.Emerson in my favorite film.
Although gay, Elliott was married 2 times (the first time to the British actress, Virginia McKenna) & starting in 1962, he had an open marriage to actress Susan Robinson, with whom he had 2 children.
Susan had long since become reconciled to her husband's boyfriends, & seldom felt jealous.On one occasion when he brought one of them, a young Moroccan, home to London; as a gesture of defiance she enjoyed an affair with a famous French actor while on vacation on Ibeza, & was reassured to find herself still attractive & desirable, & with no feeling of guilt. Her own sex life with her husband remained active. Susan Elliot:"Between us, he was always 100 percent masculine, both in bed & in taking decisions in our home life."
For his part, Denholm Elliott never inhibited Susan's own affairs ("as long as you don't fall in love & as long as you don't have anyone else's baby"), mainly because, as explained, it made him feel less guilty about his own indiscretions.
The assignations increased in number & frequency as the years passed until, as Susan noted in her biography- Denholm Elliott, Quest For Love, her husband's promiscuity became "almost a psychological disorder". Denholm Elliott was diagnosed with HIV in 1987, & died in 1992 of AIDS-related tuberculosis at his home on Ibiza, Spain. He was cremated. His widow set up a charity, the Denholm Elliott Project, in a hotel complex on Ibiza called Can Bufi, where people who are HIV positive could enjoy a free holiday.
Susan Elliott died in a fire at her home in London on April 12, 2007.
Not related to this post but a thank you for your recommendation of Tab hunter's auto biography. I think I you posted about in the fall and I ordered it from Amazon back then but have only just gotten around to reading it. I'm about have through and am thoroughly enjoying it.
ReplyDeleteThis story reads like a Hollywood masterpiece!
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting man, source of info, and as a result, blogger you are.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know all of this about Mr. Elliott. I do LOVE A Room With A View. I remember as if it were yesterday. While watching the movie choking on my drink when his character on some tour says in ear shot of the guide "it only means that the workers were underpaid"?? referring to a church being built by faith. I felt embarrassed for his beautiful son played by Julian Sands. It seemed like something my own father would say. lol