Denholm Mitchell Elliott was a distinguished British character actor, well known for his stage, film & television work. He specialized in playing slightly sleazy/slightly eccentric & flawed upper middle class English gentlemen. His career spanned nearly 40 years, becoming a well-known face both in UK & the USA.
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."
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.
You've been on quite a roll lately, so this is just a general comment in praise of the last few days' posts. Delightful and charming, to the last. Individual entries seem to demand a remark or two but sometimes I find words lacking (shocking, right?), however please know that every word of every single one is absorbed into my bloodstream like the most addictive drug.
ReplyDeleteRonnie
Without getting into the old "was he gay or was he bi or was he . . ." debate, I'll simply compliment Denholm and Susan for maintaining such an honestly open and enlightened relationship.
ReplyDeleteI first saw him as a child in the movie The Cruel Sea in the mid 1950s.
Room with a View is also one of my favorite films and Denholm was one of my favorite actors in it. Why I like that film so much I will never know but I can watch it over and over.
ReplyDeletePlease keep up the great posts.
Immanuel
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