Sunday 9 January 2005

Many Happy Returns to a vicious killer

Today is the 88th birthday of the veteran actor Herbert Lom, born Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchacevich ze Schluderpacheru in Prague. I never thought his comic turn in the Pink Panther films was very funny but he has graced many fine, good, mediocre and awful movies with brilliant portrayals of silken villainy. It was nice to see him on TV the other day still working, this time as a sinister character who turns out to be OK really.

I do not think anyone other than me has ever remarked that in earlier days Lom bore a striking facial resemblance to the young Brigitte Bardot (though this is not apparent in these particular photos).

Perhaps it had something to do with the pout, the shape of the nose and the curve of the eyebrows. The hair, of course, was quite different, so it is unlikely that there was ever any confusion. Fifty years on, he has worn rather better than she has.
[Later: Herbert Lom's family have stated that his birthday is actually 11th September and not the date above. Just goes to show that you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet.]

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