Oliver Reed

He married Kate Byrne in 1960 and the couple had one son, but they got divorced in 1969.

He then met Jacquie Daryl, a classical dancer and had a daughter with her.

In 1985, he married Josephine Burge; the marriage was intact till his death in 1999.

Oliver Reed was born as Robert Oliver Reed to Peter Reed and Marcia Reed in Wimbledon, London. He is believed to be a descendent of ‘Peter the Great’, the Tsar of Russia, although this has never been proved.

He attended Ewell Castle School in Surrey and later, enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps before commencing his acting career in the late 50s.

Without any formal training, his career debuted with ‘The Golden Spur’ in 1959, which was a British kids’ series.

He landed his first major role in ‘The Curse of the Werewolf’ in 1961, where he played the role of a young man who transformed into a hairy beast during the full moon.

The following year, he appeared in ‘Pirates of the Blood River’ alongside Christopher Lee and also starred in ‘Captain Clegg’ with Peter Cushing.

In 1963, he attracted widespread fame as the lecherous gang leader in ‘The Damned’.

He was cast as a supporting actor in ‘The Brigand of Kandahar’, in 1965 and in the action-adventure film, ‘The Trap’, in 1966. However, in the 60s, his memorable performance was in the classic musical adaptation of ‘Oliver!, where he played the role of the evil, Bill Sykes.

Reed was known for portraying the musketeer ‘Athos’ in Richard Lester’s film on Alexander Dumas’ classic, ‘The Three Musketeers’. His portrayal is considered to be one of the ‘most memorable roles of all times’ and he received worldwide recognition for his stellar performance. He was re-cast as Athos in its sequel, ‘The Four Musketeers’ and was also cast in the adaptation, ‘The Return of the Musketeers’.