Michel Lonsdale

Born: May 24 1931
Where: Paris, France

The actor is probably best known as the detective hunting down Edward Fox's professional assasin in The Day of the Jackal.

He has also enjoyed attention-grabbing turns as Bond villain Hugo Drax in Moonraker and the Abbott in The Name of the Rose.

The son of a British Army officer, Lonsdale studied acting in Paris under Raymond Rouleau.

Initially an accomplished stage actor, he move to film in the 1960s in The Door Slams and The Itchy Palm.

In 1962, he played a priest in Orson Welles' big screen adaptation of Kafka's The Trial and also appeared in Francois Truffaut's The Bride Wore Black in 1968.

He took the role of dogged Detective Lebel in The Day of the Jackal in 1973 and Cardinal Barberini in Joseph Losey's Galileo.

Subsequent appearances included Moonraker in 1979, Chariots of Fire in 1981 and ecclesiastical thriller The Name of the Rose opposite Sean Connery.

In 1993, he played Dupont D'Ivry in the Oscar-nominated The Remains of the Day and Louis XVI in the historial drama Jefferson in Paris.

He was nominated for a Cesar (French Oscar) for the Claude Sauter drama Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud in 1995 and appeared alongside Robert De Niro in Ronin.

Recent work includes Francois Ozon's romantic drama 5x2.