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Steven Berkoff
Steven Berkoff.jpg
Berkoff in 2020
Born
Leslie Steven Berks

(1937-08-03) 3 August 1937 (age 86)
Stepney, London, England
Alma mater Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq
Occupation
  • Actor
  • playwright
  • theatre director
Years active 1958–Present
Notable work
East (1975)
Shakespeare's Villains (1998)
Spouse(s)
  • Alison Minto
    (m. 1970, divorced)
  • Shelley Lee
    (m. 1976, divorced)
Partner(s) Clara Fischer
Children 2
Awards Total Theatre Lifetime Achievement Award (1997)
LA Weekly Theater Award for Solo Performance (2000)

Steven Berkoff (born Leslie Steven Berks; 3 August 1937) is an English actor, author, playwright, theatre practitioner and theatre director.

As a theatre maker he is recognised for staging work with a heightened performance style eponymously known as "Berkovian theatre", which combines elements of physical theatre, total theatre and expressionism. His work has sometimes been viewed as an example of in-yer-face theatre, due to the intense presentation and taboo-breaking material in a number of his plays.

As a film actor, he is known for his performances in villainous roles, including the portrayals of General Orlov in the James Bond film Octopussy (1983), Victor Maitland in Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Lt. Col. Podovsky in Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Adolf Hitler in the TV mini-series War and Remembrance (1988–89).

Early life

Berkoff was born Leslie Steven Berks on 3 August 1937, in Stepney in the East End of London, the son of Pauline "Polly" (née Hyman), a housewife, and Alfred "Al" Berks, a tailor. He had an older sister, Beryl (1930-before 2010). He comes from a Jewish family; his grandparents emigrated to England in the 1890s, his paternal grandparents from Romania, and his maternal grandparents from Russia. The family name was originally Berkowitz, but Steven's father anglicised it to Berks in order to aid the family's assimilation into British society. Steven (who had been known as Leslie growing up) later legally changed his surname to Berkoff and went by his middle name.

During World War II, Berkoff, his sister and their mother were evacuated to Luton, Bedfordshire in 1942. In 1947 he and his family emigrated to the United States, sailing from Southampton aboard the Queen Elizabeth to live with relatives of Berkoff's mother in Nyack, New York. However, Berkoff's father struggled to find work, and after a few months the family returned to England. Berkoff attended Raine's Foundation Grammar School (1948–50) and Hackney Downs School (1950-1955).

In 1952, he was arrested for stealing a bicycle and was sentenced to three months in borstal. He took drama courses at City Literary Institute (1957–58), trained as an actor at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art (1958–59), and later trained in physical theatre and mime at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, graduating in 1965.

Career

Theatre

Berkoff started his theatre training in the Repertory Company at His Majesty's Theatre in Barrow-in-Furness, for approximately two months, in June and July 1962.

As well as an actor, Berkoff is a noted playwright and theatre director. His earliest plays are adaptations of works by Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis (1969); In the Penal Colony (1969), and The Trial (1971). In the 1970s and 1980s, he wrote a series of verse plays including East (1975), Greek (1980), and Decadence (1981), followed by West (1983) (later adapted and recorded at Limehouse Studios for transmission on Channel 4 in 1983), Harry's Christmas (Lunch) (also recorded at Limehouse Studios in 1983 but was never transmitted by C4 as it was considered "too dark"), Sink the Belgrano! (1986), Massage (1997), and The Secret Love Life of Ophelia (2001). Berkoff described Sink the Belgrano! as "even by my modest standards... one of the best things I have done".

In 1988, Berkoff directed an interpretation of Salome by Oscar Wilde, performed in slow motion, at the Gate Theatre, Dublin. For his first directorial job at the UK's Royal National Theatre, Berkoff revived the play with a new cast at the Lyttelton Auditorium; it opened in November 1989. In 1998, his solo play Shakespeare's Villains premièred at London's Haymarket Theatre and was nominated for a Society of London Theatre Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment.

In a 2010 interview with guest presenter Emily Maitlis on The Andrew Marr Show, Berkoff stated that he found it "flattering" to play evil characters, saying that the best actors assumed villainous roles. In 2011, Berkoff revived a previously performed one-man show at the Hammersmith Riverside Studios, titled One Man. It consisted of two monologues; the first was an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Tell-Tale Heart, the second a piece called Dog, written by Berkoff, which was a comedy about a loud-mouthed football fan and his dog. In 2013, Berkoff performed his play An Actor's Lament at the Sinden Theatre in Tenterden, Kent; it is his first verse play since Decadence in 1981. His 2018 one-act play Harvey deals with the story of Harvey Weinstein.

Film

In film, Berkoff has played villains such as Soviet General Orlov in the James Bond film Octopussy (1983), the corrupt art dealer Victor Maitland in Beverly Hills Cop (1984), the Soviet officer Colonel Podovsky in Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), and gangster George Cornell in The Krays (1990). Berkoff has stated that he accepts roles in Hollywood only to subsidise his theatre work, and that he regards many of the films in which he has appeared as lacking artistic merit.

In the Stanley Kubrick films A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Barry Lyndon (1975), Berkoff played, respectively, a police officer and a gambler aristocrat. His other films include the Hammer film Prehistoric Women (1967), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), The Passenger (1975), Joseph Andrews (1977), McVicar (1980), Outland (1981), Coming Out of the Ice (1982), Underworld (1985), Revolution (1985), Absolute Beginners (1986), Prince's film Under the Cherry Moon (1986), Prisoner of Rio (1988), the Australian film Flynn (1993), Fair Game (1995), and Legionnaire (1998).

Berkoff was the main character voice in Expelling the Demon (1999), a short animation with music by Nick Cave. It received the award for Best Debut at the KROK International Animated Films Festival. He has a cameo in the 2008 film The Cottage. Berkoff appeared in the 2010 British gangster film The Big I Am as "The MC", and in the same year, portrayed the antagonist in The Tourist. Berkoff portrayed Dirch Frode, attorney to Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), in David Fincher's 2011 adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Another 2011 credit is the independent film Moving Target. He also stars in Decline of an Empire (2014) playing the role of Liberius.

In 1994, he both appeared in and directed the film version of his verse play Decadence. Filmed in Luxembourg, it co-stars Joan Collins.

Television

In television, Berkoff had early roles in episodes of The Avengers and UFO episodes "The Cat with Ten Lives" and “Destruction’ in 1970. Other TV credits include: Hagath, in the episode "Business as Usual" of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; Stilgar, in the mini-series Children of Dune; gangster Mr. Wiltshire in one episode of Hotel Babylon; Dr. Paul Jorry in the episode "Deadline" of Space Precinct; lawyer Freddie Eccles in "By the Pricking of My Thumbs", an episode of Agatha Christie's Marple; and Adolf Hitler in the mini-series War and Remembrance. In 1998, he made a guest appearance in the Canadian TV series La Femme Nikita (in the episode "In Between"). In 2006, he played celebrity/criminal Ray Cook in the New Tricks episode "Bank Robbery".

In 2010, Berkoff played former Granada Television chairman Sidney Bernstein for the BBC Four drama, The Road to Coronation Street. He has played the historical Florentine preacher Girolamo Savonarola in two separate TV productions: the 1990 TV film A Season of Giants and the 2011 series The Borgias. Berkoff appears as himself in the "Science" episode of the British current affairs satire Brass Eye (1997), warning against the dangers of the fictional environmental disaster "Heavy Electricity". In September 2012, Berkoff appeared in the Doctor Who episode "The Power of Three".

In 2014, Berkoff played a supporting role in the second season of the Lifetime TV show Witches of East End as King Nikolaus, the patriarch of the Beauchamp family.

In 2016, he appeared in series 3, episode 1 of the Channel 4 sitcom Man Down as Mr. Klackov, a "terrifying" caretaker with an Eastern European accent "who makes covering [series protagonist] Dan's mistakes even more complicated" when his job as a schoolteacher is threatened.

Other work

In 1996, Berkoff appeared as the Master of Ceremonies in a BBC Radio 2 concert version of Kander and Ebb's Cabaret. He provided the voice-over for the N-Trance single "The Mind of the Machine", which rose to No. 15 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1997. He appeared in the opening sequence to Sky Sports' coverage of the 2007 Heineken Cup Final, modelled on a speech by Al Pacino in the film Any Given Sunday (1999).

Berkoff voices the character General Lente, commander of the Helghan Third Army, in Killzone. He provides motion capture and voice performance for the PlayStation 3 game Heavenly Sword, as General Flying Fox.

..... His 2014 memoir Bad Guy! Journal of a Hollywood Turkey records his time working on a Hollywood blockbuster.

Berkoff appeared in the British Heart Foundation's two-minute public service advertisement, Watch Your Own Heart Attack, broadcast on ITV in August 2008. He also presented two episodes of the BBC Two Horizon episodes: "To Infinity and Beyond..." (2010) and "The Power of the Placebo" (2014).

He is a patron of Brighton's Nightingale Theatre, a fringe theatre venue.

Critical assessment

According to Annette Pankratz in her 2005 Modern Drama review of Steven Berkoff and the Theatre of Self-Performance by Robert Cross: "Steven Berkoff is one of the major minor contemporary dramatists in Britain and – due to his self-fashioning as a bad boy of British theatre and the ensuing attention of the media – a phenomenon in his own right." Pankratz further asserts that Cross "focuses on Berkoff's theatre of self-performance: that is, the intersections between Berkoff, the public phenomenon and Berkoff, the artist."

Personal life

Berkoff married Alison Minto in 1970, and Shelley Lee in 1976; both marriages ended in divorce. He lives with his wife Clara Fischer, a German pianist, in Limehouse, east London. Fischer appeared onscreen with Berkoff in his film Decadence. He has two daughters, Mylea and Sarah, from previous relationships.

Defamation lawsuit

In 1996, Berkoff won Berkoff vs. Burchill, a libel civil action that he brought against Sunday Times journalist Julie Burchill after she published comments suggesting that he was "hideously ugly". The judge ruled for Berkoff, finding that Burchill's actions "held him to ridicule and contempt."

Political and religious views

Berkoff has spoken and written about how he believes Jews and Israel to be regarded in Britain. Interviewer Simon Round noted that Berkoff was also keen to express his view that right-wing Israeli politicians, such as Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu, were "wretched". Asked if British antisemitism manifested itself in theatre, Berkoff responded: "They quite like diversity and will tolerate you as long as you act a bit Gentile and don't throw your chicken soup around too much. You are perfectly entitled occasionally even to touch the great prophet of British culture, Shakespeare, as long as you keep your Jewishness well zipped up." Berkoff also referred to the Gaza war as a factor in writing Biblical Tales: "It was the recent 'Gaza' war and the appalling flack that Israel received that prompted me to investigate ancient Jewish values."

Speaking to The Jewish Chronicle in May 2010, Berkoff criticised the Bible but added, "it inspires the Jews to produce Samsons and heroes and to have pride". Berkoff went on to say of the Talmud in the same article: "As Jews, we are so incredibly lucky to have the Talmud, to have a way of re-interpreting the Torah. So we no longer cut off hands, and slay animals, and stone women."

In a Daily Telegraph travel article written while visiting Israel in 2007, Berkoff described Melanie Phillips' book Londonistan: How Britain Is Creating a Terror State Within, as "quite overwhelming in its research and common sense. It grips me throughout the journey."

In 2012, Berkoff, with others, wrote in support of Israel's national theatre, Habima, performing in London.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1958 I Was Monty's Double Minor role uncredited
1958 The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw Teenage boy uncredited
1959 The Captain's Table Minor role uncredited
1959 The Devil's Disciple British corporal uncredited
1960 The Flesh and the Fiends Medical student uncredited
1961 Konga Student on field trip uncredited
1967 Prehistoric Women John
1969 Vendetta for the Saint Bertoli
1971 Nicholas and Alexandra Pankratov
1971 A Clockwork Orange Det. Const. Tom
1975 The Passenger Stephen
1975 Barry Lyndon Lord Ludd
1977 Joseph Andrews Greasy Fellow
1980 McVicar Ronnie Harrison
1981 Outland Sagan
1982 Coming Out of the Ice Atoman
1983 Octopussy General Orlov
1984 Beverly Hills Cop Victor Maitland
1985 Rambo: First Blood Part II Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Podovsky
1985 Underworld Hugo Motherskille
1985 Revolution Sgt. Jones
1986 Absolute Beginners The Fanatic
1986 Under the Cherry Moon Isaac Sharon
1988 Prisoner of Rio Jack McFarland
1990 The Krays George Cornell
1993 Flynn Klaus Reicher
1994 Decadence Steve / Les / Helen's Couturier
1995 Fair Game Colonel Ilya Pavel Kazak
1997 Love in Paris Vittorio DaSilva
1998 Legionnaire Sgt. Steinkampf
2000 Rancid Aluminium Mr. Kant
2001 Beginner's Luck Magic Bob
2002 Steal Surtayne
9 Dead Gay Guys Jeff
Bokshu – The Myth Professor Metcalf
2003 Headrush The Uncle
2004 Action Man: Robot Atak Dr. X Voice
Charlie Charlie Richardson Snr.
Head in the Clouds Charles Bessé
Brides Karabulat
2005 The Headsman Inquisitor
Forest of the Gods Commandant Hoppe
2006 The Flying Scotsman Ernst Hagemann
Pu-239 Starkov
2007 Say It in Russian Oleg Rozhin
Medvezhya okhota
2008 The Cottage Arnie
2009 At World's End Jack Pudovski
44 Inch Chest Tippi Gordon
2010 Perfect Life The Elder
The Big I Am The MC
Just for the Record Mike Rosferry
Dead Cert Kenneth Mason
The Tourist Reginald Shaw
The Rapture The Controller
2011 Moving Target Lawrence Masters
Big Fat Gypsy Gangster Guru Shah
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Dirch Frode
2012 ... vs Werewolves Flett
2013 Red 2 Cobb
2014 Fall of an Empire Liberius
We Still Kill the Old Way Charlie Archer
2015 North v South Vic Clarke
Remembering Nigel Steven Berkoff Cameo
7 Cases Lawson
Rise of the Footsoldier Part II: Reign of the General Dr. Flint
2016 Manhattan Night Sebastian Hobbs
Titanium White Father Tornatore
2017 Riot Chief Constable
Transhuman Til
London Heist Alfie
Fanged Up Governor Payne
The Dot Man General West
2018 Point of No Return Evans
2019 Tell Tale Heart Edmund
Red Devil Lazarus
The Last Faust Dr. Goodfellow
2020 Righteous Villains Grandfather
2021 Creation Stories Alistair Crowley
Alice, Through the Looking The Executive Producer
2022 Exorcist Vengeance Bishop Canelo
Prizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher Walter

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1959 The Third Man Toni Da Costa Episode: "Toys of the Dead"
1959 The Four Just Men Second Student Episode: "Panic Button"
1960 The Four Just Men Workman Episode: "Treviso Dam"
1963 Corrigan Blake Barman Episode: "Love Bird"
1963 Moonstrike Gunther Episode: "A Matter of Trust"
1964 Festival Messenger Episode: "Murder in the Cathedral"
1964 Hamlet at Elsinore Lucianus TV film
1964 ITV Play of the Week Pestryakov Episode: "Crime and Punishment"
1965 The Wednesday Play Councillor Episode: "Sir Jocelyn, the Minister Would Like a Word..."
1965 The Wednesday Play Private Gutkowski Episode: "The Pistol"
1965 The Avengers Sager Episode: "The Gravediggers"
1965 An Enemy of the State Defence Counsel 2 episodes
1967 Vendetta Spiru Episode: "The Lady's Man"
1967 Softly, Softly PC Archer Episode: "The Informant: Part 1: Rough Justice"
1967 Vendetta Niccolo Episode: "The Lady's Man"
1967 The Newcomers Poulton Episode: #1.196
1967 Dixon of Dock Green Dave Banks Episode: "The Climber"
1968 The Champions Carlos Episode: "The Iron Man"
1969 The Saint Bertoli 2 episodes
1969 The Saint Carl Episode: "The Man Who Gambled with Life"
1970–1971 UFO Captain Steve Minto 4 episodes
1971 The Expert Mike Barratt Episode: "The Coat"
1971 Thirty-Minute Theatre Bert Episode: "Psychological Warfare"
1981 Play for Today Kozlov Episode: "Beloved Enemy"
1982 Coming Out of the Ice Atoman TV film
1983 The Professionals Krasnov Episode: "A Man Called Quinn"
1986 Sins Karl Von Eiderfeld All 3 episodes
1988–1989 War and Remembrance Adolf Hitler 11 episodes
1989 Theatre Night Mr. Samsa Episode: "Metamorphosis"
1990 A Season of Giants Girolamo Savonarola TV film
1991 The Tell-Tale Heart The Man TV film
1992 Intruders Addison Leach Both 2 episodes
1994 Space Precinct Dr. Paul Jorry Episode: "Deadline"
1997 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Hagath Episode: "Business as Usual"
1998 La Femme Nikita Charles Sand / Carlo Giraldi Episode: "In Between"
2000 Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) The Mouth Episode: "Mental Apparition Disorder"
2000 In the Beginning Potiphar Both 2 episodes
2001 Attila the Hun King Rua Both 2 episodes
2001 Jonathan Creek Herman Grole Episode: "Satan's Chimney"
2002 NCS: Manhunt George Rolf 2 episodes
2003 Children of Dune Stilgar All 3 episodes
2003 Seven Wonders of the Industrial World John A. Roebling Episode: "The Brooklyn Bridge"
2003 Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale Meisling TV film
2006 Marple Mr. Eccles Episode: "By the Pricking of My Thumbs"
2006 Hotel Babylon Mr. Wiltshire Episode: #1.8
2006 New Tricks Ray Cook Episode: "Bank Robbery"
2008 Ten: Umbra Mortis [de] Conrad TV film
2010 The Road to Coronation Street Sidney Bernstein TV film
2011–2012 The Borgias Girolamo Savonarola 8 episodes
2012 Doctor Who Shakri Episode: "The Power of Three"
2014 Witches of East End King Nikolaus 5 episodes
2015 The Frankenstein Chronicles William Blake 2 episodes
2016 Barbarians Rising Augustus 2 episodes
2016 Man Down Mr. Klackov 2 episodes
2018 Lore Dr. Kristoff Brehovy Episode: "Prague Clock: The Curse of the Orloj"
2019–2020 Vikings King Olaf the Stout 12 episodes

Works as author (incomplete)

Awards and honours

Awards

Year Award Ceremony Category Nominee Result Ref
2004 Helen Hayes Awards Outstanding Lead Actor, Non-Resident Production Shakespeare's Villains at the Studio Theatre, Washington, D.C. Nominated
2001 Bank of Scotland Herald Angel The Secret Love Life of Ophelia at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2001 Won
2000 Scotsman Fringe First Award Messiah, Scenes from a Crucifixion at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Won
LA Weekly Theater Award Award for Solo Performance Shakespeare's Villains at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble Won
1999 Stage Awards for Acting Excellence Stage Award for Best Ensemble work at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 25th-anniversary revival of East Won
1999 Laurence Olivier Awards Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment Shakespeare's Villains at the Theatre Royal Haymarket Nominated
1997 Total Theatre Awards Lifetime Achievement Award Steven Berkoff Won
1994 Evening Standard Drama Awards Best Comedy Brighton Beach Scumbags Nominated
1992 1992 Laurence Olivier Awards Best Theatre Choreographer The Trial at the Lyttelton at The National Theatre Nominated
The Observer Award for Outstanding Achievement Kvetch at the Garrick Theatre, London Nominated
1991 Evening Standard Theatre Awards Best Comedy Kvetch Won
Best Director The Trial Nominated
1980 The New Standard British Film Awards Most Promising Newcomer (Actor) Steven Berkoff for his portrayal of Ronnie Harrison in McVicar Nominated

Honours

The Berkoff Performing Arts Centre at Alton College, Hampshire, is named for Berkoff. He taught a drama master-class later that day, and performed Shakespeare's Villains for an invited audience that evening.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Steven Berkoff para niños

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