Steven Berkoff
Encyclopedia
Steven Berkoff is an English actor, writer and director. Best known for his performance as General Orlov
in the James Bond
film Octopussy
, he is typically cast in villanous roles, such as Lt. Col Podovsky in Rambo: First Blood Part II
, Victor Maitland in Beverly Hills Cop
, and Adolf Hitler
in epic mini-series War and Remembrance
.
, in the East End of London
, on 3 August 1937, the son of Pauline (Hyman) and Alfred Berks (Berkovitch), who was a tailor. His family was of Romanian Jewish
background. He attended Raine's Foundation Grammar School
(1948-50), Hackney Downs School
, the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
(1958), and the Ecole Jacques Lecoq
(1965).
He joined the Repertory Company at Her Majesty's Theatre in Barrow-in-Furness
for approximately two months in 1962.
His earliest plays are adaptations of works by Franz Kafka
: The Metamorphosis
(1969); In the Penal Colony (1969); and The Trial
(1971); these complex psychological plays are said to be nightmarish and to create a disturbing sense of alienation in their audiences.
In the 1970s and 1980s, he wrote a series of verse plays including: East
(1975); Greek
(1980); Decadence (1981); West (1983); Sink the Belgrano!
(1986); Massage (1997); Sturm und Drang; and The Secret Love Life of Ophelia (2001).
Critic Ned Chaillett has described Sink the Belgrano!
, a critical take on the Falklands War
, which premiered at the Half Moon Theatre
, in Stepney, on 2 September 1986, as "a diatribe in punk-Shakespearean verse"; and Berkoff himself described it as "even by my modest standards ... one of the best things I have done" (Free Association 373).
Berkoff employs a style of heightened physical theatre known as "total theatre". Drama critic Aleks Sierz
describes his Berkoff's dramatic style as "in yer face"
:
In an August 2010 interview with guest presenter Emily Maitlis
on The Andrew Marr Show, he said he found it 'flattering' playing evil characters, saying that the best actors took on the roles of villains.
In the late 1980s, he directed an interpretation of Salome
by Oscar Wilde
in the Gate Theatre
, Dublin and later in the United Kingdom.
In 1998, his solo play Shakespeare's Villains
, premiered at London's Haymarket Theatre
, was nominated for a Society of London Theatre
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment.
In 2011, Berkoff performed a one man show at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith called One Man. It consisted of two monologues; the first was an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe
's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart
" and the second was a piece written by Berkoff called 'Dog', which was a comedy about a loud-mouthed football fan and his dog.
; gangster George Cornell
in The Krays
; the sadistic Soviet officer Col. Podovsky in Rambo: First Blood Part II
and General Orlov in the James Bond
film Octopussy
. (Berkoff has stated that he takes Hollywood roles only in order to subsidise his theatre work. He regards many of the films he has appeared in as lacking artistic merit).
He also appeared in the 1967 Hammer
film Prehistoric Women
, in the 1980 film McVicar
alongside Roger Daltrey
and in the Australian biographical film
on the early life of Errol Flynn
entitled Flynn (1996) (entitled My Forgotten Man in some markets).
In Stanley Kubrick
's films A Clockwork Orange
(1971) and Barry Lyndon
(1975), Berkoff plays a police officer and a gambler nobleman (Lord Ludd), respectively.
In 1994, he starred in and directed the film version of his own play Decadence
. Shot in Luxembourg
, it co-starred Joan Collins
.
He also appeared in the independent feature Naked in London (2006) and in the 2010 British gangster film The Big I Am
playing "The MC". He played the role of antagonist in The Tourist
(2010) with Angelina Jolie
, Johnny Depp
and Paul Bettany
.
As a television actor, he had an early TV role in an episode of The Avengers
. He also had an early role as a regular playing a Moonbase Interceptor pilot in the Gerry Anderson TV series UFO
. His other television roles include: Hagath in the episode "Business as Usual"
in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
; Stilgar
in the 2003 miniseries Children of Dune; a gangster (Mr Wiltshire) in episode 8 of the BBC's Hotel Babylon series; a lawyer (Freddie Eccles) in an episode of ITV's Marple
entitled By the Pricking of My Thumbs; and Adolf Hitler
in the mini-series War and Remembrance
, role he originally baulked at taking, primarily on moral grounds; he later relented.
Berkoff also 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".
Berkoff speaks the voiceover in "The Mind Of The Machine" single for UK by dance-music band N-Trance
which reached #15 in the UK Singles Chart
in August 1997.
Berkoff appears in the opening sequence to Sky Sports
' coverage of the 2007 Heineken Cup
Final, modeled on a speech by Al Pacino
in the 1999 film Any Given Sunday
.
With Andy Serkis
and others, he provides motion capture and voice for the PlayStation 3
game Heavenly Sword
, playing one of its main villains, General Flying Fox.
Also with Serkis, he appears briefly in a cameo
in the 2008 film The Cottage
.
In 1996, he appeared as the Master of Ceremonies
in a BBC Radio 2
concert version of Kander & Ebb's Cabaret
.
He appears in the British Heart Foundation
's two-minute public service advertisement, Watch Your Own Heart Attack
, broadcast on ITV
, on 10 August 2008.
He is also patron of the Nightingale Theatre, in Brighton, England, a fringe theatre venue
.
, struggling actor Dexter King (Jeff Goldblum
) auditions unsuccessfully for an imaginary 'Berkoff play' called England, My England. In the audition, characters dressed as skinheads swear repetitively at each other, and a folding table is kicked over. Afterwards, Dexter's agent Mary (Anna Massey
) muses: "I think he's probably mad..."
"I'm scared of Steven Berkoff" is a line in the lyrics of "I'm Scared" (1992), by Queen
's guitarist Brian May
, released on his first solo album Back to the Light
(1993). Brian May has declared himself to be great admirer of Berkoff.
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."
in January 2009 that " Zionism is the very essence of what a Jew is. Zionism is the act of seeking sanctuary after years and years of unspeakable outrages against Jews." On his own website, Berkoff says that "the flak" that Israel received over the Gaza attack was "appalling."
Journalist Simon Round, in The Jewish Chronicle
January 2009, recorded Berkoff's belief that "the great outpouring of anti-Israel sentiment over the Gaza operation is motivated by something darker."
Berkoff also believes the British are deeply anti Semitic. In The Daily Telegraph (January 2009) Berkoff spoke of the British "inbuilt dislike of Jews...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."
Speaking to The Jewish Chronicle (10 May 2010) Berkoff expresses blunt and severely critical views of the Bible, but believes "it inspires the Jews to produce Samsons and heroes and to have pride." Berkoff goes on to say of the Talmud in the same article, that "as Jews, we are so incredibly lucky to have the Talmud, to have a way of reinterpreting the Torah. So we no longer cut off hands, and slay animals, and stone women."
In a Daily Telegraph article he wrote on Israel (10 June 2007), Berkoff expressed his support for the Melanie Phillips
book Londonistan, calling it "gripping" and "quite overwhelming in its research and common sense."
He lives with his companion Clara Fisher in east London.
General Orlov
General Orlov is a fictional character and major antagonist in the James Bond film Octopussy, played by Steven Berkoff. At first the audience is led to believe that Orlov is the main antagonist of the film. However, it is later revealed that his contact Kamal Khan is the real villain...
in the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film Octopussy
Octopussy
Octopussy is the thirteenth entry in the James Bond series, and the sixth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's title is taken from a short story in Ian Fleming's 1966 short story collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights...
, he is typically cast in villanous roles, such as Lt. Col Podovsky in Rambo: First Blood Part II
Rambo: First Blood Part II
Rambo: First Blood Part II is a 1985 action film. A sequel to 1982's First Blood, it is the second installment in the Rambo series starring Sylvester Stallone, who reprises his role as Vietnam veteran John Rambo...
, Victor Maitland in Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American comedy-action film directed by Martin Brest and starring Eddie Murphy, Lisa Eilbacher, John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, and Ronny Cox...
, and Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
in epic mini-series War and Remembrance
War and Remembrance (mini-series)
War and Remembrance is an American miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Herman Wouk. It is the sequel to highly successful The Winds of War...
.
Early life
Berkoff was born Leslie Steven Berks, in StepneyStepney
Stepney is a district of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in London's East End that grew out of a medieval village around St Dunstan's church and the 15th century ribbon development of Mile End Road...
, in the East End of London
East End of London
The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...
, on 3 August 1937, the son of Pauline (Hyman) and Alfred Berks (Berkovitch), who was a tailor. His family was of Romanian Jewish
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
background. He attended Raine's Foundation Grammar School
Raine's Foundation School
Raine's Foundation School is a Church of England Voluntary Aided school in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.Henry Raine, a very rich man who lived in Wapping, decided to create a school where poor children could get an education for free, so that they could go into skilled labour when they left....
(1948-50), Hackney Downs School
Hackney Downs School
Hackney Downs School was a comprehensive secondary school, located near Hackney Downs off the A104 north of Hackney town centre, in the London Borough of Hackney.-Grocers' Company's School:...
, the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, formerly the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art, was a drama school, and originally a singing school, in London. It was one of the leading drama schools in Britain, and offered comprehensive training for those intending to pursue a...
(1958), and the Ecole Jacques Lecoq
Jacques Lecoq
Jacques Pierre Lecoq born in Paris, was a French actor, mime and acting instructor.He is most famous for his methods on physical theatre, movement and mime that he taught at the school he founded in Paris, L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq from 1956 until his death in...
(1965).
Theatre
As well as being an actor, Berkoff is a playwright and director.He joined the Repertory Company at Her Majesty's Theatre in Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...
for approximately two months in 1962.
His earliest plays are adaptations of works by Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
: The Metamorphosis
The Metamorphosis
The Metamorphosis is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It is often cited as one of the seminal works of short fiction of the 20th century and is widely studied in colleges and universities across the western world...
(1969); In the Penal Colony (1969); and The Trial
The Trial
The Trial is a novel by Franz Kafka, first published in 1925. One of Kafka's best-known works, it tells the story of a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, with the nature of his crime revealed neither to him nor the reader.Like Kafka's other novels, The Trial was never...
(1971); these complex psychological plays are said to be nightmarish and to create a disturbing sense of alienation in their audiences.
In the 1970s and 1980s, he wrote a series of verse plays including: East
East (play)
East is a 1975 verse play by Steven Berkoff, dealing with growing up and rites of passage in London's rough East End.The 25th anniversary production, produced by Marc Sinden and starring Tanya Franks, started at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley...
(1975); Greek
Greek (play)
Greek is a play by Steven Berkoff.It was first performed at the Half Moon Theatre in London on 11 February 1980, in a production directed by the author. The cast was:*Eddy & Fortune-teller: Barry Philips*Dad & Manager of cafe: Matthew Scurfield...
(1980); Decadence (1981); West (1983); Sink the Belgrano!
Sink the Belgrano!
Sink the Belgrano! is a 1986 satirical play by English playwright Steven Berkoff about British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's decision to torpedo the Argentinian ship General Belgrano, as it was purportedly retreating during the 1982 Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina...
(1986); Massage (1997); Sturm und Drang; and The Secret Love Life of Ophelia (2001).
Critic Ned Chaillett has described Sink the Belgrano!
Sink the Belgrano!
Sink the Belgrano! is a 1986 satirical play by English playwright Steven Berkoff about British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's decision to torpedo the Argentinian ship General Belgrano, as it was purportedly retreating during the 1982 Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina...
, a critical take on the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
, which premiered at the Half Moon Theatre
Half Moon Theatre
The Half Moon Theatre Company was formed in 1972 in a rented synagogue in Alie Street, Aldgate, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Half Moon Passage was the name of a nearby alley...
, in Stepney, on 2 September 1986, as "a diatribe in punk-Shakespearean verse"; and Berkoff himself described it as "even by my modest standards ... one of the best things I have done" (Free Association 373).
Berkoff employs a style of heightened physical theatre known as "total theatre". Drama critic Aleks Sierz
In-yer-face theatre
In-yer-face theatre describes drama that emerged in Great Britain in the 1990s. This category coined by British theatre critic Aleks Sierz is the title of his book, In-Yer-Face Theatre, first published by Faber and Faber in March 2001...
describes his Berkoff's dramatic style as "in yer face"
In-yer-face theatre
In-yer-face theatre describes drama that emerged in Great Britain in the 1990s. This category coined by British theatre critic Aleks Sierz is the title of his book, In-Yer-Face Theatre, first published by Faber and Faber in March 2001...
:
In an August 2010 interview with guest presenter Emily Maitlis
Emily Maitlis
Emily Maitlis is a Canadian-born British journalist and newsreader, currently employed by the BBC.-Career:Raised in Sheffield, she was educated at the local King Edward VII School...
on The Andrew Marr Show, he said he found it 'flattering' playing evil characters, saying that the best actors took on the roles of villains.
In the late 1980s, he directed an interpretation of Salome
Salome (play)
Salome is a tragedy by Oscar Wilde.The original 1891 version of the play was in French. Three years later an English translation was published...
by Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
in the Gate Theatre
Gate Theatre
The Gate Theatre, in Dublin, was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál Mac Liammóir, initially using the Abbey Theatre's Peacock studio theatre space to stage important works by European and American dramatists...
, Dublin and later in the United Kingdom.
In 1998, his solo play Shakespeare's Villains
Shakespeare's Villains
Shakespeare's Villains is a one-man play, created and performed by Steven Berkoff.Following its first run at London's Theatre Royal, Haymarket where it was produced by Berkoffs East Productions and Marc Sinden , it was nominated for The Society of London Theatre Laurence Olivier Award for Best...
, premiered at London's Haymarket Theatre
Haymarket Theatre
The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...
, was nominated for a Society of London Theatre
The Society of London Theatre
The Society of London Theatre is an umbrella organization for West End theatre in London.- TKTS, Half-Price Theatre Ticket Booth:...
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment.
In 2011, Berkoff performed a one man show at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith called One Man. It consisted of two monologues; the first was an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart
The Tell-Tale Heart
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe first published in 1843. It follows an unnamed narrator who insists on his sanity after murdering an old man with a "vulture eye". The murder is carefully calculated, and the murderer hides the body by dismembering it and hiding it under the...
" and the second was a piece written by Berkoff called 'Dog', which was a comedy about a loud-mouthed football fan and his dog.
Film and television
In Hollywood films, Steven Berkoff has played villains such as the corrupt art dealer Victor Maitland in Beverly Hills CopBeverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American comedy-action film directed by Martin Brest and starring Eddie Murphy, Lisa Eilbacher, John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, and Ronny Cox...
; gangster George Cornell
George Cornell
George Cornell was an English criminal and member of the Richardson Gang, who were scrap metal dealers and criminals.He was shot and killed by Ronnie Kray at the Blind Beggar public house in Whitechapel...
in The Krays
The Krays (film)
The Krays is a 1990 film based on the lives and crimes of the British gangsters Ronald and Reginald Kray, twins who are often referred to as The Krays...
; the sadistic Soviet officer Col. Podovsky in Rambo: First Blood Part II
Rambo: First Blood Part II
Rambo: First Blood Part II is a 1985 action film. A sequel to 1982's First Blood, it is the second installment in the Rambo series starring Sylvester Stallone, who reprises his role as Vietnam veteran John Rambo...
and General Orlov in the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film Octopussy
Octopussy
Octopussy is the thirteenth entry in the James Bond series, and the sixth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's title is taken from a short story in Ian Fleming's 1966 short story collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights...
. (Berkoff has stated that he takes Hollywood roles only in order to subsidise his theatre work. He regards many of the films he has appeared in as lacking artistic merit).
He also appeared in the 1967 Hammer
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
film Prehistoric Women
Prehistoric Women (Slave Girls)
Prehistoric Women is a 1967 adventure film. Also known as Slave Girls, the film starred Martine Beswick, Michael Latimer and Steven Berkoff.-Synopsis:...
, in the 1980 film McVicar
McVicar (film)
McVicar is a British drama film released in 1980 by The Who Films, Ltd., starring Roger Daltrey of The Who in the title role of John McVicar...
alongside Roger Daltrey
Roger Daltrey
Roger Harry Daltrey, CBE , is an English singer and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who. He has maintained a musical career as a solo artist and has also worked in the film industry, acting in a large number of films, theatre and television roles and also...
and in the Australian biographical film
Biographical film
A biographical film, or biopic , is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most historically important years of their...
on the early life of Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
entitled Flynn (1996) (entitled My Forgotten Man in some markets).
In Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's films A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange (film)
A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name. It was written, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick...
(1971) and Barry Lyndon
Barry Lyndon
Barry Lyndon is a 1975 British-American period romantic war film produced, written, and directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray which recounts the exploits of an 18th century Irish adventurer...
(1975), Berkoff plays a police officer and a gambler nobleman (Lord Ludd), respectively.
In 1994, he starred in and directed the film version of his own play Decadence
Decadence (film)
Decadence is a 1994 British film starring Joan Collins and Stephen Berkoff, written and directed by Berkoff and based on his play of the same name....
. Shot in Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
, it co-starred Joan Collins
Joan Collins
Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
.
He also appeared in the independent feature Naked in London (2006) and in the 2010 British gangster film The Big I Am
The Big I Am
The Big I Am is a British gangster film starring Michael Madsen and Leo Gregory which was released straight to DVD on 8 April 2010. - Plot :...
playing "The MC". He played the role of antagonist in The Tourist
The Tourist (2010 film)
The Tourist is a 2010 romantic thriller film directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. It is a remake of the 2005 French action film Anthony Zimmer....
(2010) with Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
, Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
and Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany is an English actor. He has appeared in a wide variety of films, including A Knight's Tale, A Beautiful Mind, and The Da Vinci Code...
.
As a television actor, he had an early TV role in an episode of The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
. He also had an early role as a regular playing a Moonbase Interceptor pilot in the Gerry Anderson TV series UFO
UFO (TV series)
UFO is a 1970-1971 British television science fiction series about an alien invasion of Earth, created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson with Reg Hill, and produced by the Andersons and Lew Grade's Century 21 Productions for Grade's ITC Entertainment company.UFO first aired in the UK and Canada...
. His other television roles include: Hagath in the episode "Business as Usual"
Business as Usual (DS9 episode)
"Business as Usual" is an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the eighteenth episode of the fifth season. It has an average fan rating of 4/5 on the official Star Trek website as of September, 2009.-Plot:...
in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...
; Stilgar
Stilgar
Stilgar is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He appears in the first three novels in the series: Dune , Dune Messiah and Children of Dune . His early life is explored in Brian Herbert and Kevin J...
in the 2003 miniseries Children of Dune; a gangster (Mr Wiltshire) in episode 8 of the BBC's Hotel Babylon series; a lawyer (Freddie Eccles) in an episode of ITV's Marple
Marple (TV series)
Marple is a British television series based on the Miss Marple and other murder mystery novels by Agatha Christie. It is also known as Agatha Christie's Marple. The title character was played by Geraldine McEwan from the first to third series, until her retirement from the role. She was replaced...
entitled By the Pricking of My Thumbs; and Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
in the mini-series War and Remembrance
War and Remembrance
War and Remembrance is a novel by Herman Wouk, published in 1978, which is the sequel to The Winds of War. It continues the story of the extended Henry family and the Jastrow family starting on 15 December 1941 and ending on 6 August 1945. This novel was adapted into a mini-series presented on...
, role he originally baulked at taking, primarily on moral grounds; he later relented.
Berkoff also appears as himself in the "Science" episode of the British current affairs satire Brass Eye
Brass Eye
Brass Eye is a UK television series of satirical spoof documentaries. A series of six aired on Channel 4 in 1997, and a further episode in 2001....
(1997), warning against the dangers of the fictional environmental disaster "Heavy Electricity".
Other work
Berkoff presents the BBC Horizon episode of Infinity and Beyond (2010)Berkoff speaks the voiceover in "The Mind Of The Machine" single for UK by dance-music band N-Trance
N-Trance
N-Trance are a British electronic music group, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, who were formed by Kevin O'Toole and Dale Longworth, in 1990. The group has sold over 5 million records worldwide and some of their hit singles include "Set You Free", "Forever", as well as covers of the popular 1970s...
which reached #15 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in August 1997.
Berkoff appears in the opening sequence to Sky Sports
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
' coverage of the 2007 Heineken Cup
Heineken Cup
The Heineken Cup is one of two annual rugby union competitions organised by European Rugby Cup involving leading club, regional and provincial teams from the six International Rugby Board countries in Europe whose national teams compete in the Six Nations Championship: England, France, Ireland,...
Final, modeled on a speech by Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
in the 1999 film Any Given Sunday
Any Given Sunday
Any Given Sunday is a 1999 American drama film directed by Oliver Stone depicting a fictional professional American football team. The film features an ensemble cast, consisting of Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx, James Woods, LL Cool J, Matthew Modine, John C...
.
With Andy Serkis
Andy Serkis
Andrew Clement G. "Andy" Serkis is an English actor, director and author. He is popularly known for playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, for which he earned several award nominations, including the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Two Towers...
and others, he provides motion capture and voice for the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
game Heavenly Sword
Heavenly Sword
Heavenly Sword is a video game developed by Ninja Theory exclusively for the PlayStation 3 console and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe...
, playing one of its main villains, General Flying Fox.
Also with Serkis, he appears briefly in a cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
in the 2008 film The Cottage
The Cottage
The Cottage is a 2008 British darkly comic horror film, written and directed by Paul Andrew Williams.-Plot:Two brothers, David and Peter , kidnap Tracey , the stepdaughter of Arnie , an underworld crime boss...
.
In 1996, he appeared as the Master of Ceremonies
Master of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
in a BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
concert version of Kander & Ebb's Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
.
He appears in the British Heart Foundation
British Heart Foundation
The British Heart Foundation is a charity organisation in Britain that funds research, education, care and awareness campaigns aimed to prevent heart diseases in humans.-Foundation:...
's two-minute public service advertisement, Watch Your Own Heart Attack
Watch Your Own Heart Attack
Watch Your Own Heart Attack is a two-minute public-information film advertisement produced by the British Heart Foundation, starring Stephen Berkoff, which illustrates how it feels to have a heart attack...
, broadcast on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, on 10 August 2008.
He is also patron of the Nightingale Theatre, in Brighton, England, a fringe theatre venue
Fringe theatre
Fringe theatre is theatre that is not of the mainstream. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which name comes from Robert Kemp, who described the unofficial companies performing at the same time as the second Edinburgh International Festival as a ‘fringe’, writing: ‘Round the fringe...
.
Awards, award nominations, and other honours
- LA Weekly Theater AwardLA Weekly Theater AwardLA Weekly Theater Award is an annual critics' award established in 1979, given by the LA Weekly for outstanding achievements in small theatre productions in Southern California...
: Solo Performance, Shakespeare's VillainsShakespeare's VillainsShakespeare's Villains is a one-man play, created and performed by Steven Berkoff.Following its first run at London's Theatre Royal, Haymarket where it was produced by Berkoffs East Productions and Marc Sinden , it was nominated for The Society of London Theatre Laurence Olivier Award for Best...
(2000). - The Berkoff Performing Arts Centre was named for him at Alton CollegeAlton CollegeAlton College is a sixth form college located in Alton, Hampshire, England. As well as being a sixth form, the college provides an adult education service to the local population as well as catering for students with disabilities from nearby Treloar College...
, in North East Hampshire on 20 June 2008.
- Attending the Alton College ceremony honouring him, he stated:
- He taught a drama masterclass later that day and performed his Shakespeare's VillainsShakespeare's VillainsShakespeare's Villains is a one-man play, created and performed by Steven Berkoff.Following its first run at London's Theatre Royal, Haymarket where it was produced by Berkoffs East Productions and Marc Sinden , it was nominated for The Society of London Theatre Laurence Olivier Award for Best...
for an invited audience of 100 that evening.
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." According to Pankratz, Cross "focuses on Berkoff's 'theatre of self-performance,' that is, the intersections between Berkoff, the public phenomenon and Berkoff, the artist."Allusions in popular culture
In the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall GuyThe Tall Guy
The Tall Guy is a 1989 romantic comedy and the feature film debut of screenwriter Richard Curtis and director Mel Smith. It was produced by London Weekend Television for theatrical release and stars Jeff Goldblum, Emma Thompson, and Rowan Atkinson...
, struggling actor Dexter King (Jeff Goldblum
Jeff Goldblum
Jeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum is an American actor. His career began in the mid-1970s and he has appeared in major box-office successes including The Fly, Jurassic Park and its sequel Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Independence Day...
) auditions unsuccessfully for an imaginary 'Berkoff play' called England, My England. In the audition, characters dressed as skinheads swear repetitively at each other, and a folding table is kicked over. Afterwards, Dexter's agent Mary (Anna Massey
Anna Massey
Anna Raymond Massey, CBE was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner’s novel Hotel du Lac.-Early life:...
) muses: "I think he's probably mad..."
"I'm scared of Steven Berkoff" is a line in the lyrics of "I'm Scared" (1992), by Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
's guitarist Brian May
Brian May
Brian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
, released on his first solo album Back to the Light
Back to the Light
Back to the Light is the first solo effort of Queen's guitarist Brian May and his second non-Queen album. It was recorded between 1988 and 1992 at the Allerton Hill Studios, mixed at the Metropolis Studios and then released on September 28, 1992 in the UK...
(1993). Brian May has declared himself to be great admirer of Berkoff.
Legal controversy
In 1996, Berkoff prevailed as the plaintiff in Berkoff v. Burchill, a libel civil action which he brought against Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
journalist Julie Burchill
Julie Burchill
Julie Burchill is an English writer and journalist. Beginning as a writer for the New Musical Express at the age of 17, she has written for newspapers such as The Sunday Times and The Guardian. She is a self-declared "militant feminist". She has several times been involved in legal action...
, 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."
Personal life
Berkoff is a committed Zionist, and an enthusiastic supporter of Israel, who believes that being a Jew is inseparable from being a Zionist: Berkoff equates Zionism with being Jewish, stating in The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
in January 2009 that " Zionism is the very essence of what a Jew is. Zionism is the act of seeking sanctuary after years and years of unspeakable outrages against Jews." On his own website, Berkoff says that "the flak" that Israel received over the Gaza attack was "appalling."
Journalist Simon Round, in The Jewish Chronicle
The Jewish Chronicle
The Jewish Chronicle is a London-based Jewish newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world.-Publication data and readership figures:...
January 2009, recorded Berkoff's belief that "the great outpouring of anti-Israel sentiment over the Gaza operation is motivated by something darker."
Berkoff also believes the British are deeply anti Semitic. In The Daily Telegraph (January 2009) Berkoff spoke of the British "inbuilt dislike of Jews...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."
Speaking to The Jewish Chronicle (10 May 2010) Berkoff expresses blunt and severely critical views of the Bible, but believes "it inspires the Jews to produce Samsons and heroes and to have pride." Berkoff goes on to say of the Talmud in the same article, that "as Jews, we are so incredibly lucky to have the Talmud, to have a way of reinterpreting the Torah. So we no longer cut off hands, and slay animals, and stone women."
In a Daily Telegraph article he wrote on Israel (10 June 2007), Berkoff expressed his support for the Melanie Phillips
Melanie Phillips
Melanie Phillips is a British journalist and author. She began her career on the left of the political spectrum, writing for such publications as The Guardian and New Statesman. In the 1990s she moved to the right, and she now writes for the Daily Mail newspaper, covering political and social...
book Londonistan, calling it "gripping" and "quite overwhelming in its research and common sense."
He lives with his companion Clara Fisher in east London.
External links
- "Steven Berkoff (1937 – )" in The Playwrights Database at Doolee.com.