Herbert Lom (1917–2012)

Herbert Lom was the stage name of Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchacevich ze Schluderpacheru, born to upper-class Jewish parents in Prague, present-day Czech Republic. He became an actor, making his film debut in 1937. He fled to London in 1939, just before the Nazis invaded his country in World War II. He began his English-speaking career at the Old Vic and worked with a few other stage companies before landing some major British and Hollywood film roles. He was popular and flourished in both drama and comedy, most notably in The Ladykillers (1955) and as the long-suffering Chief Inspector Dreyfus in the seven Pink Panther movies. He played Napoleon Bonaparte in The Young Mr. Pitt (1942) and in War and Peace (1956). He appeared in epics such as Spartacus (1960) and El Cid (1961) and in horror movies, making more than 100 films. Lom also wrote two historical novels, Enter a Spy: The Double Life of Christopher Marlowe (1978) and Dr. Guillotin: The Eccentric Exploits of an Early Scientist (1992).