Herbert Lom was a Czech-born British film and television actor, whose only Disney roles were Schiappa in The Horse Without a Head and Emil Saxo in the film Third Man on the Mountain. He was also among several actors considered for the role of Peter Thorndyke in The Love Bug, but David Tomlinson was chosen instead.
Lom was born in Prague to Karl Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru, and Olga Gottlieb, who was of Jewish ancestry. He began his film career in Czechoslovakia with films, like Žena pod křížem ("A Woman Under Cross", 1937) and Boží mlýny ("Mills of God", 1938) before emigrating to Britain in January 1939. There, he began taking on roles in films and television, usually villainous roles, in a wide range of genres over the decades.
His film credits included The Young Mr. Pitt, War and Peace, Dual Alibi, The Ladykillers, The Black Rose, Fire Down Below, Spartacus, El Cid, Mysterious Island, The Phantom of the Opera (1962), Asylum, And Now the Screaming Starts!, Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971), Mark of the Devil, The Lady Vanishes, King Solomon’s Mines, The Dead Zone, Masque of the Red Death, and two screen versions of the Agatha Christie novel And Then There Were None. In the 1975 version, he played Dr. Armstrong, and as General Romensky in the 1989 version. His most famous film role is Charles Dreyfus in the The Pink Panther film series.
Lom also starred as the King of Siam in the original London production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical The King and I. During this period, he also starred in the television series The Human Jungle (1963–1964), playing Dr. Roger Corder.
He wrote two historical novels "Enter a Spy: The Double Life of Christopher Marlowe" and "Dr Guillotine: The Eccentric Exploits of an Early Scientist".
He died 16 days after his 95th birthday.
Roles
(Third Man on the Mountain)
(The Horse Without a Head)