Michael Gothard

Michael Gothard was born in London in 1939. As a child, he lived in both Wales and London. After leaving Haverstock School, he travelled in France for several months before returning home. He went through various jobs, including building labourer and trainee reporter. He even had a brief spell as a clothes model, but didn't feel comfortable doing that job. He said: "I was as stiff as a board and I couldn’t overcome my sense of the ridiculous. I was a clothes hanger, an object, not a person."^[1]

Career

He joined the

His performance as the nightclubbing killer Keith in Scream and Scream Again, directed by Gordon Hessler, was a break-out role for him, giving him exposure and leading to other, more prominent parts. In the film, Keith makes one of the most memorable escapes (in an Austin-Healey car) from the police ever seen. The film's main stars were Vincent Price, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Executive producer Louis M. Heyward said of Gothard's performance: "I felt that Michael Gothard was going to be the biggest thing that ever happened. He had that insane look and that drive, and he was wonderful. Here is a kid who really threw himself into the picture wholeheartedly. Do you remember the scene where he appears to be walking up the cliff? That's a stunt that, as an actor, I would not have agreed to; I’d say, 'Hey, get a double or get a dummy. I ain't either one.' But the kid agreed to do it, without a double—he was that driven. He had a lot of class and a lot of style. Gordon (Hessler) came up with the idea of using an overhead cable to give that illusion of his walking up the cliff."^[2]

He appeared in Ken Russell's 1971 horror film, The Devils, in which Gothard had a stand-out role as a fanatic witch-hunter and exorcist who defiles Vanessa Redgrave and tortures Oliver Reed. His performance as a young disillusioned hippie in Barbet Schroeder's La Vallée (1972) contrasted with the rest of his career. He also played a fictionalised version of the 17th century assassin John Felton in Richard Lester's 1973 film of The Three Musketeers and its 1974 sequel, The Four Musketeers.

He had a regular role as Kai opposite

One of his last main appearances was in 1992s Christopher Columbus: The Discovery.

His final role was in David Wickes's Frankenstein, starring Patrick Bergin and Randy Quaid.

Death

Gothard, who struggled with depression for much of his life, committed suicide by hanging on 2 December 1992. He was 53 years old.^[5][6]

Filmography

Film

• Herostratus (1967) as Max
• Up the Junction (1968) as Terry
• Michael Kohlhaas-Der Rebell
  (1969) as John
• Scream and Scream Again (1970) as Keith
• The Last Valley
  (1971) as Hansen
• The Devils (1971) as Father Barre
• Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1971) as Albie
• La Vallée (1972) as Olivier
• The Three Musketeers (1973) as John Felton
• The Four Musketeers (1974) as John Felton
• King Arthur, the Young Warlord
  (1975) as Kai
• Warlords of Atlantis (1978) as Atmir
• Emile Leopold Locque
• Lifeforce (1985) as Dr Bukovsky
• Going Undercover (1988) (aka Yellow Pages) as Strett
• Gioco al massacro
  (1989) as Zabo
• Destroying Angel
  (1990) as "the Hitman"
• The Serpent of Death (1990) as Xaros
• Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992) as Inquisitor's Spy
• Frankenstein (1992) as Boatswain (final film role)