Derek Jacobi Movies
One of Britain's most distinguished stage performers, Derek Jacobi is one of two actors (the other being Laurence Olivier) to hold both Danish and English knighthoods. Primarily known for his work on the stage, he has also made a number of films and remains best-known to television audiences for his stunning portrayal of the titular Roman emperor in I, Claudius.Born in Leytonstone, East London, on October 22, 1938, Jacobi was raised with a love of film, and he began performing on the stage while attending an all-boys school. Thanks to the school's single sex population, his first roles with the drama club -- until his voice broke -- were all female. It was with one of his first male roles that Jacobi earned his first measure of acclaim: playing Hamlet in a school production staged at the 1957 Edinburgh Festival, he made enough of an impression that he was approached by an agent from Twentieth Century Fox. Ultimately deemed too young to be signed to the studio, Jacobi instead went to Cambridge University, where he studied history and continued acting. His stage work at Cambridge was prolific and allowed him to work with classmates Ian McKellen and Trevor Nunn, and, thanks to his performance as Edward II, landed him his first job after graduation. Jacobi acted with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre until his portrayal of Henry VIII attracted the attention of Laurence Olivier. Olivier was so impressed with Jacobi's work that he invited him to London to become one of the eight founding members of the prestigious National Theatre.
Jacobi went on to become one of his country's most steadily employed and respected actors, performing in numerous plays over the years on both sides of the Atlantic (in 1985, he won a Tony Award for his work in Much Ado About Nothing). He also branched out into film and television, making his film debut with a secondary role in Douglas Sirk's Interlude (1957). He acted in numerous film adaptations of classic plays, including Othello (1965) and The Three Sisters (1970). However, it was through his collaborations with Kenneth Branagh on various screen adaptations of Shakespeare that he became most visible to an international film audience, appearing as the Chorus in Branagh's acclaimed 1989 Henry V and as Claudius in the director's 1996 full-length adaptation of Hamlet. Jacobi made one of his most memorable (to say nothing of terrifying) screen impressions in Branagh's Hitchcock-inspired Dead Again (1991), portraying a hypnotist with a very shady background. In 1998, Jacobi earned more recognition with his portrayal of famed painter Francis Bacon in John Maybury's controversial Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon.
On television, in addition to his celebrated work in I, Claudius, Jacobi has also earned praise for his roles in a number of other productions. In 1989, he won an Emmy for his performance in the 1988 adaptation of Graham Greene's The Tenth Man. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Frustrated with the Walt Disney studio's reluctance to produce full-length animated films, Don Bluth and a number of animators left the studio in the early '80s with the intent of creating movies in the style of Disney's classics. The Secret of NIMH is the first film Bluth produced after leaving the studio. Adapted from Robert C. O'Brien's acclaimed children's book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.M.H., the film is about a widowed mouse whose home is threatened; also, one of her children is gravely ill. On her way to find help, she discovers NIMH, a secret society of highly-intelligent rats who have escaped from a nearby science lab. The rats help the widow to protect her family and home. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Hartman, Dom DeLuise, (more)
While most people are familiar only with the Lon Chaney Sr. and Charles Laughton versions of Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, this 1982 TV adaptation was the fourteenth filmization of the Hugo novel. Anthony Hopkins, barely recognizable under mounds of disfiguring body makeup, plays Quasimodo, the deformed 15th-century bellringer of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. Leslie-Anne Down plays Esmerelda, the gypsy girl who wins Quasimodo's unswerving loyalty when she offers him water after he is publicly flogged. And Derek Jacobi plays Dom Claude Frollo, the hypocritically pious archdeacon of Notre Dame, who'll do anything to claim Esmerelda for himself. Produced by Norman Rosemont, The Hunchback of Notre Dame originally aired February 4, 1982, as a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Hopkins, Derek Jacobi, (more)
Directed by TV-anthology veteran Jeannot Szwarc, Enigma has a certain small-screen "feel" to it. Adopting a musical-comedy foreign accent, Martin Sheen plays Alex Holbeck, an Iron Curtain defector who returns to East Germany at the behest of the CIA. His mission is to save five political "undesirables" from the communists. Holbeck runs up against some formidable opposition, namely ambitious KGB agent Dimitri Vasilkov (Sam Neill) and a quintet of highly trained Soviet assassins. Brigitte Fossey co-stars as Holbeck's former love, whom he involves in his escape plans by asking her to romance the susceptible Vasilkov. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Sheen, Brigitte Fossey, (more)
- 1982
The two-part TV movie Inside the Third Reich was based on the extraordinary revelatory (if self-serving) autobiographical book by Albert Speer. Played herein by Rutger Hauer, Speer is a young man of privilege in pre-Hitler Germany who happens to be a brilliant architect. Becoming a member of Hitler's inner circle, Speer is appointed the Nazi regime's master builder. According to this film, Speer is egomaniacal and ambitious, but somewhat blinded to the inherent evils of Nazism. Though he'd later claim to be ignorant of Hitler's horrific policies aimed at the Jews, he was certainly aware of the use of Jewish prisoners as slave labor: as Germany's armaments minister during World War II, Speer exploited these enslaved unfortunates as much as anyone, if not more so. The cast includes Derek Jacobi as Hitler, Blythe Danner as Speer's wife Margarethe, John Gielgud as Speer's father, Ian Holm as Goebbels, Maurice Roeves as Hess, and George Murcell as Goering. Originally running 5 hours, Inside the Third Reich was filmed in Munich; it was first telecast on May 9 and 10, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
The celebrated Martin Beck (Derek Jacoby) of the Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo novels is back as the Stockholm police lieutenant who is now on the trail of a missing journalist. (The character of Beck also appeared in the 1974 film The Laughing Policeman, with Walter Matthau in the lead role.) Plagued by the evils of alcoholism and the miseries of divorce, the journalist's mental state as well as his motives are questionable from the start. His disappearance in Hungary brings the famous Beck and his powers of thinking into the picture. A few international drug smugglers also appear on the scene, as the story -- with its digs at capitalistic materialism -- unfolds in Stockholm and Budapest. The Hungarian director Peter Basco changes over from comedies to drama with this film, a multinational venture between Swedish, German, and Hungarian filmmakers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Derek Jacobi, Ferenc Bacs, (more)
- 1980
- R
In a true story beginning in the year before the outbreak of WW II in France, Charlotte (Birgit Doll), a young woman sent to the safety of her grandfathers in the south of France by her Jewish family in Germany, starts to paint pictures that recall some of the terrors she has already known in Germany before leaving. The movie slips back and forth between the memories her paintings conjure up, and her life in France. At first, back in Germany, Charlotte was convinced that her own optimistic, romantic outlook would save her from all harm. But then that self-deception fades a little as her father, a doctor, is picked up by the Gestapo. Even though her father's release is finally secured by Charlotte's step-mother (an opera singer), the situation steadily deteriorates until her parents send her away in the hope that she will be better off in France. Once there, the harsh reality intrudes so much on her life that not even her paintings can afford her any solace. Her despair becomes stronger as the Nazi atrocities begin to multiply, affording her little real hope of survival. An epilogue to the movie tells the audience the fate of the real Charlotte, since the movie ends before that time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Birgit Doll, Derek Jacobi, (more)
- 1980
The untimely demise of an estate owner is planned by his butler who hopes to gain control of his properties. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Made-for-television adaptation of Shakespeare's classic tragedy about the Prince of Denmark's attempts to avenge the murder of his father. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Derek Jacobi
- 1979
A quarrel erupts between the Duke of Hereford, Henry Bolingbroke (Jon Finch), and the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray (Richard Owens). According to Bolingbroke, Mowbray misappropriated government money and plotted the death of the Duke of Gloucester. Mowbray denies the charges, accusing Bolingbroke of being a slanderous coward. King Richard II (Derek Jacobi) first approves their proposal to settle their differences in a jousting duel, then decides to banish both of them -- Norfolk for life and Bolingbroke for six years. The lighter sentence for Bolingbroke masks Richard's hatred of Henry, who is so popular with the people that he poses a threat to the crown. While Bolingbroke is in exile, his father, the much-loved John of Gaunt (Sir John Gielgud), dies, and Richard appropriates his estate -- Henry's inheritance -- to help pay for a military campaign he personally conducts against rebels in Ireland. Nobles protest seizure of the inheritance, siding with Bolingbroke. Heartened, Bolingbroke returns from exile, organizes his supporters, and executes two of Richard's friends. Richard returns from Ireland to defend his realm. But after 20,000 Welsh troops desert to Bolingbroke, Richard takes refuge in Flint Castle, then surrenders to his foe. After being forced to give up the throne, Henry imprisons Richard in the Tower of London and announces his own coronation. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Derek Jacobi, John Gielgud, (more)
- 1979
- R
This routine espionage drama is based on a novel by Graham Greene about a low-level British informant who is caught in a trap. Castle (Nicol Williamson) has a desk job in British intelligence. Around him are heavyweights like Col. Daintry (Richard Attenborough), Sir John Hargreaves (Richard Vernon), and Percival (Robert Morley) who will cold-bloodedly stop at nothing to do their jobs as they see fit. And Castle certainly is a nobody compared to them. One day when a friend of his in Africa needs some help, Castle is conned into supplying the Eastern block countries with info on demand. No one suspects him because of his low position, but when his office partner is hauled off, Castle begins to rethink his situation. This was director Otto Preminger's last film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, John Gielgud, (more)
- 1978
- PG
In The Medusa Touch Brunel (Lino Ventura), a French detective on temporary assignment with Scotland Yard, investigates a mysterious series of disasters. The uncanny events begin happening shortly after writer John Morlar (Richard Burton) was hit over the head by an unknown intruder and rendered comatose. Slowly, Brunel begins to connect the strange things that are happening in the world with the deranged dreams of the comatose Morlar. He gets the final clue he needs from Morlar's reluctant psychiatrist, Dr. Zonfield (Lee Remick), who holds the key to Morlar's past. Once it is discovered that Morlar has the ability to think horrible thoughts and make them come true, Brunel and Zonfield must take off with dispatch to a London cathedral, where the Queen is scheduled to make an appearance -- but Morlar is thinking about the cathedral, and it is crumbling fast. Well-liked in Britain, this movie did not do well in the U.S. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Burton, Lino Ventura, (more)
- 1977
- Add Philby, Burgess and MacLean: Spy Scandal of Century to QueueAdd Philby, Burgess and MacLean: Spy Scandal of Century to top of Queue
Anthony Bate, Derek Jacobi, and Michael Culver star in director Gordon Flemyng's docudrama detailing the Russian spy scandal that rocked Great Britain at the absolute height of the Cold War. In the three decades after college buddies Kim Philby (Bate), Guy Burgess (Jacobi), and Donald MacLean (Culver) were recruited to work as Russian spies, each of the men maintained high-level government security posts. Later, after passing along valuable U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, the three double agents were exposed, ultimately defecting to the Soviet Union in order to escape prosecution. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
This 13-episode miniseries was adapted from the book by Robert Graves, which chronicles the tumultuous life and times of Claudius (Derek Jacobi), who despite a deformed leg and a speech impediment through prophecy becomes the Roman Empire. An aging Claudius looks back at the bizarre and treacherous times through which he's lived and sets them down in a secret history that is not to be read until after his death. The distinguished cast of I, Claudius includes John Hurt as Caligula, Brian Blessed as Augustus, Sian Phillips as Livia, Margaret Tyzack as Antonia, and Patrick Stewart as Sejanus. The home-video release also includes the documentary The Epic That Never Was, which looks at producer Alexander Korda ill-starred attempt to film Graves' novel in the mid-1930s. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Derek Jacobi, Sian Phillips, (more)
The Odessa File is set in Hamburg in the winter of 1963. Jon Voight plays Peter Miller, a German reporter who is investigating the whereabouts of missing Nazi war criminals. After reading the diary of a Holocaust survivor who has recently committed suicide, Miller goes on the trail of in-hiding SS officer Eduard Roschmann (Maximilian Schell). The reporter finds his investigation blocked by members of a secretive group called Odessa. With the help of Israeli activists, Miller persists in his search. Schell's sister Maria also appears in The Odessa File as Miller's mother, the widow of a German soldier. Based on a nailbiting novel by Frederick Forsyth, The Odessa File is highlighted by the exquisitely Teutonic score of Andrew Lloyd Webber. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Voight, Maximilian Schell, (more)
- 1973
A scheming servant intends to be the new owner of his employer's mansion, but a recent German staff recruit makes things difficult for him. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
In this involving political thriller, a secret French paramilitary organization plans to assassinate French President Charles De Gaulle (Adrien Cayla-Legrand) because of their disagreement with his policies during the Algerian War. They hire a professional killer, known only as "The Jackal" (Edward Fox). The police learn of the plot from an informer, and police investigator Lebel (Michel Lonsdale) cleverly pieces together the clues to the Jackal's identity. The complicated plot uses parallel editing to cross-cut between the details of the Jackal's preparations for the assassination and Lebel's efforts to find him before it is too late. Fred Zinnemann presents the story, faithfully adapted from the book by Frederick Forsyth, with precise, dramatic flair. Edward Fox is coldly alluring as the Jackal. Well acted and directed, Day of the Jackal is a tense and engrossing political thriller with a surprising ending. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Fox, Michel Lonsdale, (more)
- 1972
The lavishly produced British historical series The Strauss Family chronicled the lives of rival "Waltz Kings" Johann Strauss -- both senior and junior -- in 19th century Vienna. Though initially forbidden to study music, Johann Strauss Jr. (Stuart Wilson) eventually became a celebrated composer, much to the chagrin of his more celebrated (and intensely competitive) father Johann Strauss Sr. (Eric Woolfe). Caught in the middle of the familial hostilities was Johann Sr.'s long-suffering wife, Anna (Anne Stallybrass), who, after being shut out of her husband's life, devoted her energies to promoting the career of her son, Johann Jr. Surviving the political upheaval of 1848, when Johann Sr. was forced into exile for siding with the Hapsburg regime, Johann Jr. went on to weather many a personal tragedy and professional setback, finding solace and comfort in his music. Among the stars-to-be seen in this seven-part miniseries were Derek Jacobi as Johann Jr.'s half-brother Josef and Jane Seymour as Russian belle Karolin. The music was provided by the London Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Cyril Ornadel. Premiering over Britain's ATV on November 7, 1972, The Strauss Family was later picked up by America's ABC network, where it was telecast on Saturday evenings from May 5 to June 16, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Stallybrass, Barbara Ferris, (more)
Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's three upper-class Prozorov sisters -- Masha, Olga, and Irina -- come no closer to their dream of returning to Moscow in director Laurence Olivier's 1970 film version of Three Sisters than they did in Chekhov's original 1900 play. This melancholy classic about shattered dreams, self-delusion, and compromise was directed by Olivier for Britain's National Theatre in 1967. The film, a literal record of Olivier's stage version, was produced in order to raise money for the ever-imperiled National. Olivier, who'd just recovered from a serious illness, plays the mischievous army doctor Chebutikin, while Olivier's wife, Joan Plowright, essays the major role of Masha, the snobbish general's daughter who tries to escape the stultifying banality of her provincial marriage by having an affair. Three Sisters was released in the U.S. in 1974 as part of the American Film Theatre series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Watts, Joan Plowright, (more)
- 1968
Stefan Zelter (Oskar Werner) is a classical orchestra conductor who is sued for libel after statements made in a newspaper interview. He finds himself blacklisted and out of work and leaves his wife Antonia (Virginia Maskell) to be with the reporter Sally (Barbara Ferris). His wife nobly tells him he must never give up his music even though the two may never reconcile. This dramatic, romantic tearjerker has music by Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff performed by the British Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Comedian John Cleese has a straight role as a television publicist and Donald Sutherland plays the role of a mutual friend whose marriage is on the rocks. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Oskar Werner, Barbara Ferris, (more)
- 1967
The victorious Don Pedro is returning to Messina after his latest successful skirmish. His troops include his wicked brother Don John, young Claudio and Benedick, a witty confirmed bachelor from Padua. They are welcomed by the governor, Leonato, as well as by his beautiful daughter Hero and Hero's cousin Beatrice, the latter as confirmed in her maidenhood as Benedick is in his bachelorhood. Claudio quickly falls in love Hero, but through a series of complications, Leonato comes to believe it is Don Pedro that wishes to woo his daughter. Eventually, however, Hero and Claudio are brought together and their marriage plans are announced. At the same time, Don Pedro begins a campaign to bring Beatrice and Benedick together. Just before the wedding of the young lovers, Don John deceives laudio and Don Pedro with lies about Hero's purity; at the wedding, Claudio denounces her as a whore and calls off the marriage. Beatrice concocts a plot to discover the source of these lies, said plot involving faking Hero's death. Don John is eventually unmasked as the perpetrator, the young couple again becomes engaged, and Beatrice and Benedick admit their attraction to each other and plan their own wedding. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
The 1965 Othello is literally a photographed stage play: a filmed record of the National Theatre Production of 1964, as staged by John Dexter and starring Laurence Olivier. As the easily led, fatally jealous Moor of Venice, Olivier wears thick black-faced makeup and speaks in an uncharacteristically deep, bellow-like voice. Some considered his portrayal of Othello to be an unflattering stereotype; others regard Olivier's interpretation as one of the finest Shakespearean performances ever captured on film. Less flamboyant, but no less effective, are Frank Finlay as Iago, Maggie Smith as Desdemona, Derek Jacobi as Cassio, and Joyce Redman as Emilia. Oscar nominations went to Olivier, Finlay, Smith, and Redman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Olivier, Frank Finlay, (more)
- 1957
Like many of his best works, filmmaker Douglas Sirk's Interlude is a remake of an earlier Universal soap opera. In this case, Sirk's source material is the 1939 Irene Dunne-Charles Boyer vehicle When Tomorrow Comes. Based on a story by (of all people) James M. Cain, the story concerns the romance between aspiring musician Helen Banning (June Allyson) and famed symphony conductor Tonio Fischer (Rossano Brazzi). Alas, Tonio is married, and his bibulous, vindictive wife (Marianne Cook) isn't about to give him a divorce. Meanwhile, stiff-necked American doctor Morley Dwyer (Keith Andes) waits patiently for his sweetheart Helen to come to her senses and return to his arms. Opulently location-filmed in Austria, Interlude was remade under the same title in 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- June Allyson, Rossano Brazzi, (more)
