Everything about Steven Berkoff totally explained
Steven Berkoff (born
August 3,
1937) is an
English actor,
writer and
director.
Biography
Early life
Berkoff was born
Leslie Steven Berks in
Stepney, in the
East End of
London, the son of Pauline (
née Hyman) and Alfred Berks, who was a
tailor. His family is
Jewish, originating from
Russia, with their original surname, "Berkovitch", having been shortened by Berkoff's father. Berkoff was educated at
Hackney Downs School and trained at the
Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in 1958, and in 1965, at the Ecole Jacques Le Coq in
Paris.
Career
In Hollywood, he took villainous roles such as the corrupt art dealer Victor Maitland in
Beverly Hills Cop; a gangster in
The Krays, the sadistic Soviet officer Col. Podovsky in and as General Orlov in the
James Bond film
Octopussy. He also appeared in the 1967
Hammer film
Prehistoric Women. He was cast by
Stanley Kubrick as a police officer in
A Clockwork Orange and a gambler nobleman (Lord Ludd) in
Barry Lyndon. He appears in the independent feature
Naked in London (2006).
In 1990 Berkoff appeared in the biopic on the early life of
Errol Flynn entitled
Flynn (also known in some territories as
My Forgotten Man).
As a television actor, an early TV role was in an episode of
The Avengers. An early regular role was as a Moonbase Interceptor pilot in the Gerry Anderson TV series
UFO. He has also appeared in as Hagath in the episode
Business as Usual; in the 2003 miniseries
Children of Dune as
Stilgar; as a gangster (Mr Wiltshire) in episode 8 of the BBC's
Hotel Babylon series; as a lawyer (Freddie Eccles) in an episode of ITV's
Marple entitled
By the Pricking of My Thumbs and as
Adolf Hitler in the mini-series
War and Remembrance.
Berkoff is a playwright, actor and theatre director. In the 1970s and 1980s he wrote a series of verse plays including:
East (1975),
Greek (1980),
Decadence (1981) and
West (1983). Other plays in verse are:
Sink the Belgrano! (1986), a critical take on the
Falklands War;
Massage (1997);
Sturm und Drang and
The Secret Love Life of Ophelia (2001). He has made several adaptations of
Kafka's work:
The Metamorphosis (1969),
In the Penal Colony (1969) and
The Trial (1971). In the late 1980s he directed an interpretation of
Salome by
Oscar Wilde in the
Gate Theatre, Dublin and later in the UK. He trained in mime and physical theatre alongside
Jacques Lecoq in Paris and also at
Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
Most recently, he provided motion capture and voice alongside
Andy Serkis and others for the
PlayStation 3 game
Heavenly Sword. He played General Flying Fox, one of the main villains in the game.
He is an exponent of the style of heightened physical theatre for which the term 'total theatre' has been coined. Along with this highly physical style of theatre he also created complex psychological plays such as "The Trial"; these works were nightmarish and created a sense of alienation. These took everyday feelings (such as the feeling that no one is listening to you) and exaggerated them, adding to the disturbing nature of the plays.
Berkoff is patron at the Nightingale Theatre, home of the Prodigal Theatre Company in
Brighton. He had a top 20 hit in the U.K. with dance band
N-Trance called "The Mind Of The Machine" and was mentioned in the lyrics of the
Brian May track "I'm Scared" from the album "
Back to the Light".
Style
Drama critic
Aleks Sierz describes Berkoff's distinctive modernist voice as evidenced in his plays as follows;
"the language is usually filthy, characters talk about unmentionable subjects, take their clothes off, have sex, humiliate each another, experience unpleasant emotions, become suddenly violent. At its best, this kind of theatre is so powerful, so visceral, that it forces audiences to react: either they feel like fleeing the building or they're suddenly convinced that it's the best thing they've ever seen, and want all their friends to see it too. It is the kind of theatre that inspires us to use superlatives, whether in praise or condemnation." (Aleks Sierz, In-Yer-Face Theatre).
Berkoff is perhaps most notorious for "the
cunt speech" in his first play,
East.
Libel action
In 1996 Berkoff was involved in a civil action against journalist
Julie Burchill after a comment she made in
The Sunday Times suggested that Mr Berkoff was "hideously ugly". The court held in his favour as Burdhill’s actions “held him to ridicule and contempt”.
Further Information
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