Herbert Lom is an international film actor. He was born Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchacevich ze Schluderpacheru in Prague to upper-class Jewish parents on September 8, 1917. Lom's film debut was in the Czech film Zena pod krízem (1937). His early films roles included supporting roles, but also the occasional top billing. He moved to Britain in 1939 and made many appearances in British films throughout the 1940s, usually in villainous roles, although he later appeared in comedies as well. He managed to escape being typecast as a European heavy by securing a diverse range of castings, including as Napoleon Bonaparte in The Young Mr. Pitt (1942) (and again in the 1956 version of War and Peace). In a rare starring role Lom played twin trapeze artists in Dual Alibi (1946). He continued into the 1950s with roles opposite Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers in The Ladykillers, and opposite Robert Mitchum, Jack Lemmon and Rita Hayworth in Fire Down Below (1957).
Leonard Maltin's film biography writes: “At one time considered a British counterpart to Charles Boyer (whom he resembled), Lom didn't get as many starring assignments as he rated, but makes a lasting impression in character parts.”
Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
