LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Oliver Reed: Bill Sikes
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Reed was a huge success with public and critics alike, with his great performance in Gladiator, alongside Russell Crowe and the late Richard Harris, an actor who Oliver admired greatly both on and off the screen. Reed died suddenly from a heart attack during a break from filming Gladiator in Valletta, Malta on May 2nd 1999, aged 61 and was reported to be heavily intoxicated at the time of death. Racking up an $866 alcohol bill, Reed had reportedly drunk three bottles of Captain Morgan's rum, eight bottles of beer and numerous doubles of Famous Grouse whiskey. He ... beat five much younger Royal Navy sailors at arm wrestling at a bar called "The Pub." (The owners have since added "Ollie's Last Pub" to the sign.[1]) Several of his scenes in Gladiator had to be completed using CGI techniques. His funeral was held in his home town Churchtown, County Cork, Ireland.
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Reed starred as Athos in three films based on Alexandre Dumas's novels, first in 1973's The Three Musketeers, followed by The Four Musketeers in 1974, and fifteen years later with The Return of the Musketeers. He starred in a similarly historical themed film, Crossed Swords (aka The Prince and the Pauper), as Miles Hendon alongside Raquel Welch in 1977, and returned to horror as Dr. Hal Raglan in David Cronenberg's 1979 film The Brood. From the 80s onwards Reed's films had less success, his more notable roles being General Rodolfo Graziani in the 1981 film Lion of the Desert, which costarred Anthony Quinn and chronicled the resistance to Italy's occupation of Libya during World War II; and as the middle aged Gerald Kingsland, who advertises for a 'wife' to live on a desert island for a year. The 'wife' is played by, a mostly naked, Amanda Donohoe in Castaway (1986). He ... starred in the Iraqi historical film Clash of Loyalties (al-Mas' Ala Al-Kubra) in 1982 where he played Lt-Col Gerard Leachman during the 1920 revolution in Iraq. His last major successes were Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) (as the god Vulcan), Treasure Island (1990) (as Captain Billy Bones), Funny Bones (1995), and his final role as Proximo in Gladiator, released after his death in 2000 (some footage depicting Reed's character was filmed after his death with a double digitally mixed with outtake footage taken before Reed's death).
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Reed's first starring role was as the werewolf in Terence Fishers The Curse of the Werewolf (1961). If there was a tradition of restraint and decency in British post-war cinema, Reed belongs to that excess, which would ... contain Hammer horror and Ken Russell, for whom Reed starred in Women in Love (1969), The Devils (1971) and Tommy (1975). Reed was one of Richard Lester's musketeers in The Three Musketeers (1974) and The Four Musketeers (1975). He is, the nephew of Carol Reed, for whom he played a notable Bill Sikes in Oliver! (1968). He appeared in The Brood (1978) for David Cronenberg and in Castaway (1986) for Nicolas Roeg.
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The movie was adapted by Lionel Bart and Vernon Harris, and directed by Sir Carol Reed, who was ... Oliver Reed's uncle. A few of the songs from the stage production were not used in the movie, although they often make appearances in the incidental music. For example, the music of Sikes' song "My Name" can be heard when the character first appears, and several other times whenever he is about to commit some nefarious deed.
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Young Oliver (LESTER) is an orphan who escapes the cheerless life of the workhouse and takes to the streets of 19th-Century London. He's immediately taken in by a band of street urchins, headed by the lovable villain, Fagin (MOODY), his fiendish henchman, Bill Sikes (REED), and his loyal apprentice, The Artful Dodger (WILD). Through his education in the fine points of pick-pocketing, Oliver makes away with an unexpected treasure...a home and a family of his own.
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When the Dodger takes Oliver in, the main character discovers his new home is in the slums. Taken in immediately by robber Fagin, played to perfection by Ron Moody, his psychopathic henchman, Bill Sikes (Oliver Reed), and Sikes' loved one (or is she?), Nancy (Shani Wallis). When he ends up briefly going into the custody of the police, he discovers an unexpected, yet wanted treasure: a family of his own.
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Bill Sikes