Oliver Reed

Couple the recurrent Cronenberg motif of transformative physiological processes with the director’s private demons at the time of production, and the offspring is The Brood, one of his finest films.

The original Universal Studios Wolf Man left an indelible mark on film history, particularly in it’s painstakingly specific make-up transformation that turned Lon Chaney, Jr.’s Larry Talbot into the title character. That effect has hung over every werewolf feature since, with films trying to compete with makeup maestro Jack Pierce’s legendary design. 20 years after the first Wolf Man film, Hammer Horror took a stab at the monster, utilizing a script based on A Werewolf in Paris and a barrel-chested Oliver Reed in his first film role.

Oliver Reed as Athos in The Three Musketeers & The Four Musketeers (Richard Lester, 1973/1974, UK): These films were actually shot all at once but ultimately released as two separate films telling one long story. As the musketeer with a dark past, Oliver Reed provides a lot of the heart and soul in these very …