Media365
Clive Revill, who was a veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company, died on March 11 after battling dementia at Shermam Oaks’ care facility, confirms daughter Kate Revill. He was a two-time Tony Award nominee. He is fondly remembered for voicing the Emperor in The Empire Strikes Back and Batman’s animated series.
Born on April 18 in Wellington, he concluded his studies at Rongotai College. He was married twice and had a daughter, Kate, with his second wife.
Revill was trained to be an accountant but decided to take up acting and made his stage debut in Twelfth Night. In 1950, she moved to London to study acting at the Old Vic Theatre. Two years later, in 1952, he made his Broadway debut with the play The Pickwick Papers. He appeared in plays, including Hamlet, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, The Tempest and Oliver, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award.
Apart from theatre, he also starred in British movies, including Kaleidoscope, One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing, The Black Windmill and The Legend of Hell House.
Soon after the news of his death broke out, his ardent fans took over X to pay tribute to the legendary star. A user wrote, “Sad to read that Clive Revill has died. An extraordinary career, an early Babylon 5 villain, but to me unforgettable in The New Avengers – Dead Men Are Dangerous, a great, heartbreaking episode where he superbly embodies two of the series’ most distinctive recurring themes.”
Another wrote, “R.I.P. Clive Revill, the original Emperor and the voice of Doctor Doom in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.”
A fan wrote, “Just heard that my neighbor for many years when I was growing up, sadly passed away. Clive Revill. The OG Emperor Palpatine in Empire Strikes Back. He was always so lovely to me and told the best stories. Bringing this video back to when I asked him to do his iconic line. Legend.”
Clive Revill is survived by his daughter Kate and granddaughter Kayla.
