Although
firmly established as a villain, Pleasence gradually eased himself into
horror films such as Halloween (1978), The Devonsville Terror (1979),
and Buried Alive (1990); commenting on this phase of his career, once
mused
"I only appear in odd films."
One
of his few "mainstream" appearances during this period was
virtually invisible. Pleasence is seen and prominently billed as a rabbi
in Carl Reiner's 'Oh, God!' (1977), but the role was deemed dispensable
and all the actor's lines were cut.
He
also was an important contributor to American and British television.
On American television, he starred in segments of The Twilight Zone,
Columbo, and Orson Welles’ Great Mysteries. In Britain,
he scored a major coup with the television version of George Orwell’s
famous play '1984', for which he won the Guild of TV Producer’s Award
as Actor of the Year.
He
excelled in such diverse roles as that of the Nazi S.S. chief, Heinrich
Himmler in 'The Eagle Has Landed', to his slapstick role in the comedy-western
'The Hallelujah Trail'. It was during the filming of Halloween that
Pleasence met director John Carpenter who recast him in his thrillers
'Escape From New York' and 'Prince of Darkness'. It should be said that
Pleasence had an ability to rise above some of the material he off times
found himself working with.
Pleasence
continued to work steadily in the 1980s and early '90s -- making 17
pictures alone in 1987-1989 -- before undergoing heart surgery in 1994;
he died from complications two months later. Married four times, the
actor was the father of six daughters, among them actress Angela Pleasence.