Steven Berkoff
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Steven Berkoff (born August 3, 1937) is an actor, writer and director. He was born in Stepney, in the East End of London, and is descended from a Russian Jewish family. He was educated at Hackney Downs School, alumni of which also include playwright Harold Pinter and actor Michael Caine.
As a screen actor, he is best known for villainous roles such as the corrupt art dealer Victor Maitland in Beverly Hills Cop, a gangster in The Krays, the father to the rival grangsters of the Krays, the Richardsons, in (Charlie), the sadistic Soviet officer Col. Podovsky in Rambo: First Blood Part II and even Adolf Hitler in War and Remembrance. He appeared in the James Bond film Octopussy as General Orlov, and in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Hagath in the episode "Business as Usual" and in the Miniseries Children of Dune as Stilgar. An early role was in an episode of The Avengers. He was also a police officer in A Clockwork Orange, a gangster called Mr Wiltshire in episode 8 of BBC 1's "Hotel Babylon" series and a lawyer called Freddie Eccles in an episode of ITV's "Miss Marple" entitled "By the Pricking of My Thumbs". A very early repeating role was as a Moonbase Interceptor pilot in the Gerry Anderson cult hit series "UFO".
Berkoff is also a respected and prominent stage writer, actor and director. His work includes East, and adaptations of Kafka's "The Trial" and "The Metamorphosis".
He trained in mime and physical theatre alongside Jacques Le Coq in Paris and also at Webber Douglas in London. He is renowned for his unique style of heightened physical theatre which has been coined total theatre.
His most prominent influences are Jerzy Grotowski, Antonin Artaud and of course Jacques Le Coq. Berkoff is hailed as the most prolific leader of alternative theatre across the globe.
He is currently patron at the Nightingale Theatre, home of the Trestle Theatre company, in Brighton
Further reading
Robert Cross, Steven Berkoff and the Theatre of Self-Performance (Manchester University Press, 2004)