Vladek Sheybal

Vladek Sheybal
Sheybal as Kronsteen in From Russia with Love (1963)
Born	Władysław Rudolf Z. Sheybal (1923-03-12)12 March 1923 Zgierz, Poland
Died	London, United Kingdom
Cause of death	Aortic aneurysm
Resting place	Putney Vale Cemetery, London, UK
Residence	United Kingdom
Alma mater	Merton College, Oxford
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1957–92
Website	www.vladeksheybal.com

Vladek Sheybal (born Władysław Rudolf Z. Sheybal; 12 March 1923 – 16 October 1992) was a Polish character actor and director of both television and stage productions. He was well known for his portrayal of the chess grandmaster Kronsteen in the James Bond film From Russia with Love (1963), a role for which he had been personally recommended by his friend Sean Connery, and Otto Leipzig in Smiley's People (1982).

He became a naturalised British citizen, but remained "fiercely proud of his homeland and its culture."

Life and career

Sheybal was born in Zgierz, near Łódź, in the Second Polish Republic. He appeared in the film Kanał (1957, credited as Władysław Sheybal), directed by Andrzej Wajda, before emigrating to the United Kingdom, where he was typically cast in villainous roles. He also appeared as Holocaust survivor Egon Sobotnik in the television mini-series QB VII.

He had a dual role as "the Director" and as Pierre Louys in Ken Russell's The Debussy Film, one of Russell's composer biopics for the BBC. Other Russell films in which he appeared were Billion Dollar Brain, Women in Love, and The Boy Friend.

Other films include Casino Royale, Doppelgänger, The Last Valley, Puppet on a Chain, Innocent Bystanders, The Wind and the Lion, The Lady Vanishes, Fire and Sword and Red Dawn.

Sheybal's other TV credits include Z-Cars, Danger Man, The Troubleshooters, The Saint, The Baron, The Champions, Callan, Strange Report, UFO (in which he had a recurring role as Dr Jackson), The New Avengers, Supernatural, Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy, and Smiley's People.

File:Vladek Sheybal grave Putney Vale 2015.jpg

Sheybal's grave at Putney Vale Cemetery, London, in 2015

In 1977, Sheybal won the Dracula Society's prestigious Hamilton Deane Award for his performance in the BBC play Night of the Marionettes, in which he played a sinister Austrian innkeeper whose life-size puppets supposedly inspired Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Sheybal's final stage appearance was as Friedrich Nietzsche in the Pierre Bourgeade play The Eagle and the Serpent at London's Offstage Downstairs Theatre in 1988.

He died in London in 1992, aged 69, from a ruptured aortic aneurysm. He is buried in Putney Vale Cemetery.

Selected filmography

• Kanał (1957)
• From Russia with Love (1963)
• Return from the Ashes (1965)
• Casino Royale (1967)
• Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
• The Limbo Line (1968)
• To Grab the Ring (1968)
• Deadfall (1968)
• Mosquito Squadron (1969)
• Women in Love (1969)
• Doppelgänger (1969)
• Leo the Last (1970)
• The Last Valley (1971)
• The Boy Friend (1971)
• Puppet on a Chain (1971)
• Innocent Bystanders (1972)
• The Spy's Wife (1972)
• Scorpio (1973)
• S*P*Y*S (1974)
• The Wind and the Lion (1975)
• House of Pleasure for Women (1976)
• The Sell Out (1976)
• The Lady Vanishes (1979)
• Avalanche Express (1979)
• The Apple (1980)
• Shōgun (1980)
• Fire and Sword (1982)
• Marco Polo (1982)
• The Jigsaw Man (1984)
• Memed My Hawk (1984)
• Red Dawn (1984)
• Strike It Rich (1990)

External links

• Official website
• Vladek Sheybal at the Internet Movie Database