One of the most popular holidays in Western and particularly American culture is Halloween. There have been many movies and television shows that portray this holiday in many different ways, including the latest iteration due out in theaters on October 14.
Of all the Halloween shows and movies, one of the most famous all-time was the original movie “Halloween.” This movie and its ensuing sequels featured a main character of Dr. Sam Loomis, played by Donald Pleasance.
Pleasance has his own culturally rich background that could be missed in the roles and characters he plays on screen. He was born and grew up in England.
Pleasance fought in World War II for the Royal Air Force after the London bombings took place. After the war, Pleasance moved to the United States where his acting career began. Not many of his characters carried a heavy English accent and his place of birth being the U.K. surprised some of the viewers of his television shows and movies.
“I never would have guessed that he immigrated to the United States. You don’t hear the accent at all when it comes to how he speaks in the Halloween movies,” said film studies major Ari Asarch.
Pleasance, who died in 1995, also lived in other countries throughout his life, including France and other European nations.
Pleasance and his unknown immigrant history
Despite being an immigrant to the United States, there was never any issue landing acting roles and getting jobs.
Pleasance was one of the most decorated actors of the 20th Century and his personal history of being an immigrant and moving around the world is widely unknown.
“I watched the Halloween movies growing up and I had no idea,” said Mira Zevin, a film studies minor in college. “He is a great actor and played the role he needed too which never revealed his past.”
Like many famous people, Pleasance had a history that shaped the way he acted and presented himself in front of the camera.
There are many actors and actresses that have secret lives off the screen that do not come up in their characters. Despite their pasts not being known to the public they can play a major part in the characters they play or how the develop in their roles.
— By EGrant
Evan Grant believes it is important for people from all over the world with all different stories to have a medium where their stories can be shared. His content is relevant to readers because he has experience seeing the world and the different people and cultures all over the world and he has a good voice to share different stories. Grant is passionate about sports, and travel, and religion. These are main parts to many different cultures and Grant’s knowledge on them produces pieces about many different places and people and cultures.
