Herbert Lom ✝

Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru (11 September 1917 – 27 September 2012), known professionally as Herbert Lom (Czech pronunciation: [ɦɛrbɛrt lom]), was a Czech-British actor who moved to the United Kingdom in 1939. In a career lasting more than 60 years, he generally appeared in character roles, often portraying criminals or suave villains in his younger years, and professional men as he aged. Highly versatile, he proved a skilled comic actor in The Pink Panther franchise, as Chief Inspector Dreyfus. Lom was noted for his precise, elegant enunciation of English. He is best known for his roles in The Ladykillers, The Pink Panther film series, War and Peace and the television series The Human Jungle. Lom was born in Prague to Karl Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru and Olga Gottlieb. His mother was of Jewish ancestry. His ancestor, Christian Schluderpacher, a burgher of Bozen, was ennobled in 1601. Lom's family were comfortable, but not grandly aristocratic. His grandfather owned property in Prague and Šumava, with his income deriving mainly from two restaurants and a guest house. Lom's father, as a younger son, inherited little, supporting his family by variously running a printing business, a car repair shop, and trying to establish himself as an art agent. The family lived at Žižkov before moving to Vysočany, subsequently lived at Vinohrady, then Nové Město, where Lom attended a famous German grammar school. He studied philosophy for some time at the German University in Prague, but ceased his studies to become an actor.