Steven Berkoff is an English actor, writer and director.Best known for his performance as General Orlov in the James Bond film Octopussy, he is typically cast in villanous roles, such as Lt. Col Podovsky in Rambo: First Blood Part II, Victor Maitland in Beverly Hills Cop, and Adolf Hitler in epic mini-series War and Remembrance. His earliest plays are adaptations of works by Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis (1969); In the Penal Colony (1969); and The Trial (1971); these complex psychological plays are said to be nightmarish and to create a disturbing sense of alienation in their audiences. In the 1970s and 1980s, he wrote a series of verse plays including: East (1975); Greek (1980); Decadence (1981); West (1983); Sink the Belgrano! (1986); Massage (1997); Sturm und Drang; and The Secret Love Life of Ophelia (2001). East, Greek and West were punk-inspired works about working class London youth based on Oedipus and Beowulf respectively.Berkoff employs a style of heightened physical theatre known as "total theatre". Drama critic Aleks Sierz describes his Berkoff's dramatic style as "in yer face": "the language is usually filthy, characters talk about unmentionable subjects, take their clothes off, have sex, humiliate each another, experience unpleasant emotions, become suddenly violent. At its best, this kind of theatre is so powerful, so visceral, that it forces audiences to react: either they feel like fleeing the building or they are suddenly convinced that it is the best thing they have ever seen, and want all their friends to see it too. It is the kind of theatre that inspires us to use superlatives, whether in praise or condemnation."According to Annette Pankratz, in her 2005 Modern Drama review of Steven Berkoff and the Theatre of Self-Performance, by Robert Cross, "Steven Berkoff is one of the major minor contemporary dramatists in Britain and – due to his self-fashioning as a bad boy of British theatre and the ensuing attention of the media – a phenomenon in his own right.""I'm scared of Steven Berkoff" is a line in the lyrics of "I'm Scared" (1992), by Queen's guitarist Brian May, released on his first solo album Back to the Light (1993). Brian May has declared himself as a great admirer of Berkoff.The Berkoff Performing Arts Centre was named for him at Alton College, in North East Hampshire on 20 June 2008.
(25 June 2002) Deported from the USA due to a "deficiency in his documentation". Berkoff violated visa regulations in 1997 by staying one day longer than he was supposed to.
After being deported in June 2002, Berkoff accused the US authorities of "Post September 11 hysteria". Ironically, shortly afterwards he performed a tribute about 9/11 at the Edinburgh festival fringe. He gave a solo performance entitled "Requiem For Ground Zero" at the Assembly Rooms, where his epic poem lasted for almost an hour.
Trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, whose alumni include Terence Stamp , Hugh Bonneville , Rupert Friend , Angela Lansbury , Matthew Goode , Sue Johnston , Minnie Driver and Julian Fellowes.
Has acted in both the Doctor Who Franchise and the Eon James Bond franchise.
He played the Florentine preacher Girolamo Savonarola in both A Season of Giants and "The Borgias" .
Considered for the roles of Dr. Armstong and Bukovsky in Lifeforce .
He is of Russian Jewish and Romanian Jewish descent.
He was considered for many guest roles in "Doctor Who" - Commander Vorshak in "Warriors of The Deep", Commander Lytton in "Resurrection of the Daleks", Maylin Tekker in "Timelash", and Ratcliffe in "Remembrance of the Daleks". He would later play Shakri "Doctor Who" {The Power of Three (#7.4)} .
He was considered to play Dick Jones in Robocop .
As of 2016, has appeared in three films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Nicholas and Alexandra , A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon .
He was awarded the 1982 Drama Logue Award for Outstanding Direction for "Metamorphosis" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
In 2012, Berkoff, with others, wrote in support of Israels national theatre, Habima, performing in London.
Berkoff has stated that he accepts roles in Hollywood only to subsidise his theatre work, and that he regards many of the films in which he has appeared as lacking artistic merit.
In 1996, Berkoff won Berkoff vs. Burchill, a libel civil action that he brought against Sunday Times journalist Julie Burchill after she published comments suggesting that he was "hideously ugly". The judge ruled for Berkoff, finding that Burchills actions "held him to ridicule and contempt.".
He was offered the role of Frank Booth in Blue Velvet , but turned it down, saying "there was nothing in that part except destruction".
He was offered the role of Rostrov in Invasion U.S.A. , but passed because of the violence.
The great actors we had came from actor/manager theaters. Not only did,they create a team, they were the generals working with the soldiers.
The BBC is meant to represent values - honesty, decency, values - ITV is,not. Why should they compete? ITV does that stinking, sodding,"Coronation Street" (1960) until you get brained out. Then the,BBC comes out with that stinky, slobbing, clichd, mindless, moronic,"EastEnders" (1985) .
