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Steven Berkoff (born August 3, 1937) is an English 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 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 gambler nobleman (Lord Ludd) in Barry Lyndon, 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, while a more recent bit-part saw him as a criminal-turned-C-list-celebrity called Ray Cook in episode 6, series 3 of the light-hearted BBC police drama New Tricks.

Berkoff is also a respected and prominent stage writer, actor and director. His work includes East (1975), West (1983) and adaptations of Kafka's The Trial (1971) and The Metamorphosis (1969). In the late 1980s he directed an acclaimed interpretation of Salome (play) by Oscar Wilde in the Gate Theatre, Dublin and, later, the UK.

He trained in mime and physical theatre alongside Jacques Lecoq 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 Lecoq. Berkoff is hailed as the most prolific leader of alternative theatre across the globe.

He is currently patron at the [www.nightingaletheatre.co.uk] , home of the Prodigal Theatre Company in Brighton.

He is no relation to new media mogul Steven "Perkoff" Berkoff of RSPW fame.

Further reading

Robert Cross, Steven Berkoff and the Theatre of Self-Performance (Manchester University Press, 2004)

External links

• A fansite: http://www.iainfisher.com/berkoff.html
• Official site: http://www.stevenberkoff.com
• List of plays with synopses: http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsB/berkoff-steven.html

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