In 1943, the British actor behind one of cinema’s most controversial characters was born in Yorkshire.
Eighty-three years later, Malcolm McDowell remains one of the most influential and imitated villains in film history.
McDowell was born on June 13, 1943, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to a hotelier mother and publican father. His father’s service in the Royal Air Force moved the family to Bridlington, where he developed an early love of performing. He went on to train at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).
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At Cannock House School, McDowell discovered his calling, moving from acting classes to a spot as an extra with the Royal Shakespeare Company. It caught the eye of British director Lindsay Anderson, who cast him as school rebel Mick Travis in If…. (1968).
While Figures in a Landscape (1970) and The Raging Moon (1971) added to his resume, it was his debut performance that drew Stanley Kubrick. The legendary director had seen enough in McDowell to cast him as the lead in A Clockwork Orange.
The film was adapted from Anthony Burgess’s novel of the same name, which follows Alex DeLarge, a violent young criminal forced to undergo experimental psychological conditioning.
The performance earned McDowell a Golden Globe nomination and recognition from the New York Film Critics Circle for Best Actor. Business Insider later included his portrayal on its list of the “Greatest Movie Villains of All Time.”
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Yet despite the critical acclaim, the film generated considerable controversy. A Clockwork Orange went on to become one of the most contentious films of the 20th century, banned in certain regions and associated with reports of copycat violence in the U.K.
The movie made McDowell one of the most talked-about actors of his generation — but he’d be the first to tell you it didn’t feel that way. Looking back in a conversation with Page Six, he said the whole experience was overwhelming.
“I don’t think I handled it particularly well, actually,” he admitted earlier this year. “It actually frightened me somewhat. Everybody’s pulling on you. They don’t allow you really just to enjoy it.”
Rather than enjoying the moment, McDowell was drowning in offers and pushed to say yes for projects he wasn’t interested in. When he raised concerns about the material, nobody wanted to hear it. “The script’s very bad.” “Well, who cares?”
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The years that followed may not have matched A Clockwork Orange, but opportunities kept coming. His long list of film and TV credits includes Star Trek Generations, Entourage, Mozart in the Jungle, and Dr. Samuel Loomis in both the 2007 Halloween remake and its 2009 sequel Halloween II.
In 2012, when GQ asked the screen’s greatest villains to name their biggest influence, nearly all of them gave the same answer — McDowell as Alex. It’s not hard to see why.
His performance had a lasting impact on the genre, which can be seen in unhinged antagonists such as Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter and Heath Ledger’s Joker.
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