Robert Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his upperclass, macho image, hellraiser lifestyle, and tough guy roles. His films include The Trap , Oliver , Women in Love , Hannibal Brooks , The Devils , The Three Musketeers , Tommy , Lion of the Desert , Castaway and Gladiator . For Gladiator, Reed was posthumously nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
Reed was born in Wimbledon, to sports journalist Peter Reed and his wife Marcia . He was the nephew of film director Sir Carol Reed, and grandson of the actormanager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree by his alleged mistress May Pinney Reed. He was alleged to have been a descendant of Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia. Reed attended Ewell Castle School in Surrey. He claimed to have been expelled from more than a dozen schools. Olivers brother Simon Reed, a sports journalist, works for British Eurosport.
Source: Wikipedia