Oliver Reed built a screen career spanning more than forty years, moving from Hammer horror pictures to acclaimed collaborations with directors Ken Russell and Michael Winner. Early in his career he appeared in Zulu (1964), and his most celebrated role was the menacing Bill Sikes in his uncle Carol Reed's Oliver! (1968), winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture. He died suddenly of a heart attack in Malta in 1999 while taking a break from filming Gladiator; the production was completed around his unfinished scenes using a body double and early CGI, and his performance as the ageing gladiator trainer Proximo earned him a posthumous BAFTA nomination.