Oliver, you "baddie," we miss you already.

May 3, 1999 | (AP) -- Oliver Reed, the feisty, hard-drinking actor who was as well known for his antics off screen as he was for his performances on-screen, died Sunday in Malta. He was 61.

Mr. Reed, who played the fearsome Bill Sikes in the 1968 musical "Oliver!", died on the way to a hospital after taking ill while drinking with friends in a bar in the Maltese capital, Valetta, police said. The cause of death was not immediately announced.

Mr. Reed was on the Mediterranean island filming a new movie, "The Gladiator."

Born in London on Feb. 13, 1938, Mr. Reed spent time as a strip club bouncer and fairground boxer before becoming an actor. His 53 films include "Women in Love," "The Devils," and "Tommy," all directed by eccentric Englishman Ken Russell.

"He was the life and soul of the party," Russell wrote of Mr. Reed in his 1989 autobiography, "A Living Picture." But, he added, "For all his macho image, Oliver is a sensitive actor who approaches his craft intuitively."

But Mr. Reed was often better known for misdeeds away from the camera and well-publicized drinking bouts.

When filming "The Prince and the Pauper" in Hungary, he and stunt double Reg Prince were arrested after a restaurant brawl with another man about rugby. They were not charged.

In a separate exploit, Mr. Reed once arrived at Galway airport in Ireland lying drunk on a baggage conveyor.

And at a hotel in Madrid in 1973, he stripped during dinner and jumped into a huge tank containing goldfish. He was later ordered to leave the hotel after a fight there.

He once described himself as "only an actor -- not a priest beyond reproach."

"I'm not a villain, I've never hurt anyone," he said. "I'm just a tawdry character who explodes now and again."

"I have the cultivated the image of a baddie, which is what I will pursue if that is what people wish," he told Britain's Daily Mail in 1995.

Glenda Jackson, the actress-turned-politician who won the first of her two Oscars for "Women in Love," told SKY News television station that Mr. Reed was "immaculately professional."

"Once he was in front of the camera, he was all work," she said. "I am very sorry he has gone, but I think he probably went the way he would have wished."

Mr. Reed is survived by his wife, Josephine, a daughter, Sarah, and a son, Mark. © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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