Oliver Reed final film, Reed was posthumously nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. At the peak of his career, in 1971, British exhibitors voted Reed 5th most popular star at the box office. An alcoholic, Reed's issues with drink were well publicised, from appearances on chat shows to a high-profile friendship with drinking partner, The Who drummer Keith Moon, with the two meeting while working on "Tommy". Reed was born at 9 Durrington Park Road, Wimbledon, to Marcia (née Napier-Andrews) and Peter Reed, a sports journalist . He was the nephew of film director Sir Carol
Oliver Reed in the controversial film "The Devils" (1971), directed by Russell with Vanessa Redgrave. An anecdote holds that Reed could have been chosen to play James Bond. In 1969, Bond franchise producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were looking for a replacement for Sean Connery and Reed (who had recently played a resourceful killer in "The Assassination Bureau") was mentioned as a possible choice for the role. Whatever the reason, Reed was never to play Bond. After Reed's death, the "Guardian Unlimited" called the casting decision, "One of the great missed opportunities of post-war British movie history." He made a