Biographie
Edward James de Souza was born in Hull, Yorkshire, to Annie Adeline Swift (née Calvert) and Edward Valentine De Souza Jr., with British and Portuguese-Indian heritage. He has performed in numerous classical plays at the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Globe, and Theatre Royal. A 1957 RADA graduate, de Souza made his screen debut that same year as Charles Darnay in a BBC adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities (1957), co-starring Peter Wyngarde as Sydney Carton. On radio, he took over from Valentine Dyall as BBC4's The Man in Black from 1988 to 1992.
In film, he is perhaps best known for playing Bedouin Sheikh Hosein, an ally of Roger Moore’s James Bond, in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Earlier in his career, he starred in two consecutive Hammer horror films: as impresario Harry Hunter in The Phantom of the Opera (1962) and as hero Gerald Harcourt in The Kiss of the Vampire (1963).
De Souza was more regularly employed on television, with an early leading role alongside Richard Briers and Prunella Scales in the sitcom The Marriage Lines (1961). He also appeared in the Doctor Who episode 'Mission to the Unknown' (1965) as Space Security Agent Marc Cory, who tries to warn Earth of a Dalek threat; this episode is notable for not featuring the Doctor (William Hartnell) or his companions.
Comfortable in period dramas, de Souza portrayed Maximilian Morrell, a loyal friend to The Count of Monte Cristo (1964), Napoleon’s elder brother Joseph Bonaparte in the miniseries Napoleon and Love (1974), and Portuguese diplomat Marquês Luis de Soveral in Edward the King (1975). From 2008 to 2009, he had a regular role on Coronation Street as the unscrupulous gambler and womanizer Colin Grimshaw. His guest appearances include The Saint (1962), The Avengers (1961), Department S (1969), Rumpole of the Bailey (1978) as solicitor Bonny Bernard, Sapphire & Steel (1979), One Foot in the Grave (1990), and The Borgias (2011).
Since 1960, Edward de Souza has been married to English actress and longtime Play School presenter Miranda Connell.
