Editing Donald Pleasence (section)

===Television===
Pleasence made his television debut in ''I Want to Be a Doctor'' (1946).<ref name=indepobit/> He received positive critical attention for his role as Syme in the [[BBC]] version of ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four (UK TV programme)|Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' (1954) from [[Nineteen Eighty-Four|the novel]] by [[George Orwell]].<ref name=indepobit/> The adaptation was by [[Nigel Kneale]] and featured [[Peter Cushing]] in the lead role of [[Winston Smith (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|Winston Smith]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Nineteen Eighty-Four (Dual Format Edition) |url=https://shop.bfi.org.uk/nineteen-eighty-four-dual-format-edition.html |access-date=7 November 2023 |agency=BFI}}</ref>

Pleasence played [[John, King of England|Prince John]] in several episodes of the [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] series ''[[The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series)|The Adventures of Robin Hood]]'' (1956–1958). He appeared twice with [[Patrick McGoohan]] in the British spy series, ''[[Danger Man]]'', in episodes "Position of Trust" (1960) and "Find and Return" (1961). Pleasence's first appearance in America was in an episode of ''[[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]'', playing an aging teacher at a boys' school in the episode "[[The Changing of the Guard (The Twilight Zone)|The Changing of the Guard]]" (1962). In 1963, he appeared in an episode of ''[[The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)|The Outer Limits]]'' titled "[[The Man with the Power]]". In 1966, he also guest starred in an episode of ''[[The Fugitive (1963 TV series)|The Fugitive]]'' entitled "With Strings Attached".

In 1973, Pleasence played a sympathetic murderer in an episode of ''[[Columbo]]'' entitled "[[Columbo (season 3)|Any Old Port in a Storm]]". Also that year, he played a supporting role in [[David Winters (choreographer)|David Winters]]' musical television adaptation of ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde''.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1973-04-03|title=Musical Version of 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' Stars Kirk Douglas|work=The Mexia Daily New|volume=74}}</ref>

He also portrayed a murderer captured by ''[[Mrs. Columbo]]'' in "Murder Is a Parlor Game" (1979). In 1978, he played a scout, Sam Purchas in an [[Centennial (miniseries)|adaptation]] of James A. Michener's ''[[Centennial (novel)|Centennial]]''. Pleasence starred as the Reverend Septimus Harding in the BBC's TV series ''[[The Barchester Chronicles]]'' (1982).<ref name=autogenerated1 /> In this series, his daughter [[Angela Pleasence]] played his onscreen daughter Susan.

He hosted the 1981 Halloween episode of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' with music guest [[Fear (band)|Fear]].

In 1986, Pleasence joined [[Ronald Lacey]] and Polly Jo Pleasence for the television thriller ''Into the Darkness''.

Pleasence and [[Michael Nader]] portrayed the villains in 1988's ''[[The Great Escape II: The Untold Story]]'',<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/07/arts/review-television-derring-do-and-deceit-in-wartime.html|title=Review/Television; Derring-Do And Deceit In Wartime|first=John J.|last=O'Conner|date=November 7, 1988|work=The New York Times}}</ref> which costar [[Christopher Reeve]] explained as not being a remake of the 1963 original film and being based on [[Paul Brickhill]]'s non-fiction account ''[[The Great Escape (book)|The Great Escape]]''. Noting his involvement in the original film, Joan Hanauer wrote that Pleasence had "graduated to an S.S. villain, and he is a marvel of soft-spoken, almost finicky evil."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.deseret.com/1988/11/5/18782949/untold-story-told-the-great-escape-ii|title=UNTOLD STORY TOLD: 'THE GREAT ESCAPE II'|date=November 5, 1988|publisher=Desert News}}</ref>