 A tall, bulky, formidable character player who came to the fore in the '80s, especially as one of the Russian soldiers on leave in Liverpool in A Letter to Brezhnev (d. Chris Bernard, 1985) and as Joe Orton's jealous lover/murderer in Prick Up Your Ears (d. Stephen Frears, 1987), and was in much demand for international films in the '90s. Of Italian/Spanish parentage, the Guildhall-trained Molina had an RSC season before being noticed as the duplicitous guide in Raiders of the Lost Ark (US, d. Steven Spielberg, 1981). He was a stern husband who softens under the Italian sun in Enchanted April (d. Mike Newell, 1991), and he is very alarming as the despotic Iranian husband/father in Not Without My Daughter (US, d. Brian Gilbert, 1991); such is the potency of his persona that one always expects him to do something deranged. In such Euromesses as Anna Karenina (US but other nations must share the blame, d. Bernard Rose, 1997) and the soft-centred Chocolat (UK/US, d. Lasse Hallström, 2000) he is one of the few to emerge untarnished. Theatre credits include a Tony-winning performance in Art on Broadway and several for London's National and Royal Court. He is married to Jill Gascoine (b.London, 1937), star of TV's The Gentle Touch (LWT, 1980-84) and in a couple of minor British films. Brian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of British Film
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FILM & TV CREDITS
