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He appeared as a savage gang leader in Joseph Losey's The Damned (1963), which apparently inspired Anthony Burgess to write A Clockwork Orange. Reed then featured in several films by director Michael Winner, including The System and The Jokers (both 1966) and Hannibal Brooks (1969).

Ken Russell was also a director who appreciated Reed's appeal. They first worked together on Russell's television docu-dramas, notably "Dante's Inferno", a bio of painter/poet Dante Gabriel Rosetti,

prior to the director's adaptation of DH Lawrence's Women in Love (1969), which cast Reed opposite Glenda Jackson and included the infamous scene in which Reed and Alan Bates wrestle naked.

The Devils (1971) and

Keith Moon as Uncle Ernie in Tommy
The Who's Tommy (1975) were to follow.

In 1968, Oliver's uncle, the director Sir Carol Reed, cast him as Bill Sikes in the musical Oliver! which made him an international star. Reed gained a reputation towards the end of his life for subversive appearances on chat shows. He died of a heart attack in May 1999, during a drinking session in a bar in Malta during the filming of what was to be his final film, Ridley Scott's Gladiator.

According to Ken Russell, the aforementioned homo-erotic wrestling scene was not actually included in the original script, due to his feeling that the censors of the time would not allow it to pass. Hearing this, Reed was none too pleased, and apparently demonstrated his displeasure by wrestling Russell to the floor in his kitchen, and pinning him to the ground until he agreed to include it.

Due to his notorious public appearances while under the influence, Reed became forever synonymous with alcohol. It was alleged that during the stag weekend prior to his second marriage (to long time sweetheart Josephine, in 1985) Reed downed an unhealthy 104 pints of beer. However, Reed was quick to dispel this rumour: “The event that was reported actually took place during an arm-wrestling competition in Guernsey about 15 years ago.”

Lee Marvin, describing his first encounter with Reed, said: “I was expecting to meet up with this actor who was supposed to be Britain’s hellraiser, and what do I see but this tailor’s dummy in a pinstripe suit looking more like a fucking banker”. Reed, during his infamous 80s appearance on The David Letterman Show, continued the feud by pretending to forget Marvin’s surname, and claimed to have “screwed Marvin at drinking” during a drinking competition that allegedly took place between the pair.

During the same show, Reed also caused David Letterman to lose his footing by pulling him forward during their greeting handshake; punctuated the interview by adopting an American accent, pointing at the camera and claiming “I’m after you, Stallone”; replied to Letterman’s questions in German; spoke nonsense claiming he was a fisherman who wore boots in his ears; took the piss out of Letterman’s nose by pressing his own down in imitation; and removed his glasses and stared Letterman down, forcing Letterman to plead to band leader, Paul Schaffer to accompany him. In fact, on both sides of the Atlantic, Reed became well known for his “performances” on chat shows. On The Merv Griffin Show in the 70s, Reed sat listening attentively whilst Griffin reeled off some anecdote about Peter O’Toole in order to illustrate the temperamental nature of English actors. After enduring the entire story, Reed sat forward and, quite politely, pointed out that O’Toole was in fact Irish, and not English. More famously still, he once asked perma-tanned British talk show host Richard Madley why he had “orange skin”.

During his first appearance on The Tonight Show, Johnny Carson watched on in horror as Shelly Winters – reacting to Reed’s somewhat misogynistic comments – poured a drink over Reed’s head. When later quizzed about the incident, Reed stated: “My row with Shelly Winters was caused by her abominable lack of manners. She is getting old now and I think she is quite crazy.”

It could never have been considered a good idea for Channel 4 to have invited Reed to a late night, serious debate programme involving a panel of toffs and one lesbian feminist discussing male violence on TV. Quizzed afterwards about his experience – which resulted in him being ejected from the studio – Reed agreed that he “might” have told the feminist that he had had more fights in pubs than “you’ve had hot dinners”, before kissing her, quite uninvited, on the lips.

Reed – who once asked, “I like the effect drink has on me. What’s the point of staying sober?” – realised, upon his arrival at Galway airport, Ireland, while lying drunk on the baggage conveyor, that he was slowly killing himself with his constant alcohol binges. He tried to make amends for his past behaviour, which included spiking snooker star Alex Higgins’ whisky with Chanel perfume. Higgins reacted by squirting washing-up liquid in Reed’s crème de menthe.

Reed passed away prematurely, while filming Scott’s Gladiator in Malta. His role was completed by means of placing a CGI replica of Reed’s head onto a body double, comprised of various “jigsaw-like” pieces of filming that Reed had completed. Scott admits that it was his intention to provide Reed’s screen career with a fitting end by having had him utter the final line of the film. However, after much trial and error, Scott was forced to abandon the idea due to the lack of useable footage.