Appearances

Title	Role	Year	Approx. Age
Crossed Swords - The Prince and The Pauper	Prince and Pauper	1978	20
Love Under The Elms	unknown	1974	16
Redneck	Lennox	1973	15
Little Adventurer	Mike Richard	1973	15
Scalawag	Jamie	1973	15
What The Peeper Saw (Night Child)	Marcus	1972	14
Melody	Daniel	1971	13
Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?	Christopher	1971	13
Black Beauty	Joe Evans	1971	13
Eye Witness	Ziggy	1970	12
Run Wild, Run Free	Philip Ransome	1969	11
Oliver! - the Musical	Oliver Twist	1968	10
Our Mother's House	Jiminee Hook	1967	9
Spaceflight IC-1: An Adventure in Space	Don Saunders	1965	7
Allez France!	Gerald	1964	6

Angel-faced child star Mark Lester was the son of British actors Michael and Rita Lester. He made his professional debut at age 2 1/2 in a TV commercial featuring his father, then attended the independent Halliford School in Shepperton, Middlesex and studied acting / mime at the Corona Stage School, playing supporting roles in several British TV series, including The Human Jungle (1964) and Danger Man (1966).

In films since 1964, Lester made his big screen debut in Our Mother's House (1967) to critical acclaim before being elevated to stardom in the title role of the Oscar-winning movie musical Oliver! (1968). Producers auditioned 250 child actors for the title role before finally selecting Mark to co-star with Jack Wild, Ron Moody. Additional critical praise came his way playing the autistic protagonist in Run Wild, Run Free (1969).

However, after starring in Eyewitness (1970), with Susan George and Night Hair Child (1971) with Britt Ekland, Whoeveer Slew Auntie Roo? (1971), with Shelley Winters; Melody and Black Beauty (1971), he found good roles harder to come by in England.

Mark extended his range in a series of films in Italy. These included Redneck (1972) with Telly Savalas and the strange re-working of the Western genre Scalawag (1973), with Kirk Douglas (everyone was doing Italian westerns in those days). The final film of his Italian career was in the costume drama La Prima volta sull'erba (Love Under the Elms) (1974), which was nominated for the Best Film prize at the Berlin Film Festival. He even recorded two record albums after The Little Adventurer (1973).

Lester finished his film career in England, with the lead role in Crossed Swords (UK title: The Prince and Pauper) (1977), which reunited him on screen with Oliver Reed, who had been Bill Sykes to his Oliver Twist.

Lester retired from show business to marry and raise 3 girls... he is an osteopath, along with his wife.