Basil Sydney
Born: 1894-04-23 in Essex, England, UK
Died: 1968-01-10
Known For: Acting
Biography
Basil Sydney (23 April 1894 – 10 January 1968) was an English stage and screen actor. Sydney made his name in 1915 in the London stage hit Romance by Edward Sheldon, with Broadway star Doris Keane, and he costarred with Keane in the 1920 silent film of the play. The couple married in 1918, and when Keane revived Romance in New York City in 1921, Sydney made his Broadway debut in the parts. He stayed in New York for over a decade playing classical roles such as Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet (1922), Richard Dudgeon in The Devil's Disciple (1923), the title role in Hamlet (1923), Prince Hal in Henry IV, Part I (1926), and Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew (1927).[citation needed] In 1937 he starred in the murder mystery Blondie White in the West End. He made over 50 screen appearances, most memorably as Claudius in Laurence Olivier's 1948 film of Hamlet. He also appeared in classic films like Treasure Island (1950), Ivanhoe (1952), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), but the focus of his career was the stage on both sides of the Atlantic.
Filmography
1962
1960
- The Hands of Orlac as Maurice Seidelman
- The 3 Worlds of Gulliver as Emperor of Lilliput
- A Story of David as King Saul
1959
- No Hiding Place
- John Paul Jones as Sir William Young
- The Devil's Disciple as Lawyer Hawkins
1958
- A Question of Adultery as Sir John Loring
1957
- Sea Wife as Bulldog
- Mayerling as The Emperor Franz Joseph
- Island in the Sun as Julian Fleury
1956
- Around the World in 80 Days as Reform Club Member
1955
- The Dam Busters as Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris G.C.B., O.B.E., A.F.C.
- Simba as Mr Crawford
1954
- Star of India as King Louis XIV
- Hell Below Zero as Bland
1953
- Salome as Pontius Pilate
- Three's Company as Dr. Graham
1952
- Ivanhoe as Waldemar Fitzurse
- The Magic Box as William Fox-Talbot
1950
- Treasure Island as Captain Smollett
- The Angel with the Trumpet as Francis Alt
1948
- Hamlet as Claudius - The King
1947
- Jassy as Nick Helmar
- The Man Within as Sir Henry Merriman
- Meet Me at Dawn as Georges Vermorel
1945
- Caesar and Cleopatra as Rufio
1942
- Went the Day Well? as Major Hammond / Kommandant Orlter
- The Black Sheep of Whitehall as Costello
- The Next of Kin as Naval captain
1941
- Spring Meeting as James
- The Farmer's Wife as Samuel Sweetland
- Ships with Wings as Capt. Fairfax
1940
- Bits of Our Aircraft are Missing as (uncredited)
1939
- The Four Just Men as Frank Snell
1936
- Accused as Eugene Roget
- The Amateur Gentleman as Louis Chichester
- Rhodes of Africa as Dr. Jim Jameson
- Crime Over London as 'Joker' Finnigan
- Talk of the Devil
- Blind Man's Bluff as Dr. Peter Fairfax
1935
- The Riverside Murder as Inspector Philip Winton
- The Tunnel as Mostyn
1934
- Dirty Work as Hugh Stafford
- The Third Clue as Reinhardt Conway
1932
- The Midshipmaid as Cmdr. Fosberry
1922
- Red Hot Romance as Rowland Stone