Basil Sydney
Acting
Born April 23, 1894, Essex, England, UK
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
- Thursday Theatre — Sir Norman Tullis
- Silent Evidence — Dr. Martin Westlake
- Drama 61-67 — Mourtzinos
- 1960A Story of David — King Saul
- 1960The 3 Worlds of Gulliver — Emperor of Lilliput
- 1960The Hands of Orlac — Maurice Seidelman
- 1959John Paul Jones — Sir William Young
- No Hiding Place
- 1959The Devil's Disciple — Lawyer Hawkins
- 1958A Question of Adultery — Sir John Loring
- 1957Island in the Sun — Julian Fleury
- 1957Mayerling — The Emperor Franz Joseph
- 1957Sea Wife — Bulldog
- Armchair Theatre — Pastor Manders
- 1956Around the World in 80 Days — Reform Club Member
- 1955Simba — Mr Crawford
- 1955The Dam Busters — Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris G.C.B., O.B.E., A.F.C.
- 1954Hell Below Zero — Bland
- 1954Star of India — King Louis XIV
- 1953Salome — Pontius Pilate
- 1953Three's Company — Dr. Graham
- 1952Ivanhoe — Waldemar Fitzurse
- 1952The Magic Box — William Fox-Talbot
- 1950The Angel with the Trumpet — Francis Alt
- 1950Treasure Island — Captain Smollett
- 1948Hamlet — Claudius - The King
- 1947Jassy — Nick Helmar
- 1947Meet Me at Dawn — Georges Vermorel
- 1947The Man Within — Sir Henry Merriman
- 1945Caesar and Cleopatra — Rufio
- 1942The Black Sheep of Whitehall — Costello
- 1942The Next of Kin — Naval captain
- 1942Went the Day Well? — Major Hammond / Kommandant Orlter
- 1941Ships with Wings — Capt. Fairfax
- 1941Spring Meeting — James
- 1941The Farmer's Wife — Samuel Sweetland
- 1940Bits of Our Aircraft Are Missing — (uncredited)
- 1939The Four Just Men — Frank Snell
- 1936Accused — Eugene Roget
- 1936Blind Man's Bluff — Dr. Peter Fairfax
- 1936Crime Over London — 'Joker' Finnigan
- 1936Rhodes of Africa — Dr. Jim Jameson
- 1936Talk of the Devil
- 1936The Amateur Gentleman — Louis Chichester
- 1935The Riverside Murder — Inspector Philip Winton
- 1935The Tunnel — Mostyn
- 1934Dirty Work — Hugh Stafford
- 1934The Third Clue — Reinhardt Conway
- 1932The Midshipmaid — Cmdr. Fosberry
- 1922Red Hot Romance — Rowland Stone
- 1920Romance