Basil Sydney
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.
Personal Details
Movies (46)
The 3 Worlds of Gulliver
as Emperor of Lilliput
1960
The Hands of Orlac
as Maurice Seidelman
1960
A Story of David
as King Saul
1960
The Devil's Disciple
as Lawyer Hawkins
1959
John Paul Jones
as Sir William Young
1959
A Question of Adultery
as Sir John Loring
1958
Sea Wife
as Bulldog
1957
Island in the Sun
as Julian Fleury
1957
Mayerling
as The Emperor Franz Joseph
1957
Around the World in 80 Days
as Reform Club Member
1956
The Dam Busters
as Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris G.C.B., O.B.E., A.F.C.
1955
Simba
as Mr Crawford
1955
Hell Below Zero
as Bland
1954
Star of India
as King Louis XIV
1954
Three's Company
as Dr. Graham
1953
Salome
as Pontius Pilate
1953
Ivanhoe
as Waldemar Fitzurse
1952
The Magic Box
as William Fox-Talbot
1952
Treasure Island
as Captain Smollett
1950
The Angel with the Trumpet
as Francis Alt
1950
Hamlet
as Claudius - The King
1948
Jassy
as Nick Helmar
1947
The Man Within
as Sir Henry Merriman
1947
Meet Me at Dawn
as Georges Vermorel
1947
Caesar and Cleopatra
as Rufio
1945
Went the Day Well?
as Major Hammond / Kommandant Orlter
1942
The Next of Kin
as Naval captain
1942
The Black Sheep of Whitehall
as Costello
1942
Ships with Wings
as Capt. Fairfax
1941
The Farmer's Wife
as Samuel Sweetland
1941
Spring Meeting
as James
1941
Bits of Our Aircraft are Missing
as (uncredited)
1940
The Four Just Men
as Frank Snell
1939
Accused
as Eugene Roget
1936
Talk of the Devil
1936
Crime Over London
as 'Joker' Finnigan
1936
Rhodes of Africa
as Dr. Jim Jameson
1936
The Amateur Gentleman
as Louis Chichester
1936
Blind Man's Bluff
as Dr. Peter Fairfax
1936
The Tunnel
as Mostyn
1935
The Riverside Murder
as Inspector Philip Winton
1935
Dirty Work
as Hugh Stafford
1934
The Third Clue
as Reinhardt Conway
1934
The Midshipmaid
as Cmdr. Fosberry
1932
Red Hot Romance
as Rowland Stone
1922
Romance
1920
