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Basil Sydney

Basil Sydney

Birthday: 1894-04-23 | Place of Birth: 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.

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

1960
The 3 Worlds of Gulliver

as    Emperor of Lilliput

1960
The Hands of Orlac

as    Maurice Seidelman

1959
The Devil's Disciple

as    Lawyer Hawkins

1959
A Question of Adultery

as    Sir John Loring

1957
Sea Wife

as    Bulldog

1955
The Dam Busters

as    Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris G.C.B., O.B.E., A.F.C.

1955
Simba

as    Mr Crawford

1954
Hell Below Zero

as    Bland

1953
Three's Company

as    Dr. Graham

1953
Salome

as    Pontius Pilate

1950
Treasure Island

as    Captain Smollett

1950
The Angel with the Trumpet

as    Francis Alt

1948
Hamlet

as    Claudius - The King

1947
Jassy

as    Nick Helmar

1946
Caesar and Cleopatra

as    Rufio

1942
The Black Sheep of Whitehall

as    Costello

1942
Went the Day Well?

as    Major Hammond / Kommandant Orlter

1942
The Next of Kin

as    Naval captain

1939
The Four Just Men

as    Frank Snell

1936
Crime Over London

as    'Joker' Finnigan

1936
Rhodes of Africa

as    Dr. Jim Jameson

1936
The Amateur Gentleman

as    Louis Chichester