Basil Sydney
Basil Sydney was an English stage and screen actor.
Career
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 a variety of roles such as Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Domin in R.U.R., Richard Dudgeon in The Devil's Disciple, the title role in Hamlet, Prince Hal in Henry IV, Part I, and Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew. 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, Ivanhoe, and Around the World in Eighty Days, but the focus of his career was the stage on both sides of the Atlantic.
In 1946 he starred with Flora Robson in A Man About the House at the Piccadilly Theatre.
Personal life
Sydney divorced Keane in 1925. In 1929, he married actress Mary Ellis, and the couple moved to England.
A heavy smoker, Sydney died from pleurisy in 1968, aged 73.
Filmography
Romance as ArmstrongRed Hot Romance as Rowland StoneThe Midshipmaid as Cmdr. FosberryThe Third Clue as Reinhardt ConwayDirty Work as Hugh StaffordThe Riverside Murder as Inspector Philip WintonThe White Lilac as Ian MackieThe Tunnel as MostynThe Amateur Gentleman as Louis ChichesterRhodes of Africa as Dr. Jim JamesonBlind Man's Bluff as Dr. Peter FairfaxCrime Over London as 'Joker' FinniganTalk of the Devil as Stephen RindlayAccused as Eugene RogetThe Four Just Men as Frank SnellShadowed Eyes as Dr. ZanderSpring Meeting as JamesThe Farmer's Wife as Samuel SweetlandThe Black Sheep of Whitehall as CostelloShips with Wings as Capt. FairfaxThe Big Blockade as Bit Part The Next of Kin as Naval captainWent the Day Well? as Major OrtlerCaesar and Cleopatra as RufioMeet Me at Dawn as Georges VermorelThe Man Within as Sir Henry MerrimanJassy as Nick HelmarHamlet as Claudius - The KingThe Angel with the Trumpet as Francis AltTreasure Island as Captain SmollettThe Magic Box as William Fox-TalbotIvanhoe as Waldemar FitzurseSalome as Pontius PilateHell Below Zero as BlandStar of India as King Louis XIVThree's Company as Dr. Graham Simba as Mr. CrawfordThe Dam Busters as Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur HarrisAround the World in 80 Days as Reform Club Member #2Sea Wife as BulldogIsland in the Sun as Julian FleuryA Question of Adultery as Sir John LoringJohn Paul Jones as Sir William YoungThe Devil's Disciple as Lawyer HawkinsThe 3 Worlds of Gulliver as Emperor of LilliputThe Hands of Orlac as Maurice SeidelmanA Story of David as King Saul