Basil Sydney
Born
April 23, 1894
Died
January 10, 1968 (73 years old)
Known For
Acting
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.
Silent Evidence
(6 episodes)
1962
The Hands of Orlac
Maurice Seidelman
1960
A Story of David
King Saul
1960
The 3 Worlds of Gulliver
Emperor of Lilliput
1960
No Hiding Place
(1 episode)
1959
The Devil's Disciple
Lawyer Hawkins
1959
John Paul Jones
Sir William Young
1959
A Question of Adultery
Sir John Loring
1958
Sea Wife
Bulldog
1957
Island in the Sun
Julian Fleury
1957
Mayerling
The Emperor Franz Joseph
1957
Around the World in Eighty Days
Reform Club Member
1956
The Dam Busters
Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris G.C.B., O.B.E., A.F.C.
1955
Simba
Mr Crawford
1955
Hell Below Zero
Bland
1954
Star of India
King Louis XIV
1954
Three's Company
Dr. Graham
1953
Salome
Pontius Pilate
1953
Ivanhoe
Waldemar Fitzurse
1952
The Magic Box
William Fox-Talbot
1952
Treasure Island
Captain Smollett
1950
The Angel with the Trumpet
Francis Alt
1950
Hamlet
Claudius - The King
1948
Jassy
Nick Helmar
1947
The Man Within
Sir Henry Merriman
1947
Meet Me at Dawn
Georges Vermorel
1947
Caesar and Cleopatra
Rufio
1945
Went the Day Well?
Major Hammond / Kommandant Orlter
1942
The Next of Kin
Naval captain
1942
The Black Sheep of Whitehall
Costello
1942
Ships with Wings
Capt. Fairfax
1941
The Farmer's Wife
Samuel Sweetland
1941
Spring Meeting
James
1941
Bits of Our Aircraft are Missing
(uncredited)
1940
The Four Just Men
Frank Snell
1939
Accused
Eugene Roget
1936
Talk of the Devil
1936
Crime Over London
'Joker' Finnigan
1936
Rhodes of Africa
Dr. Jim Jameson
1936
The Amateur Gentleman
Louis Chichester
1936
Blind Man's Bluff
Dr. Peter Fairfax
1936
The Tunnel
Mostyn
1935
The Riverside Murder
Inspector Philip Winton
1935
Dirty Work
Hugh Stafford
1934
The Third Clue
Reinhardt Conway
1934
The Midshipmaid
Cmdr. Fosberry
1932
Red Hot Romance
Rowland Stone
1922
Romance
1920