Basil Sydney

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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

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1964
Thursday Theatre
TV show Sir Norman Tullis
1962
Silent Evidence
TV show Dr. Martin Westlake
1961
Drama 61-67
TV show Mourtzinos
1960
The Hands of Orlac
Movie Maurice Seidelman
1960
A Story of David
Movie King Saul
1960
The 3 Worlds of Gulliver
Movie Emperor of Lilliput
1959
No Hiding Place
TV show
1959
The Devil's Disciple
Movie Lawyer Hawkins
1959
John Paul Jones
Movie Sir William Young
1958
A Question of Adultery
Movie Sir John Loring
1957
Sea Wife
Movie Bulldog
1957
Island in the Sun
Movie Julian Fleury
1957
Mayerling
Movie The Emperor Franz Joseph
1956
Around the World in 80 Days
Movie Reform Club Member
1956
Armchair Theatre
TV show Pastor Manders
1955
The Dam Busters
Movie Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris G.C.B., O.B.E., A.F.C.