Basil Sydney
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Basil Sydney | |
|---|---|
 Basil Sydney and Doris Kean as Romeo and Juliet. |
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| Born | 23 April 1894 St Osyth, Essex, England |
| Died | 10 January 1968 (aged 73) London, England |
| Years active | 1920 - 1964 |
| Spouse(s) | Joyce Howard (div.) Doris Keane (1918-1925) Mary Ellis (m.1929) |
Basil Sydney (April 23, 1894 - January 10, 1968) was an English actor who made over fifty 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 legitimate stage on both sides of the Atlantic.
He made his name in the London stage hit Romance by Edward Sheldon in the dual role of the priest and the priest's nephew opposite the play's Broadway star Doris Keane in 1915, and costarred with Keane in the 1920 silent movie of the play. The couple married in 1918, and when Keane revived Romance in New York in 1921, Sydney made his Broadway debut in the parts. He stayed in New York for over a decade playing classical roles like 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).
By then he had divorced Keane and remarried, returning to England and concentrating his energies more on film than on theatre work. He died from pleurisy in 1968, aged 73.
