Robert Newton

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Robert Newton
Robert Newton in Treasure Island
Born	1 June 1905(1905-06-01) Shaftesbury, Dorset, England
Died	25 March 1956 (aged 50) Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California
Spouse(s)	Petronella Walton (m. 1929), Annie McLean (m. 1936), Natalie Newhouse (m. 1947), Vera Budnick (m. 1952)

This article is about the actor. For the athlete see Robert Newton (athlete).

Robert Newton (June 1, 1905 – March 25, 1956) was an English actor. Son of the painter, Algernon Newton R.A. He was born in Shaftesbury, in Dorset, England, and died in Los Angeles, California, U.S., from a heart attack.

Along with Errol Flynn, Newton was one of the most popular actors amongst the male juvenile audience of the 1940s and early 1950s, especially among British boys; he was cited as a role model by actor Tony Hancock and drummer Keith Moon.

1 Career
2 Selected filmography
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Career

Newton's film career includes several notable seedy ruffians and villains, among them Bill Walker in George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara, Bill Sykes in David Lean's 1948 film version of Oliver Twist and Long John Silver in Walt Disney's Treasure Island as well as disciplinarians such as Inspector Javert in the 1952 Les Misérables, Dr. Arnold in the 1951 film version of Tom Brown's Schooldays and Inspector Fix in his last film, the 1956 Around the World in Eighty Days , which won the Academy Award for Best Picture of that year.

Newton appeared in major roles in two films based on the novella The Vessel of Wrath, by W. Somerset Maugham. He played the Dutch contrôleur in the 1938 version (released in the U.S. as The Beachcomber), and the lead role of Edward "Ginger Ted" Wilson in The Beachcomber (1954). He starred as the Scottish hatter, James Brodie, in Hatter's Castle, a 1941 film based on the novel by A. J. Cronin. He also played Ancient Pistol in Laurence Olivier's 1944 film of Henry V and Lukey in Carol Reed's Odd Man Out, later immortalised in Harold Pinter's play Old Times.

He is most famous for playing the feverish-eyed Long John Silver in the Walt Disney movie Treasure Island (1950). His Disney portrayal provided the template for most screen portrayals of pirates since and he often credited for inventing the steryotypical 'pirate voice'; Newton has even become the "patron saint" of the annual International Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19).

He also played Long John Silver in an unrelated 1954 film about the same character, Long John Silver. The company then made a 26-episode 1955 TV series, The Adventures of Long John Silver, also shot at Pagewood Studios, Sydney, Australia.

Newton went on to play Bristol's other famous pirate, Blackbeard, in the film Blackbeard the Pirate, but was never able to shake off the legacy of Long John Silver.

His earlier career on stage started at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1921 and was soon followed by performing in many plays in the West End of London amongst which were Bitter Sweet by Noel Coward, Horatio to Laurence Olivier's Hamlet at the Old Vic theatre, and Private Lives on Broadway. For a while from 1932 -1934 he was the actor manager of the Shilling Theatre in Fulham, London.

His film career was cut short by his chronic alcoholism, which led to his death from a heart attack at the age of 50 in his wife's arms. After some court battles, Newton's 5-year-old son was taken into custody by his aunt and uncle.

Newton was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. He was married four times and had three children Sally (b. 1930), Nicholas (b. 1950) and Kim (b. 1953). Many years later his ashes were scattered by his son, Nicholas, in the sea in Mounts Bay, Cornwall, England near Lamorna where he had spent his childhood.