Francis L. Sullivan
Acting
Biography
Francis Loftus Sullivan (6 January 1903, Wandsworth, London - 19 November 1956, New York City) was an English film and stage actor. He attended Stonyhurst, the Jesuit public school in Lancashire, England whose alumni include Charles Laughton and Arthur Conan Doyle. A heavily built man with a striking double-chin and a deep voice, Sullivan made his acting debut at the Old Vic aged 18 in Shakespeare's Richard III and appeared in his first film in 1932. Some of his notable film roles include Mr. Bumble in Oliver Twist (1948) and Phil Nosseross in the film noir Night and the City (1950). Sullivan also played the part of Jaggers in two versions of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations - in 1934 and 1946. He appeared in a fourth Dickens film, the 1935 Universal Pictures version of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, in which he played Crisparkle. In 1938, he was featured in The Citadel, starring Robert Donat, and a decade later, he played the role of Pierre Cauchon in the technicolor version of Joan of Arc, starring Ingrid Bergman. Also in 1938 he starred in a revival of the Stokes' brothers play Oscar Wilde at London's Arts Theatre. Sullivan also acted in light comedies, notably My Favorite Spy (1951), starring Bob Hope and Hedy Lamarr, in which he played an enemy agent, and the comedy Fiddlers Three (1944), portraying Nero. He also played the role of Pothinus in the 1945 film version of George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra. The film was directed by Gabriel Pascal, and was the last film personally supervised by Shaw himself. Sullivan later reprised the role in a stage revival of the play. Sullivan, who eventually became a naturalized US citizen, won a Tony Award in 1955 for the Agatha Christie play Witness for the Prosecution. Earlier, he had played Hercule Poirot at the Embassy Theatre (London) in the Christie play, Black Coffee (1930). He died of a heart attack, aged 53 (some sources claim he died from an unspecified "lung ailment"). Description above from the Wikipedia article Francis L. Sullivan, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Born: January 6, 1903
Place of Birth: Wandsworth, London, England, UK
Known For
Filmography
as Self (archive footage)
as Barzland
as Bosra
as Commissioner Pierre Duvois
as Thomas Berrien
as Dr. Bristol
as Captain William Bligh
as Andrew McAllister
as Herod Antipas
as Karl Brubaker
as Garman
as Fat Freddy
as Philip Nosseross
as Colonel Humphrey 'Blinker' Omicron
as Francisco de Bobadilla
as Pierre Cauchon, Count-Bishop of Beauvais
as Herod Antipas
as Long John Silver
as Attorney General
as Mr. Bumble
as Self
as Anton Perami
as Prosecuting Counsel
as Mr. Braddock
as Mr. Jaggers
as Sir Williams Tremayne
as Pothinus
as Nero
as Leo Carrington
as Minghetti
as French Skipper
as Kommandant Ulrich Wettau
as General von Graum
as Mander
as Blackbeard, Vincent St George
as Leon Poiccard
as Attorney General
as Madman
as Ben Chenkin
as Governor
as Lord Flamborough
as Brogard
as Hugo Brant
as Sir Quinton Jessops (as Francis Sullavan)
as Sir Julian Weyre
as Rev. Mr. Crisparkle
as Bellamy
as Dr. George Brockton
as Jaggers
as Richard Bentley, Prosecution Counsel
as The Caliph
as Carl Peterson
as Stedding
as Cranley
as Juan de Texada (Phase IV)
as Kaledin
as A Sailor
as Roger Stoneham
as Rodney Haines
as Baron von Guntermann