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- Died
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Basil Sydney
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.
As actor
The Hands of Orlac
A Story of David
The 3 Worlds of Gulliver
The Devil's Disciple
John Paul Jones
A Question of Adultery
Sea Wife
Mayerling
Island in the Sun
Around the World in 80 Days
Simba
The Dam Busters
Hell Below Zero
Star of India
Salome
Three's Company
Ivanhoe
The Magic Box
Treasure Island
The Angel with the Trumpet
Hamlet
Meet Me at Dawn
Jassy
The Man Within
Caesar and Cleopatra
Went the Day Well?
The Black Sheep of Whitehall
The Next of Kin
Spring Meeting
Ships with Wings