Francis L. Sullivan
Acting • Born 1903-01-06 – Died 1956-11-19
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.
Filmography
75 credits
The Wandering Jew
Movie • 1933
Juan de Texada (Phase IV)
Oliver Twist
Movie • 1948
Mr. Bumble
Caesar and Cleopatra
Movie • 1945
Pothinus
The Red Danube
Movie • 1949
Colonel Humphrey 'Blinker' Omicron
Great Expectations
Movie • 1946
Mr. Jaggers
Joan of Arc
Movie • 1948
Pierre Cauchon, Count-Bishop of Beauvais
"Pimpernel" Smith
Movie • 1941
General von Graum
21 Days
Movie • 1940
Mander
Hell's Island
Movie • 1955
Barzland
Night and the City
Movie • 1950
Philip Nosseross
The Citadel
Movie • 1938
Ben Chenkin
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Movie • 1935
Rev. Mr. Crisparkle
Plunder of the Sun
Movie • 1953
Thomas Berrien
The Winslow Boy
Movie • 1948
Attorney General
My Favorite Spy
Movie • 1951
Karl Brubaker
The Return of Bulldog Drummond
Movie • 1934
Carl Peterson
Take My Life
Movie • 1947
Prosecuting Counsel
Drums of Tahiti
Movie • 1954
Commissioner Pierre Duvois
Called Back
Movie • 1933
Kaledin
Christopher Columbus
Movie • 1949
Francisco de Bobadilla
Fiddlers Three
Movie • 1944
Nero
Sangaree
Movie • 1953
Dr. Bristol
The Lady from Lisbon
Movie • 1942
Minghetti
The Four Just Men
Movie • 1939
Leon Poiccard
Broken Journey
Movie • 1948
Anton Perami
Non-Stop New York
Movie • 1937
Hugo Brant
The Drum
Movie • 1938
Governor
Red Wagon
Movie • 1933
Cranley
Caribbean
Movie • 1952
Andrew McAllister
Spy of Napoleon
Movie • 1936
Chief of Police
The Ware Case
Movie • 1938
Attorney General
F.P.1
Movie • 1933
A Sailor
Strange Wives
Movie • 1934
Bellamy
Kate Plus Ten
Movie • 1938
Lord Flamborough
Action for Slander
Movie • 1937
Sir Quinton Jessops (as Francis Sullavan)
When London Sleeps
Movie • 1932
Rodney Haines
Ingrid Bergman Remembered
Movie • 1996
Self (archive footage)
Chu Chin Chow
Movie • 1934
The Caliph
The Fire Raisers
Movie • 1934
Stedding
Climbing High
Movie • 1938
Madman
The Butler's Dilemma
Movie • 1943
Leo Carrington
The Day Will Dawn
Movie • 1942
Kommandant Ulrich Wettau
The Warren Case
Movie • 1934
Prosecuting Counsel (uncredited)
What Happened Then?
Movie • 1934
Richard Bentley, Prosecution Counsel
Cheating Cheaters
Movie • 1934
Dr. George Brockton
The Chinese Puzzle
Movie • 1932
Herman Strumm
The Missing Rembrandt
Movie • 1932
Baron von Guntermann
The Right to Live
Movie • 1933
Roger Stoneham
Her Last Affaire
Movie • 1935
Sir Julian Weyre
The Prodigal
Movie • 1955
Bosra
Pontius Pilate
Movie • 1952
Herod Antipas
Great Expectations
Movie • 1934
Jaggers
The Foreman Went to France
Movie • 1942
French Skipper
Behave Yourself!
Movie • 1951
Fat Freddy
Dinner at the Ritz
Movie • 1937
Brogard
The Man Within
Movie • 1947
Mr. Braddock
Young Man's Fancy
Movie • 1939
Blackbeard, Vincent St George
Fine Feathers
Movie • 1937
Hugo Steinway
The Laughing Lady
Movie • 1946
Sir Williams Tremayne
A Woman Alone
Movie • 1936
Prosecutor
Studio One
TV • 1948
Herod Antipas
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Lux Video Theatre
TV • 1950
Detective Yates
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV • 1951
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
Suspense
TV • 1949
Robert Montgomery Presents
TV • 1950
Cavalcade of America
TV • 1952
Lights Out
TV • 1949
Sure As Fate
TV • 1950
Destiny
TV
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Captain William Bligh
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV • 1951
Garman
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV • 1948
Self
Studio One
TV • 1948
Long John Silver