Richard Basehart
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Richard Basehart (August 31, 1914 – September 17, 1984) was an American actor. He starred in the 1960s television science fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in the role of Admiral Harriman Nelson.
One of his most notable film roles was the acrobat known as "the Fool" in the acclaimed Italian film La strada directed by Federico Fellini. He also appeared as the killer in the film noir classic He Walked by Night (1948), as a psychotic member of the Hatfield clan in Roseanna McCoy (1949), as Ishmael in Moby Dick (1956), and in the drama Decision Before Dawn (1951). He was married to Italian Academy Award-nominated actress Valentina Cortese, with whom he had one son before their divorce in 1960. Cortese and Basehart also costarred in Robert Wise's The House on Telegraph Hill (1951).
Basehart was also noted for his deep, distinctive voice and was prolific as a narrator of many television and movie projects ranging from features to documentaries. In 1980, Basehart narrated the mini-series written by Peter Arnett called Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War that covered Vietnam and its battles from the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945 to the final American embassy evacuation on April 30, 1975. He appeared in the pilot episode of the television series Knight Rider as billionaire Wilton Knight. He is the narrator at the beginning of the show's credits.
In 1971, Basehart played "Captain Sligo", a comical Irishman with a pet buffalo who negotiates a flawed but legal cattle purchase and unconventionally courts a widow with two children, played by Salome Jens, in CBS's western series, Gunsmoke, with James Arness. Basehart appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-O, and as Hannibal Applewood, an abusive schoolteacher in Little House on the Prairie in 1976.
In 1972, he appeared in the Columbo episode Dagger of the Mind in which he and Honor Blackman played a husband-and-wife theatrical team who were loose parodies of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. In the feature realm, he played a supporting role as a doctor in Rage (1972), a theatrical feature starring and directed by George C. Scott. He made a few TV movies including Sole Survivor (1970) and The Birdmen (1971). Both were based on true stories during World War II.
He died at age 70 following a series of strokes. One month before his death, Basehart was an announcer for the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
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Acted in
Los Angeles Plays Itself
2004
as Roy Morgan/Roy Martin in He Walked By Night (archive footage)
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
2002
as Cpl. Denno (archive footage) (uncredited)
Knight Rider: Halloween Knight
1985
as Narrator
Bix: Ain't None of Them Play Like Him Yet
1982
as Self
Knight Rider: Knight of the Phoenix
1982
as Wilton Knight
Knight Rider
1982
as Wilton Knight
Egypt: Quest for Eternity
1982
as Narrator (Self)
Mr. Merlin
1981
Masada
1981
as Narrator
Marilyn: The Untold Story
1980
as Johnny Hyde
Being There
1979
as Vladimir Skrapinov
Land of Celtic Ghosts
1979
as Himself
The Rebels
1979
as Duke of Kentland
Tales of the Unexpected
1979
as Slade
Planet Mars
1979
as Narrator
The Great Bank Hoax
1978
as Manny Benchly
Vega$
1978
W.E.B.
1978
The Critical List
1978
as Matt Kinsella
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
1978
as King Arthur
The Love Boat
1977
as Stan Ellis
The Island of Dr. Moreau
1977
as Sayer of the Law
Flood!
1977
as John Cutler
How the West Was Won
1977
as Colonel Flint
Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model?
1977
as Elliott Osborn
21 Hours at Munich
1976
as Willy Brandt
Mansion of the Doomed
1976
as Dr. Leonard Chaney
Time Travelers
1976
as Dr. Joshua Henderson (1871)
Valley Forge
1975
Joe Forrester
1975
Medical Story
1975
Judgment: The Court Martial of Lt. William Calley
1975
as George Latimer
Little House on the Prairie
1974
Maneater
1973
as Carl Brenner
The Birdmen
1973
as Schiller
...And Millions Die!
1973
as Dr Douglas Pruitt
Rage
1972
as Dr. Roy Caldwell
The Bounty Man
1972
as Angus Keough
The Streets of San Francisco
1972
Chato's Land
1972
as Nye Buell
Assignment: Munich
1972
as Maj. Barney Caldwell
The Death of Me Yet
1971
as Robert Barnes
Columbo
1971
as Nicholas Framer
City Beneath the Sea
1971
as The President
They've Killed President Lincoln!
1971
as Host / Narrator
The Andersonville Trial
1970
as Henry Wirz
Sole Survivor
1970
as Brig. Gen. Russell Hamner
Hans Brinker
1969
as Dr. Boeker
Love Is a Funny Thing
1969
as Acteur
Marcus Welby, M.D.
1969
as Professor Andrew Kirkcastle
Hawaii Five-O
1968
as Murdock
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
1968
as Narrator
Ironside
1967
as Noel Seymour
National Geographic Specials
1965
as Narrator (voice)
The Satan Bug
1965
as Dr. Gregor Hoffman
Let My People Go: The Story of Israel
1965
as Narrator (voice)
Trial at Nuremberg
1964
as Narrator
Four Days In November
1964
as Narrator (voice)
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
1964
as Adm. Harriman Nelson
Kings of the Sun
1963
as Ah Min
The Yanks Are Coming
1963
as Narrator (voice)
Arrest and Trial
1963
Combat!
1962
as Capt. Steiner
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1962
as Philip Townsend
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1962
as Miles Crawford
Hitler
1962
as Adolf Hitler
The Savage Guns
1961
as Steve Fallon
Ben Casey
1961
Visa to Canton
1960
as Don Benton
Route 66
1960
For the Love of Mike
1960
as Father Phelan
Portrait in Black
1960
as Howard Mason
Five Branded Women
1960
as Eric Reinhardt
The Ambitious One
1959
as George Rancourt
The Twilight Zone
1959
as Adam Cook
Jons und Erdme
1959
as Wittkuhn
Rawhide
1959
as Tod Stone
Love and Troubles
1958
as Paolo Martelli
Naked City
1958
as Lester Bergson
The Brothers Karamazov
1958
as Ivan Karamazov
Time Limit
1957
as Maj. Harry Cargill
Miracles of Thursday
1957
as Martino
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956
as David Manning
Moby Dick
1956
as Ishmael
Finger of Guilt
1956
as Reginald 'Reggie' Wilson
The Extra Day
1956
as Joe Blake
The Swindle
1955
as Picasso
The Golden Vein
1955
as Ing. Stefano Manfredi
Gunsmoke
1955
as Captain Aron Sligo
Cartouche
1955
as Il conte Jacques de Maudy
Canyon Crossroads
1955
as Larry Kendall
La Strada
1954
as Il 'Matto'
Jailbirds
1954
as Doctor Stefano Luprandi
The Good Die Young
1954
as Joe Halsey
The Stranger's Hand
1954
as Joe Hamstringer
Titanic
1953
as George S. Headley
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
as Conway
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
as General Washington
Decision Before Dawn
1951
as Lt. Dick Rennick
Fixed Bayonets!
1951
as Cpl. Denno
The House on Telegraph Hill
1951
as Alan Spender
Fourteen Hours
1951
as Robert Cosick
Outside the Wall
1950
as Larry Nelson
Tension
1949
as Warren Quimby
Reign of Terror
1949
as Maximilian Robespierre
Roseanna McCoy
1949
as Mounts Hatfield
He Walked by Night
1949
as Roy Martin / Roy Morgan
Studio One
1948
as Matt Donovan
Cry Wolf
1947
as James Caldwell Demarest
Repeat Performance
1947
as William Williams