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Francis L. Sullivan

Francis L. Sullivan

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").

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Ingrid Bergman Remembered

1996

as Self (archive footage)

Hell's Island

1955

as Barzland

The Prodigal

1955

as Bosra

Drums of Tahiti

1954

as Commissioner Pierre Duvois

Plunder of the Sun

1953

as Thomas Berrien

Sangaree

1953

as Dr. Bristol

General Electric Theater

1953

General Electric Theater

1953

as Captain William Bligh

Cavalcade of America

1952

Caribbean

1952

as Andrew McAllister

Pontius Pilate

1952

as Herod Antipas

My Favorite Spy

1951

as Karl Brubaker

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

1951

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

1951

as Garman

Behave Yourself!

1951

as Fat Freddy

Lux Video Theatre

1950

as Detective Yates

Sure As Fate

1950

Night and the City

1950

as Philip Nosseross

Robert Montgomery Presents

1950

The Red Danube

1949

as Colonel Humphrey 'Blinker' Omicron

Christopher Columbus

1949

as Francisco de Bobadilla

Lights Out

1949

Suspense

1949

Joan of Arc

1948

as Pierre Cauchon, Count-Bishop of Beauvais

Studio One

1948

as Herod Antipas

Studio One

1948

as Long John Silver

The Philco Television Playhouse

1948

The Winslow Boy

1948

as Attorney General

Oliver Twist

1948

as Mr. Bumble

Broken Journey

1948

as Anton Perami

Take My Life

1947

as Prosecuting Counsel

The Man Within

1947

as Mr. Braddock

Great Expectations

1946

as Mr. Jaggers

Caesar and Cleopatra

1945

as Pothinus

Fiddlers Three

1944

as Nero

The Butler's Dilemma

1943

as Leo Carrington

The Lady from Lisbon

1942

as Minghetti

The Foreman Went to France

1942

as French Skipper

The Day Will Dawn

1942

as Kommandant Ulrich Wettau

'Pimpernel' Smith

1941

as General von Graum

21 Days Together

1940

as Mander

Young Man's Fancy

1939

as Blackbeard, Vincent St George

The Four Just Men

1939

as Leon Poiccard

The Ware Case

1938

as Attorney General

Climbing High

1938

as Madman

The Citadel

1938

as Ben Chenkin

The Drum

1938

as Governor

Kate Plus Ten

1938

as Lord Flamborough

Fine Feathers

1937

as Hugo Steinway

Dinner at the Ritz

1937

as Brogard

Non-Stop New York

1937

as Hugo Brant

Action for Slander

1937

as Sir Quinton Jessops (as Francis Sullavan)

Spy of Napoleon

1936

as Chief of Police

Her Last Affaire

1935

as Sir Julian Weyre

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

1935

as Rev. Mr. Septimus Crisparkle

Strange Wives

1934

as Bellamy

Cheating Cheaters

1934

as Dr. George Brockton

Great Expectations

1934

as Jaggers

What Happened Then?

1934

as Richard Bentley, Prosecution Counsel

The Warren Case

1934

as Prosecuting Counsel (uncredited)

Chu Chin Chow

1934

as The Caliph

The Return of Bulldog Drummond

1934

as Carl Peterson

The Fire Raisers

1934

as Stedding

Red Wagon

1933

as Cranley

The Wandering Jew

1933

as Juan de Texada (Phase IV)

Called Back

1933

as Kaledin

F.P.1

1933

as A Sailor

The Right to Live

1933

as Roger Stoneham

When London Sleeps

1932

as Rodney Haines

The Chinese Puzzle

1932

as Herman Strumm

The Missing Rembrandt

1932

as Baron von Guntermann

Destiny