Francis L. Sullivan

DOB: 1903-01-06

DOD: 1956-11-19

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.

Starred In

1933
Movie

The Wandering Jew

1948
Movie

Oliver Twist

1949
Movie

The Red Danube

1946
Movie

Great Expectations

1948
Movie

Joan of Arc

1941
Movie

'Pimpernel' Smith

1940
Movie

21 Days Together

1955
Movie

Hell's Island

1950
Movie

Night and the City

1938
Movie

The Citadel

1953
Movie

Plunder of the Sun

1948
Movie

The Winslow Boy

1951
Movie

My Favorite Spy

1947
Movie

Take My Life

1954
Movie

Drums of Tahiti

1933
Movie

Called Back

1944
Movie

Fiddlers Three

1953
Movie

Sangaree

1939
Movie

The Four Just Men

1948
Movie

Broken Journey

1937
Movie

Non-Stop New York

1938
Movie

The Drum

1933
Movie

Red Wagon

1952
Movie

Caribbean

1936
Movie

Spy of Napoleon

1938
Movie

The Ware Case

1933
Movie

F.P.1

1934
Movie

Strange Wives

1938
Movie

Kate Plus Ten

1937
Movie

Action for Slander

1932
Movie

When London Sleeps

1934
Movie

Chu Chin Chow

1934
Movie

The Fire Raisers

1938
Movie

Climbing High

1942
Movie

The Day Will Dawn

1934
Movie

The Warren Case

1934
Movie

Cheating Cheaters

1932
Movie

The Chinese Puzzle

1933
Movie

The Right to Live

1935
Movie

Her Last Affaire

1955
Movie

The Prodigal

1952
Movie

Pontius Pilate

1934
Movie

Great Expectations

1951
Movie

Behave Yourself!

1937
Movie

Dinner at the Ritz

1947
Movie

The Man Within

1939
Movie

Young Man's Fancy

1937
Movie

Fine Feathers

1946
Movie

The Laughing Lady

1936
Movie

A Woman Alone

1948
Tv

Studio One

1949
Tv

Suspense

1949
Tv

Lights Out

1950
Tv

Sure As Fate

NaN
Tv

Destiny

1948
Tv

Studio One