Francis L. Sullivan

Birthday: 1903-01-06
Deathday: 1956-11-19
Birthplace: Wandsworth, London, England, UK
Gender: Male
Owned By: Unowned

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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Credits

Year Title Character
1955-05-06 Hell's Island Barzland
1955-05-06 The Prodigal Bosra
1954-04-23 Drums of Tahiti Commissioner Pierre Duvois
1953-08-26 Plunder of the Sun Thomas Berrien
1953-05-17 Sangaree Dr. Bristol
1952-09-01 Caribbean Andrew McAllister
1952-04-07 Pontius Pilate Herod Antipas
1951-12-25 My Favorite Spy Karl Brubaker
1951-09-22 Behave Yourself! Fat Freddy
1950-06-15 Night and the City Philip Nosseross
1949-10-14 The Red Danube Colonel Humphrey 'Blinker' Omicron
1949-10-12 Christopher Columbus Francisco de Bobadilla
1948-12-22 Joan of Arc Pierre Cauchon, Count-Bishop of Beauvais
1948-09-24 The Winslow Boy Attorney General
1948-06-28 Oliver Twist Mr. Bumble
1948-04-14 Broken Journey Anton Perami
1947-05-30 Take My Life Prosecuting Counsel
1947-05-19 The Man Within Mr. Braddock
1946-12-26 Great Expectations Mr. Jaggers
1946-10-16 The Laughing Lady Sir Williams Tremayne
1945-12-11 Caesar and Cleopatra Pothinus
1944-10-01 Fiddlers Three Nero
1943-11-29 The Butler's Dilemma Leo Carrington
1942-09-01 The Lady from Lisbon Minghetti
1942-06-22 The Foreman Went to France French Skipper
1942-06-08 The Day Will Dawn Kommandant Ulrich Wettau
1941-07-28 'Pimpernel' Smith General von Graum
1940-01-07 21 Days Together Mander
1939-07-31 Young Man's Fancy Blackbeard, Vincent St George
1939-06-01 The Four Just Men Leon Poiccard
1938-12-02 The Ware Case Attorney General
1938-10-31 Climbing High Madman
1938-10-29 The Citadel Ben Chenkin
1938-09-29 The Drum Governor
1938-03-17 Kate Plus Ten Lord Flamborough
1937-12-26 Fine Feathers Hugo Steinway
1937-11-26 Dinner at the Ritz Brogard
1937-09-13 Non-Stop New York Hugo Brant
1937-07-21 Action for Slander Sir Quinton Jessops (as Francis Sullavan)
1936-09-09 Spy of Napoleon Chief of Police
1936-05-19 A Woman Alone Prosecutor
1935-10-21 Her Last Affaire Sir Julian Weyre
1935-02-04 The Mystery of Edwin Drood Rev. Mr. Septimus Crisparkle
1934-11-30 Strange Wives Bellamy
1934-11-05 Cheating Cheaters Dr. George Brockton
1934-10-22 Great Expectations Jaggers
1934-09-24 What Happened Then? Richard Bentley, Prosecution Counsel
1934-07-30 The Warren Case Prosecuting Counsel (uncredited)
1934-05-01 Chu Chin Chow The Caliph
1934-04-19 The Return of Bulldog Drummond Carl Peterson
1934-01-22 The Fire Raisers Stedding
1933-12-06 Red Wagon Cranley
1933-11-15 The Wandering Jew Juan de Texada (Phase IV)
1933-06-05 Called Back Kaledin
1933-04-02 F.P.1 A Sailor
1933-01-01 The Right to Live Roger Stoneham
1932-07-22 When London Sleeps Rodney Haines
1932-03-21 The Chinese Puzzle Herman Strumm
1932-02-12 The Missing Rembrandt Baron von Guntermann