About

Known credits:
62
Birthday:
1903-01-06
Place of birth:
Wandsworth, London, England, UK
Website:
N/A

Francis L. Sullivan

Overview

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.

Known for

Acting
1996 Ingrid Bergman Remembered Actor Self (archive footage) 59
Average
1955 Hell's Island Actor Barzland 58
Average
1955 The Prodigal Actor Bosra 58
Average
1954 Drums of Tahiti Actor Commissioner Pierre Duvois N/A
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1953 Plunder of the Sun Actor Thomas Berrien 58
Average
1953 Sangaree Actor Dr. Bristol 58
Average
1952 Caribbean Actor Andrew McAllister 58
Average
1952 Pontius Pilate Actor Herod Antipas N/A
N/A
1951 My Favorite Spy Actor Karl Brubaker 58
Average
1951 Behave Yourself! Actor Fat Freddy 59
Average
1950 Sure As Fate Actor N/A
N/A
1950 Night and the City Actor Philip Nosseross 64
Fair
1949 The Red Danube Actor Colonel Humphrey 'Blinker' Omicron 58
Average
1949 Christopher Columbus Actor Francisco de Bobadilla 59
Average
1948 Joan of Arc Actor Pierre Cauchon, Count-Bishop of Beauvais 59
Average
1948 The Winslow Boy Actor Attorney General 59
Average
1948 Oliver Twist Actor Mr. Bumble 63
Fair
1948 Broken Journey Actor Anton Perami 59
Average
1947 Take My Life Actor Prosecuting Counsel 59
Average
1947 The Man Within Actor Mr. Braddock 59
Average
1946 Great Expectations Actor Mr. Jaggers 64
Fair
1946 The Laughing Lady Actor Sir Williams Tremayne 58
Average
1945 Caesar and Cleopatra Actor Pothinus 59
Average
1944 Fiddlers Three Actor Nero 59
Average
1943 The Butler's Dilemma Actor Leo Carrington 58
Average
1942 The Lady from Lisbon Actor Minghetti 59
Average
1942 The Foreman Went to France Actor French Skipper 59
Average
1942 The Day Will Dawn Actor Kommandant Ulrich Wettau 58
Average
1941 'Pimpernel' Smith Actor General von Graum 59
Average
1940 21 Days Together Actor Mander 58
Average
1939 Young Man's Fancy Actor Blackbeard, Vincent St George 58
Average
1939 The Four Just Men Actor Leon Poiccard 59
Average
1938 The Ware Case Actor Attorney General 58
Average
1938 Climbing High Actor Madman 59
Average
1938 The Citadel Actor Ben Chenkin 59
Average
1938 The Drum Actor Governor 59
Average
1938 Kate Plus Ten Actor Lord Flamborough N/A
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1937 Fine Feathers Actor Hugo Steinway N/A
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1937 Dinner at the Ritz Actor Brogard 59
Average
1937 Non-Stop New York Actor Hugo Brant 59
Average
1937 Action for Slander Actor Sir Quinton Jessops (as Francis Sullavan) N/A
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1936 Spy of Napoleon Actor Chief of Police N/A
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1936 A Woman Alone Actor Prosecutor 58
Average
1935 Her Last Affaire Actor Sir Julian Weyre N/A
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1935 The Mystery of Edwin Drood Actor Rev. Mr. Septimus Crisparkle 58
Average
1934 Strange Wives Actor Bellamy N/A
N/A
1934 Cheating Cheaters Actor Dr. George Brockton N/A
N/A
1934 Great Expectations Actor Jaggers 58
Average
1934 What Happened Then? Actor Richard Bentley, Prosecution Counsel 58
Average
1934 The Warren Case Actor Prosecuting Counsel (uncredited) 58
Average
1934 Chu Chin Chow Actor The Caliph 58
Average
1934 The Return of Bulldog Drummond Actor Carl Peterson 59
Average
1934 The Fire Raisers Actor Stedding 58
Average
1933 Red Wagon Actor Cranley N/A
N/A
1933 The Wandering Jew Actor Juan de Texada (Phase IV) 59
Average
1933 Called Back Actor Kaledin N/A
N/A
1933 F.P.1 Actor A Sailor 59
Average
1933 The Right to Live Actor Roger Stoneham N/A
N/A
1932 When London Sleeps Actor Rodney Haines N/A
N/A
1932 The Chinese Puzzle Actor Herman Strumm N/A
N/A
1932 The Missing Rembrandt Actor Baron von Guntermann N/A
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Destiny Actor N/A
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