Basil Sydney

Basil Sydney (23 April 1894 – 10 January 1968) was an English stage and screen actor born in St. Osyth, England. His career spanned both sides of the Atlantic, with significant work on the London stage, Broadway, and in film.

Sydney first gained recognition in 1915 through the London stage production of Romance, written by Edward Sheldon, in which he appeared alongside Broadway star Doris Keane. He and Keane married in 1918 and reunited on screen for the 1920 silent film adaptation of the same play. When Keane brought a revival of Romance to New York City in 1921, Sydney made his Broadway debut in the production, launching a stage career in America that would last more than a decade.

During his years in New York, Sydney took on a wide range of classical and dramatic roles. He played Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and Domin in R.U.R., both in 1922, followed by Richard Dudgeon in The Devil's Disciple in 1923. That same year he took on the title role in Hamlet, a production among his Broadway credits. He continued with Prince Hal in Henry IV, Part I in 1926 and Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew in 1927. His Broadway appearances through 1933 also included The Dark, Jewel Robbery, and Children of Darkness.

Sydney divorced Keane in 1925. He married actress Mary Ellis in 1929, and the couple subsequently relocated to England. He later married English film actress Joyce Howard, with whom he had three children.

Back in England, Sydney appeared in the West End murder mystery Blondie White in 1937 and starred opposite Flora Robson in A Man About the House at the Piccadilly Theatre in 1946. His screen work accumulated to more than 50 appearances, among them the role of Claudius in Laurence Olivier's 1948 film of Hamlet, as well as parts in Treasure Island (1950), Ivanhoe (1952), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1956). Sydney died from pleurisy on 10 January 1968 at the age of 73, having been a heavy smoker throughout his life.