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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Movies (60)
Ingrid Bergman Remembered
1996 · Self (archive footage)
Hell's Island
1955 · Barzland
The Prodigal
1955 · Bosra
Drums of Tahiti
1954 · Commissioner Pierre Duvois
Plunder of the Sun
1953 · Thomas Berrien
Sangaree
1953 · Dr. Bristol
Caribbean
1952 · Andrew McAllister
Pontius Pilate
1952 · Herod Antipas
My Favorite Spy
1951 · Karl Brubaker
Behave Yourself!
1951 · Fat Freddy
Night and the City
1950 · Philip Nosseross
The Red Danube
1949 · Colonel Humphrey 'Blinker' Omicron
Christopher Columbus
1949 · Francisco de Bobadilla
Joan of Arc
1948 · Pierre Cauchon, Count-Bishop of Beauvais
The Winslow Boy
1948 · Attorney General
Oliver Twist
1948 · Mr. Bumble
Broken Journey
1948 · Anton Perami
Take My Life
1947 · Prosecuting Counsel
The Man Within
1947 · Mr. Braddock
Great Expectations
1946 · Mr. Jaggers
The Laughing Lady
1946 · Sir Williams Tremayne
Caesar and Cleopatra
1946 · Pothinus
Fiddlers Three
1944 · Nero
The Butler's Dilemma
1943 · Leo Carrington
The Lady from Lisbon
1942 · Minghetti
The Foreman Went to France
1942 · French Skipper
The Day Will Dawn
1942 · Kommandant Ulrich Wettau
"Pimpernel" Smith
1941 · General von Graum
21 Days
1940 · Mander
Young Man's Fancy
1939 · Blackbeard, Vincent St George
The Four Just Men
1939 · Leon Poiccard
The Ware Case
1938 · Attorney General
Climbing High
1938 · Madman
The Citadel
1938 · Ben Chenkin
The Drum
1938 · Governor
Kate Plus Ten
1938 · Lord Flamborough
Fine Feathers
1937 · Hugo Steinway
Dinner at the Ritz
1937 · Brogard
Non-Stop New York
1937 · Hugo Brant
Action for Slander
1937 · Sir Quinton Jessops (as Francis Sullavan)
Spy of Napoleon
1936 · Chief of Police
A Woman Alone
1936 · Prosecutor
Her Last Affaire
1935 · Sir Julian Weyre
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
1935 · Rev. Mr. Crisparkle
Strange Wives
1934 · Bellamy
Cheating Cheaters
1934 · Dr. George Brockton
Great Expectations
1934 · Jaggers
What Happened Then?
1934 · Richard Bentley, Prosecution Counsel
The Warren Case
1934 · Prosecuting Counsel (uncredited)
Chu Chin Chow
1934 · The Caliph
The Return of Bulldog Drummond
1934 · Carl Peterson
The Fire Raisers
1934 · Stedding
Red Wagon
1933 · Cranley
The Wandering Jew
1933 · Juan de Texada (Phase IV)
Called Back
1933 · Kaledin
F.P.1
1933 · A Sailor
The Right to Live
1933 · Roger Stoneham
When London Sleeps
1932 · Rodney Haines
The Chinese Puzzle
1932 · Herman Strumm
The Missing Rembrandt
1932 · Baron von Guntermann
TV shows (13)
General Electric Theater
1953 · Captain William Bligh
Cavalcade of America
1952
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951 · Garman
Lux Video Theatre
1950 · Detective Yates
Sure As Fate
1950
Robert Montgomery Presents
1950
Lights Out
1949
Suspense
1949
Studio One
1948 · Herod Antipas, Long John Silver
The Philco Television Playhouse
1948
The Ed Sullivan Show
1948 · Self
Theatre Parade
1936 · Hercule Poirot
Destiny