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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Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 9.782 |
Birthday | 1903-01-06 |
Place of Birth | Wandsworth, London, England, UK |
Also Known As | Френсис Л. Салливан, Фрэнсис Л. Салливан, Francis Loftus Sullivan, |
1948
Oliver Twist
7.5/214
When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Esc...
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Oliver Twist
1945
Caesar and Cleopatra
6.148/54
The aging Caesar finds himself intrigued by the young Egyptian queen. Adapted by George Bernard Shaw from his own play.
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Caesar and Cleopatra
1946
Great Expectations
7.3/317
In this Dickens adaptation, orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman....
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Great Expectations
1949
The Red Danube
6.3/9
A Russian ballerina in Vienna tries to flee KGB agents and defect.
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The Red Danube
1948
Joan of Arc
6.2/72
In the 15th Century, France is a defeated and ruined nation after the One Hundred Years War against England. The fourteen-year-old farm girl Joan of A...
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Joan of Arc
1941
'Pimpernel' Smith
7.1/24
Eccentric Cambridge archaeologist Horatio Smith takes a group of British and American archaeology students to pre-war Nazi Germany to help in his exca...
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'Pimpernel' Smith
1940
21 Days Together
6.1/26
After Larry Darrent accidentally kills his lover's blackmailing husband, someone else is arrested for the crime. When he is found guilty, Larry and Wa...
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21 Days Together
1955
Hell's Island
5.4/11
Down-on-his-luck Mike Cormack is hired to fly to a Caribbean island to retrieve a missing ruby. On the island, possibly involved with the ruby's disap...
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Hell's Island
1950
Night and the City
7.461/241
Londoner Harry Fabian is a second-rate con man looking for an angle. After years of putting up with Harry's schemes, his girlfriend, Mary, becomes fed...
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Night and the City
1938
The Citadel
6.3/26
Andrew Manson, a young, idealistic, newly qualified Scottish doctor arrives in Wales takes his first job in a mining town, and begins to wonder at the...
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The Citadel
1935
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
5.5/10
A choirmaster addicted to opium and obsessed with a beautiful young woman will stop at nothing to possess her.
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The Mystery of Edwin Drood
1953
Plunder of the Sun
6/14
An American insurance adjuster, stranded in Havana, becomes involved with an archaeologist and a collector of antiquities in a hunt for treasure in th...
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Plunder of the Sun
1948
The Winslow Boy
6.9/25
In pre-WW1 England, a youngster is expelled from a naval academy over a petty theft, but his parents raise a political furor by demanding a trial.
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The Winslow Boy
1951
My Favorite Spy
5.971/17
A burlesque comic doubles for a spy in Tangier and meets the spy's girlfriend, who is also a spy.
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My Favorite Spy
1934
The Return of Bulldog Drummond
6.094/16
Bulldog Drummond forms a gang to rescue his wife and thwart his nemesis, Carl Peterson.
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The Return of Bulldog Drummond
1947
Take My Life
7.2/6
When her husband is wrongly accused of murder, an opera singer sets out to find the real culprit.
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Take My Life
1954
Drums of Tahiti
0/0
A smuggler (Dennis O'Keefe) buys a bride (Patricia Medina) in San Francisco to help him run guns in 1877 Tahiti.
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Drums of Tahiti
1949
Christopher Columbus
5.7/12
Christopher Columbus overcomes intrigue at the Spanish court and convinces Queen Isabella that his plan to reach the East by sailing west is practical...
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Christopher Columbus
1944
Fiddlers Three
8.2/4
Two British soldiers and a WREN take refuge at Stonehenge during a thunderstorm, they are struck by lightning and transported back to ancient Rome.
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Fiddlers Three
1953
Sangaree
6.4/8
Lamas plays an indentured servant who rises to power in Georgia shortly after the Revolutionary War.
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Sangaree
1942
The Lady from Lisbon
6/1
When she learns that the Nazis have confiscated Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece Mona Lisa, art-loving South American wanna-be spy Tamara (Jane Carr) j...
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The Lady from Lisbon
1939
The Four Just Men
6.2/4
The Four Men of the title are British WWI veterans who decide to work secretly against enemies of the country. They aren't above a bit of murder or sa...
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The Four Just Men
1948
Broken Journey
6/7
A plane flying over the Swiss Alps develops engine trouble and is forced to crash-land on a glacier. Unable to radio for help because of damaged batte...
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Broken Journey
1937
Non-Stop New York
6.3/9
A young woman finds herself as the intended victim of a murder plot on a transatlantic flight from London to New York.
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Non-Stop New York
1938
The Drum
5.737/19
Set in the India of the British Raj, the evil and untrustworthy Prince Guhl (Raymond Massey) plans to wipe out the British troops as they enjoy the ho...
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The Drum
1933
Red Wagon
0/0
Adapted from Lady Eleanor Smith’s novel, this 1934 feature tells the story of Joe Prince, an orphan child of circus people who, after many struggles,...
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Red Wagon
1952
Caribbean
5.8/5
Francis Barclay, a former member of the British Admiralty, who was captured in the early 1700s, and sold into slavery, by Andrew McAllister, and force...
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Caribbean
1933
F.P.1
6.3/7
Urged by famous airman Ellissen the Lennartz Company puts into reality the project proposed by his friend Droste: F.P.1, a huge floating platform in t...
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F.P.1
1938
The Ware Case
6.3/3
An aristocrat won't economize, then his rich brother in law is found murdered in the grounds of the aristocrat's house
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The Ware Case
1938
Kate Plus Ten
0/0
Kate is secretary to Lord Flamborough. But she is also leader of a criminal gang. Can Mike Pemberton catch her red-handed?
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Kate Plus Ten
1937
Action for Slander
0/0
A bankrupt officer, accused of cheating at cards, defends his honour with a writ.
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Action for Slander
1932
When London Sleeps
0/0
Slippery Rodney Haines runs a high-class gambling joint in Hampstead, while elsewhere in London Lamberti's Fair for the less-well-off is on its last l...
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When London Sleeps
1934
Chu Chin Chow
4.3/3
Musical retelling of the "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves" Arabian Nights tale.
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Chu Chin Chow
1938
Climbing High
6.5/1
Wealthy Nicky finds himself engaged to gold-digger Lady Constance, but he really loves scatty model Diana. Complications, slapstick and mountaineering...
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Climbing High
1943
The Butler's Dilemma
4.5/2
Rodney Playfair is persuaded, by a promise to meet his gambling debts, to impersonate a manservant named Chapman at his fiancée's house...
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The Butler's Dilemma
1942
The Day Will Dawn
5.6/5
Sports journalist Colin Metcalfe is picked for the job of foreign correspondent in Norway when Hitler invades Poland. On the way to Langedal his boat...
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The Day Will Dawn
1934
The Fire Raisers
4.8/6
Jim Bronton is an insurance investigator, but he's unhappy with his work and gets involved with a gang of arsonists. His conscience is troubling him ....
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The Fire Raisers
1934
The Warren Case
5/1
Chided by his boss for a conspicuous lack of sensational stories, Lewis Bevan takes matters into his own hands to revive his flagging career.
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The Warren Case
1934
What Happened Then?
5/3
Young Raymond Rudford,sculptor, is on trial for slitting the throat of his uncle, who had adopted and raised him after Raymond's parent's died when he...
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What Happened Then?
1934
Cheating Cheaters
0/0
The Palmers, an apparently wealthy family, move into the house next door to the Lazarres. However, the Palmers are actually a gang of thieves plotting...
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Cheating Cheaters
1932
The Chinese Puzzle
0/0
A Mandarin takes the blame when the wife of his friend's son steals secret papers.
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The Chinese Puzzle
1932
The Missing Rembrandt
0/0
Holmes goes on the trail of a Rembrandt painting, stolen by a drug-addicted artist.
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The Missing Rembrandt
1933
The Right to Live
0/0
A shady financier tries to acquire a new chemical
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The Right to Live
1935
Her Last Affaire
0/0
Desperate to prove his father innocent of treason, a secretary arranges a clandestine assignation with his employer's wife in order to get the proof h...
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Her Last Affaire
1955
The Prodigal
4/6
A wealthy young Hebrew traveling in Damascus renounces his faith after he is seduced by an alluring pagan priestess and cheated of his fortune by the...
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The Prodigal
1952
Pontius Pilate
0/0
The story, set 15 years after the Crucifixion, of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, who is depicted as a victim of circumstances.
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Pontius Pilate
1934
Great Expectations
6.2/4
A young boy, Pip, encounters an escaped prisoner, Magwitch, and steals food for him. After the convict is captured, Pip meets the reclusive Miss Havis...
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Great Expectations
1942
The Foreman Went to France
6.2/9
Based on the true story of Melbourne Johns, an aircraft factory foreman sent to France to prevent the Nazis getting hold of some vital equipment.
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The Foreman Went to France
1951
Behave Yourself!
6/14
A young man takes in a dog that turns out to be wanted by mobsters.
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Behave Yourself!
1937
Dinner at the Ritz
5.5/4
The daughter of a murdered financier works as a jewelry salesperson while she tracks her father's colleagues who plotted against him.
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Dinner at the Ritz
1947
The Man Within
5.7/3
A man goes on the run from hardened smugglers.
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The Man Within
1939
Young Man's Fancy
5.8/6
An aristocrat falls in love with a human cannonball
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Young Man's Fancy
1936
Spy of Napoleon
0/0
Exiled French patriot helps to find the men who want to betray emperor Napoleon III by selling military secrets to the German government.
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Spy of Napoleon
1933
The Wandering Jew
7.6/5
Old Jerusalem: Matathias, spiteful over his lover's illness, spits on Jesus along the road to Calvary, and is cursed to live endlessly until His retur...
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The Wandering Jew
1933
Called Back
0/0
'Spain. Revolutionary doctor foiled by blind man and amnesiac girl.' (British Film Catalogue)
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Called Back
1934
Strange Wives
0/0
When a young man marries a Russian girl, he finds that he has "married" her entire family.
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Strange Wives
1996
Ingrid Bergman Remembered
6.7/6
Her name conjures up beauty, grace, talent and style. One of the greatest actresses of her time, she is best remembered for a natural and vulnerable p...
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