Richard Basehart

Richard Basehart

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Richard Basehart (August 31, 1914 – September 17, 1984) was an American actor. He starred in the 1960s television science fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in the role of Admiral Harriman Nelson. One of his most notable film roles was the acrobat known as "the Fool" in the acclaimed Italian film La strada directed by Federico Fellini. He also appeared as the killer in the film noir classic He Walked by Night (1948), as a psychotic member of the Hatfield clan in Roseanna McCoy (1949), as Ishmael in Moby Dick (1956), and in the drama Decision Before Dawn (1951). He was married to Italian Academy Award-nominated actress Valentina Cortese, with whom he had one son before their divorce in 1960. Cortese and Basehart also costarred in Robert Wise's The House on Telegraph Hill (1951). Basehart was also noted for his deep, distinctive voice and was prolific as a narrator of many television and movie projects ranging from features to documentaries. In 1980, Basehart narrated the mini-series written by Peter Arnett called Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War that covered Vietnam and its battles from the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945 to the final American embassy evacuation on April 30, 1975. He appeared in the pilot episode of the television series Knight Rider as billionaire Wilton Knight. He is the narrator at the beginning of the show's credits. In 1971, Basehart played "Captain Sligo", a comical Irishman with a pet buffalo who negotiates a flawed but legal cattle purchase and unconventionally courts a widow with two children, played by Salome Jens, in CBS's western series, Gunsmoke, with James Arness. Basehart appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-O, and as Hannibal Applewood, an abusive schoolteacher in Little House on the Prairie in 1976. In 1972, he appeared in the Columbo episode Dagger of the Mind in which he and Honor Blackman played a husband-and-wife theatrical team who were loose parodies of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. In the feature realm, he played a supporting role as a doctor in Rage (1972), a theatrical feature starring and directed by George C. Scott. He made a few TV movies including Sole Survivor (1970) and The Birdmen (1971). Both were based on true stories during World War II. He died at age 70 following a series of strokes. One month before his death, Basehart was an announcer for the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Description above from the Wikipedia article Richard Basehart, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Los Angeles Plays Itself
2004
Roy Morgan/Roy Martin in He Walked By Night (archive footage)
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
2002
Cpl. Denno (archive footage) (uncredited)
Knight Rider: Knight of the Phoenix
1982
Wilton Knight
Bix: Ain't None of Them Play Like Him Yet
1982
Self
Egypt: Quest for Eternity
1982
Narrator (Self)
Marilyn: The Untold Story
1980
Johnny Hyde
Being There
1979
Vladimir Skrapinov
The Rebels
1979
Duke of Kentland
Land of Celtic Ghosts
1979
Himself
Planet Mars
1979
Narrator
The Great Bank Hoax
1978
Manny Benchly
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
1978
King Arthur
The Island of Dr. Moreau
1977
Sayer of the Law
Flood!
1977
John Cutler
Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model?
1977
Elliott Osborn
Mansion of the Doomed
1976
Dr. Leonard Chaney
21 Hours at Munich
1976
Willy Brandt
Time Travelers
1976
Dr. Joshua Henderson (1871)
Judgment: The Court Martial of Lt. William Calley
1975
George Latimer
Valley Forge
1975
The Birdmen
1973
Schiller
Maneater
1973
Carl Brenner
...And Millions Die!
1973
Dr Douglas Pruitt
Rage
1972
Dr. Roy Caldwell
Assignment: Munich
1972
Maj. Barney Caldwell
The Bounty Man
1972
Angus Keough
Chato's Land
1972
Nye Buell
City Beneath the Sea
1971
The President
The Death of Me Yet
1971
Robert Barnes
Sole Survivor
1970
Brig. Gen. Russell Hamner
The Andersonville Trial
1970
Henry Wirz
Hans Brinker
1969
Dr. Boeker
Love Is a Funny Thing
1969
Acteur
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
1968
Narrator
Jacqueline Susann and the Valley of the Dolls
1967
The Satan Bug
1965
Dr. Gregor Hoffman
Let My People Go: The Story of Israel
1965
Narrator (voice)
Four Days In November
1964
Narrator (voice)
Trial at Nuremberg
1964
Narrator
Kings of the Sun
1963
Ah Min
Hitler
1962
Adolf Hitler
The Savage Guns
1961
Steve Fallon
Portrait in Black
1960
Howard Mason
Visa to Canton
1960
Don Benton
Five Branded Women
1960
Eric Reinhardt
For the Love of Mike
1960
Father Phelan
The Ambitious One
1959
George Rancourt
The Brothers Karamazov
1958
Ivan Karamazov
Love and Troubles
1958
Paolo Martelli
Time Limit
1957
Maj. Harry Cargill
Miracles of Thursday
1957
Martino
Moby Dick
1956
Ishmael
The Intimate Stranger
1956
Reginald 'Reggie' Wilson
The Extra Day
1956
Joe Blake
The Swindle
1955
Carlo
Canyon Crossroads
1955
Larry Kendall
Cartouche
1955
Il conte Jacques de Maudy
The Golden Vein
1955
Ing. Stefano Manfredi
La Strada
1954
Il 'Matto'
The Good Die Young
1954
Joe Halsey
The Stranger's Hand
1954
Joe Hamstringer
Jailbirds
1954
Doctor Stefano Luprandi
Titanic
1953
George S. Headley
Decision Before Dawn
1951
Lt. Dick Rennick
The House on Telegraph Hill
1951
Alan Spender
Fixed Bayonets!
1951
Cpl. Denno
Fourteen Hours
1951
Robert Cosick
Outside the Wall
1950
Larry Nelson
He Walked by Night
1949
Roy Martin / Roy Morgan
Tension
1949
Warren Quimby
Reign of Terror
1949
Maximilian Robespierre
Roseanna McCoy
1949
Mounts Hatfield
Repeat Performance
1947
William Williams
Cry Wolf
1947
James Caldwell Demarest