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.
Known For
Credits
- 2004 · Los Angeles Plays Itself as Roy Morgan/Roy Martin in He Walked By Night (archive footage)
- 2002 · The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller as Cpl. Denno (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1985 · Knight Rider: Halloween Knight as Narrator
- 1982 · Bix: Ain't None of Them Play Like Him Yet as Self
- 1982 · Knight Rider as Wilton Knight
- 1982 · Knight Rider: Knight of the Phoenix as Wilton Knight
- 1982 · Egypt: Quest for Eternity as Narrator (Self)
- 1981 · Mr. Merlin as
- 1981 · Masada as Narrator
- 1980 · Marilyn: The Untold Story as Johnny Hyde
- 1979 · Being There as Vladimir Skrapinov
- 1979 · Land of Celtic Ghosts as Himself
- 1979 · The Rebels as Duke of Kentland
- 1979 · Tales of the Unexpected as Slade
- 1979 · Planet Mars as Narrator
- 1978 · The Great Bank Hoax as Manny Benchly
- 1978 · Vega$ as
- 1978 · W.E.B. as
- 1978 · The Critical List as Matt Kinsella
- 1978 · A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court as King Arthur
- 1977 · The Love Boat as Stan Ellis
- 1977 · The Island of Dr. Moreau as Sayer of the Law
- 1977 · Flood! as John Cutler
- 1977 · Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model? as Elliott Osborn
- 1976 · 21 Hours at Munich as Willy Brandt
- 1976 · Mansion of the Doomed as Dr. Leonard Chaney
- 1976 · Time Travelers as Dr. Joshua Henderson (1871)
- 1975 · Valley Forge as
- 1975 · Joe Forrester as
- 1975 · Medical Story as
- 1975 · Judgment: The Court Martial of Lt. William Calley as George Latimer
- 1974 · Little House on the Prairie as
- 1973 · Maneater as Carl Brenner
- 1973 · The Birdmen as Schiller
- 1973 · ...And Millions Die! as Dr Douglas Pruitt
- 1972 · Rage as Dr. Roy Caldwell
- 1972 · The Bounty Man as Angus Keough
- 1972 · The Streets of San Francisco as
- 1972 · Chato's Land as Nye Buell
- 1972 · Assignment: Munich as Maj. Barney Caldwell
- 1971 · The Death of Me Yet as Robert Barnes
- 1971 · Columbo as Nicholas Framer
- 1971 · City Beneath the Sea as The President
- 1971 · They've Killed President Lincoln! as Host / Narrator
- 1970 · The Andersonville Trial as Henry Wirz
- 1970 · Sole Survivor as Brig. Gen. Russell Hamner
- 1969 · Hans Brinker as Dr. Boeker
- 1969 · Love Is a Funny Thing as Acteur
- 1969 · Marcus Welby, M.D. as Professor Andrew Kirkcastle
- 1968 · Hawaii Five-O as Murdock
- 1968 · The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich as Narrator
- 1967 · Ironside as Noel Seymour
- 1965 · National Geographic Specials as Narrator (voice)
- 1965 · The Satan Bug as Dr. Gregor Hoffman
- 1965 · Let My People Go: The Story of Israel as Narrator (voice)
- 1964 · Trial at Nuremberg as Narrator
- 1964 · Four Days In November as Narrator (voice)
- 1964 · Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as Adm. Harriman Nelson
- 1963 · Kings of the Sun as Ah Min
- 1963 · The Yanks Are Coming as Narrator (voice)
- 1963 · Arrest and Trial as
- 1962 · Combat! as Capt. Steiner
- 1962 · The Alfred Hitchcock Hour as Philip Townsend
- 1962 · The Alfred Hitchcock Hour as Miles Crawford
- 1962 · Hitler as Adolf Hitler
- 1961 · The Savage Guns as Steve Fallon
- 1961 · Ben Casey as
- 1960 · Visa to Canton as Don Benton
- 1960 · Route 66 as
- 1960 · For the Love of Mike as Father Phelan
- 1960 · Portrait in Black as Howard Mason
- 1960 · Five Branded Women as Eric Reinhardt
- 1959 · The Ambitious One as George Rancourt
- 1959 · The Twilight Zone as Adam Cook
- 1959 · Jons und Erdme as Wittkuhn
- 1959 · Rawhide as Tod Stone
- 1958 · Love and Troubles as Paolo Martelli
- 1958 · Naked City as Lester Bergson
- 1958 · The Brothers Karamazov as Ivan Karamazov
- 1957 · Time Limit as Maj. Harry Cargill
- 1957 · Miracles of Thursday as Martino
- 1956 · Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre as David Manning
- 1956 · Moby Dick as Ishmael
- 1956 · Finger of Guilt as Reginald 'Reggie' Wilson
- 1956 · The Extra Day as Joe Blake
- 1955 · The Swindle as Picasso
- 1955 · The Golden Vein as Ing. Stefano Manfredi
- 1955 · Gunsmoke as Captain Aron Sligo
- 1955 · Cartouche as Il conte Jacques de Maudy
- 1955 · Canyon Crossroads as Larry Kendall
- 1954 · La Strada as Il 'Matto'
- 1954 · Jailbirds as Doctor Stefano Luprandi
- 1954 · The Good Die Young as Joe Halsey
- 1954 · The Stranger's Hand as Joe Hamstringer
- 1953 · Titanic as George S. Headley
- 1951 · Hallmark Hall of Fame as Conway
- 1951 · Hallmark Hall of Fame as General Washington
- 1951 · Decision Before Dawn as Lt. Dick Rennick
- 1951 · Fixed Bayonets! as Cpl. Denno
- 1951 · The House on Telegraph Hill as Alan Spender
- 1951 · Fourteen Hours as Robert Cosick
- 1950 · Outside the Wall as Larry Nelson
- 1949 · Tension as Warren Quimby
- 1949 · Reign of Terror as Maximilian Robespierre
- 1949 · Roseanna McCoy as Mounts Hatfield
- 1949 · He Walked by Night as Roy Martin / Roy Morgan
- 1948 · Studio One as Matt Donovan
- 1947 · Cry Wolf as James Caldwell Demarest
- 1947 · Repeat Performance as William Williams