Basil Sydney

Basil Sydney 23 April 1894 10 January 1968 was an English stage and screen actor Sydney made his name in 1915 in the London stage hit Romance by Edward Sheldon with Broadway star Doris Keane and he costarred with Keane in the 1920 silent film of the play The couple married in 1918 and when Keane revived Romance in New York City in 1921 Sydney made his Broadway debut in the parts He stayed in New York for over a decade playing classical roles such as Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet 1922 Richard Dudgeon in The Devils Disciple 1923 the title role in Hamlet 1923 Prince Hal in Henry IV Part I 1926 and Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew 1927citation needed In 1937 he starred in the murder mystery Blondie White in the West End He made over 50 screen appearances most memorably as Claudius in Laurence Oliviers 1948 film of Hamlet He also appeared in classic films like Treasure Island 1950 Ivanhoe 1952 and Around the World in Eighty Days 1956 but the focus of his career was the stage on both sides of the Atlantic