George Zucco | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The Black Raven (1943) | |
| Born | (1886-01-11)11 January 1886 Manchester,Lancashire, England, UK |
| Died | 27 May 1960(1960-05-27) (aged 74) |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park,Hollywood Hills |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1907–1951 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
George Zucco (11 January 1886 – 27 May 1960) was a Britishcharacter actor who appeared in plays and 96 films, mostly American-made, during a career spanning over two decades, from the 1920s to 1951.[1] In his films, he often played a suave villain, a member of nobility, or amad doctor.[2]
George Desylla Zucco was born inManchester,Lancashire, on 11 January 1886.[1][3] His mother Marian (née Rintoul) ran a dressmaking business. His father, George De Sylla Zucco, was a Greek merchant fromCorfu who became a naturalised British subject in 1865.[4][2][5]
Zucco debuted on the Canadian stage in 1908 in astock theater company.[6]
He returned to the UK and served as a lieutenant in theBritish Army'sWest Yorkshire Regiment during the First World War.[7] He lost the use of two fingers when he was shot in the right arm in France. When the war ended, he studied at theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art and later taught there.[6]
He became a leading stage actor of the 1920s, and made his film debut asEugène Godefroy Cavaignac inThe Dreyfus Case (1931), a British film dramatising theDreyfus Affair.
Zucco returned to the United States in 1935 to playBenjamin Disraeli inVictoria Regina,[8] and appeared withGary Cooper andGeorge Raft inSouls at Sea (1937).
He playedProfessor Moriarty inThe Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939), oppositeBasil Rathbone asSherlock Holmes andNigel Bruce asDr. Watson. Zucco earned a reputation as a bespectacled, nefarious character in films such asAfter the Thin Man,Fast Company,Arrest Bulldog Drummond,Charlie Chan in Honolulu,The Cat and the Canary, andMy Favorite Blonde.
During the 1940s, he took every role he was offered, landing himself in B-films andUniversal horror films, includingThe Mummy's Hand (1940),The Mummy's Tomb (1942),The Mad Monster (1942),The Mad Ghoul (1943),Dead Men Walk (1943),The Mummy's Ghost (1944),House of Frankenstein (1944), andTarzan and the Mermaids (1948). He was reunited with Basil Rathbone in another Sherlock Holmes adventure,Sherlock Holmes in Washington, this time playing not Moriarty, but aNazi spy.
After playing a bit part inDavid and Bathsheba (1951), Zucco undertook a role inThe Desert Fox, but suffered a stroke one day on the set, and never significantly recovered (he was replaced byCedric Hardwicke). He suffered from stroke-induced dementia for the rest of his life, and he died on 27 May 1960 frompneumonia in a nursing facility inHollywood, aged 74.[1]
He and his wife, Stella Francis, had a daughter, Frances (1931–1962), who died of throat cancer at age 30, and a grandson, George Zucco (né Canto). Stella Zucco died from natural causes on May 11, 1999, aged 99, inWoodland Hills, California.[9]
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