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 doublechin and a deep voice Sullivan made his acting debut at the Old Vic aged 18 in Shakespeares 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 Dickenss 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 Londons 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 Shaws 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 Description above from the Wikipedia article Francis L Sullivan licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia