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George Zucco

 
Actor: George Zucco
  • Born: Jan 11, 1886 in Manchester, England
  • Died: May 28, 1960 in Hollywood, California
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '30s-'40s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Mystery
  • Career Highlights: My Favorite Blonde, Sherlock Holmes in Washington, Sudan
  • First Major Screen Credit: London by Night (1937)

Biography

Born in England, George Zucco launched his theatrical career in Canada in 1908. During his first decade as a performer, Zucco toured in American vaudeville with his wife, Frances, in a sketch entitled "The Suffragette." He established himself as a leading actor in England in the 1920s, entering films with 1931's The Dreyfus Case. Zucco returned to the U.S. in 1935 to play Disraeli opposite Helen Hayes in Victoria Regina. He came to Hollywood to re-create his stage role in the film version of Autumn Crocus (1937), remaining to play mostly minor roles for the next two years. He finally found his villainous niche in the role of the erudite but deadly Professor Moriarity in 1939's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Throughout the 1940s, Zucco apparently took every role that was offered him, playing mad scientists, master criminals, and occasional red herrings in films ranging from Universal's The Mad Ghoul (1943) to PRC's Fog Island (1945). He played the fanatical Egyptian priest Anhodeb in 1940's The Mummy's Hand, and, though supposedly killed in that film, showed up none the worse for wear in the 1942 sequel The Mummy's Tomb. His quirkiest horror role was as a gas station attendant who doubled as a kidnapper and voodoo drum-thumper in Monogram's incredible Voodoo Man (1944). When not scaring the daylights out of his audience, Zucco could be found playing roles requiring quiet whimsy, notably the detective in Lured (1947) and the judge in Let's Dance (1950). After completing his final, unbilled film assignment in David and Bathsheba (1951), George Zucco completely disappeared from view; seriously ill for many years, he died in a Hollywood sanitarium at the age of 74. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: George Zucco
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George Zucco
Born George Desylla Zucco
January 11, 1886(1886-01-11)
Manchester, England, UK
Died May 27, 1960 (aged 74)
Hollywood, California, U.S.
Occupation Actor
Years active 1931–1951

George Desylla Zucco[1] (January 11, 1886 – May 27, 1960) was an English character actor who appeared, almost always in supporting roles, in 96 films during a career spanning two decades, from 1931 to 1951.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Zucco was born in Manchester, England to a Greek merchant father and an English mother who was a former lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria.[1] He debuted on the Canadian stage in 1908. He and his wife Frances toured the American vaudeville circuit during the 1910s, their satirical sketch about suffragettes earning them renown. He returned to Britain, and served as a lieutenant in the British Army's West Yorkshire Regiment during World War I.[2] He became a leading stage actor of the 1920s, and made his film debut in 1931, playing Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac in The Dreyfus Case, an early British re-telling of the Dreyfus Affair.

Career

Zucco returned to the U.S.A. in 1935 to play Benjamin Disraeli alongside Helen Hayes in Victoria Regina, and appeared with Gary Cooper and George Raft in Souls at Sea (1937). His best known film role was that of Professor Moriarty in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939), opposite Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes.

During the 1940s, he took every role he was offered, landing himself in B-movies and Universal horror films, including The 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), and Tarzan 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 a Nazi spy.

He retired due to illness, after playing a bit part in David and Bathsheba in 1951. Kenneth Anger in his book Hollywood Babylon II claimed that Zucco died in a madhouse, convinced that he was being haunted by H.P. Lovecraft's creation Cthulhu. However, he died of pneumonia and is interred in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery.

References

  1. ^ a b Feramisco, Thomas M. (2003). The Mummy Unwrapped. McFarland. pp. 164. ISBN0786413689. 
  2. ^ Ancestry.com. British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2008.

External links


 
 
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The Black Raven (1943 Mystery Film)
Harbor of Missing Men (1950 Crime Film)
Lured (1947 Thriller Film)

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