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Robert Beatty

 
Actor: Robert Beatty
  • Born: Oct 19, 1909 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
  • Died: Mar 03, 1992
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '40s-'70s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Action
  • Career Highlights: The Magic Box, Captain Horatio Hornblower, Odd Man Out
  • First Major Screen Credit: Suspected Person (1943)

Biography

Robert Beatty spent his early adulthood in Canada as a gas-company cashier, salesman and amateur actor. Upon arriving in London, Beatty enrolled at the RADA, making his film debut as an extra and stand-in. During World War II, Beatty achieved fame through his eyewitness radio reports of the nightly London bombings. In most of his postwar film, stage, radio and TV work, Beatty was cast as a rough-hewn American or Canadian. One of his favorite stage roles was rude 'n' crude American junk dealer Harry Brock in Garson Kanin's Born Yesterday. He also played more than his share of detectives, most prominently as radio's Phillip O'Dell, and on the 1958 TV series Dial 999. Beatty was given a chance to demonstrate his versatility in the dual role of a milquetoast British hubby and a slick Italian gangster in Her Favorite Husband (1950). Later film roles included Lord Beaverbrook in The Magic Box (1951), Halvorsen in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and two separate characters in Superman III (1980) and Superman IV (1984). On television, Robert Beatty was seen in the miniseries Jesus of Nazareth (1977, as Proculus) and The Martian Chronicles (1980), and as President Ronald Reagan in the 1987 PBS special Breakthrough at Reykajavik. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Robert Beatty
Born 19 October 1909(1909-10-19)
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Died 3 March 1992 (aged 82)
London, England
Occupation Actor

Robert Beatty (19 October 19093 March 1992) was a Canadian actor who worked in film, television and radio for most of his career and was especially known in the United Kingdom.

Contents

Career

Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Beatty began his acting career in Britain in 1939.

Film

Beatty's film credits include: San Demetrio London (1943), Another Shore (1948), Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951), The Square Ring (1953), The Amorous Prawn (1962), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Where Eagles Dare (1968), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), Superman III (1983), Minder on the Orient Express (1985) and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987).

Television

He appeared in British television shows such as Dial 999 (a co-production between Britain's ABC and the US company Ziv), Doctor Who ("The Tenth Planet" as General Cutler), Blake's 7 ("The Way Back" as Bran Foster), The Gathering Storm, The New Avengers, and Minder. He was in Franco Zeffirelli's TV mini-series Jesus of Nazareth and the American series of Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles. Portrayed Ronald Reagan in Breakthrough at Reykjavik (Granada Television UK 1987).

Radio

Beatty played Philip Odell, a fictional Irish detective created by Lester Powell, between 1947 and 1961. The series debuted on BBC radio with the story "Lady in a Fog" in October 1947. The series was made available to overseas broadcasters by the BBC Transcription Service. His other radio credits included Shadow Man on Radio Luxembourg in 1955, Destination - Fire! on BBC (early 1960s), General Sternwood in a BBC version of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep (1977), Pay Any Price (BBC 1982), The Mystery of the Blue Train (BBC 1985/1986), and as Henry Hickslaughter in Elizabeth Troop's Sony Award winning adaptation of Graham Greene's short story Cheap In August (1993).

Beatty died in London in 1992 and was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium.

Filmography

External links


 
 

 

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