Born: Sep 19, 1883 in Rock Ferry, Cheshire, England
Died: 1956 ()
Occupation: Actor
Active: '30s
Major Genres: Drama, Comedy
Career Highlights: Pygmalion
First Major Screen Credit: Pygmalion (1938)
Biography
Scott Sunderland spent most of his career on the English stage, taking time out late in his professional life to appear in two classic British films, Pygmalion (1937) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939). Sunderland was born in 1883 and was educated in England and Germany. He made his first professional theatrical appearance at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1909 with the F.R. Benson company as Douglas in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Pt. 2. Sunderland made his London debut that same year, and spent the next 30 years playing in a vast range of roles, from Feste in Twelfth Night to Ulysses S. Grant in Abraham Lincoln. As late as the end of the 1920s, when he was in his late forties, Sunderland evidently still had a good Petruchio in a production of Taming of the Shrew. He was also known for his work in George Bernard Shaw's plays, including the playwright's final work, The Apple Cart. By the end of the 1930s, Sunderland had moved into avuncular, grand old man roles, which led to his casting in Leslie Howard and Anthony Asquith's film Pygmalion as Colonel Pickering, and as Sir John Colley in Sam Wood's Goodbye, Mr. Chips. He made his last major stage appearance in London in May of 1938, in Here's to Our Enterprise, a one-night all-star production based on the life of Henry Irving, as part of the festivities surrounding the Henry Irving Centenary. Sunderland was engaged by the Birmingham Repertory Company from 1942 to 1945, performing in both new works and revivals, and retired in the second half of the decade. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Scott Sunderland (19 September1883, Rock Ferry, Cheshire - 1956) was an English actor. Principally working on the stage, his few film roles included Colonel Pickering in the 1938 film adaptation of Shaw's Pygmalion and Sir John Colley in the 1939 film adaptation of Goodbye, Mr. Chips.
Life
Educated in England and Germany, his first professional theatrical appearance was with the F.R. Benson company at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1909 as Douglas in Henry IV, Part 2, followed later that year with his London debut. Other roles he played during his stage career included Feste in Twelfth Night, Ulysses S. Grant in Abraham Lincoln, Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew' (during his late forties in the late 1920s), and several of George Bernard Shaw's plays (including The Apple Cart, Shaw's last play).
His stage experience of Shaw and his move to 'grand old man' roles by the late 1930s led to his being cast in the 1938 film of Pygmalion as Colonel Pickering and in the 1939 film of Goodbye, Mr. Chips. He appeared in Here's to Our Enterprise, a one-night show in May 1938 based on Henry Irving's life (as part of the celebrations surrounding the centenary of Irving's birth) and, though this marked his last major appearance on the London stage, also performed in revivals and new work for the Birmingham Repertory Company between 1942 and 1945 before retiring in the late 1940s.