Richard Basehart

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Richard Basehart
Born	John Richard Basehart August 31, 1914(1914-08-31) Zanesville, Ohio USA
Died	September 17, 1984 (aged 70) Los Angeles, California
Spouse(s)	Stephanie Klein (1940–1950) Valentina Cortese (1951–1960) Diana Lotery (1962–1984)

John Richard Basehart (August 31, 1914 – September 17, 1984) was an American actor. He starred in the 1960s television science fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in the role of Admiral Harriman Nelson.

One of his most notable film roles was the acrobat known as "the Fool" in the acclaimed Italian film La strada directed by Federico Fellini. He also appeared as the killer in the film noir classic He Walked by Night (1948), as a psychotic member of the Hatfield clan in Roseanna McCoy (1949), as Ishmael in Moby Dick (1956), and in the drama Decision Before Dawn (1951). He was married to Italian Academy Award-nominated actress Valentina Cortese, with whom he had one son before their divorce in 1960. Cortese and Basehart also costarred in Robert Wise's The House on Telegraph Hill (1951).

Basehart was also noted for his deep, distinctive voice and was prolific as a narrator of many television and movie projects ranging from features to documentaries. In 1980, Basehart narrated the mini-series written by Peter Arnett called Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War that covered Vietnam and its battles from the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945 to the final American embassy evacuation on April 30, 1975. He appeared in the pilot episode of the television series Knight Rider as billionaire Wilton Knight. He is the narrator at the beginning of the show's credits. He also appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-0, and as Hannibal Applewood, an abusive school teacher in Little House on the Prairie in 1976. He also appeared in the 1972 episode Columbo: Dagger of the Mind in which he and Honor Blackman played a husband-and-wife theatrical team who were loose parodies of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. In the feature realm, he played a supporting role as a doctor in Rage (1972), a theatrical feature starring and directed by George C. Scott.

Basehart had also done a few movies made for TV including Sole Survivor (1970) and The Birdmen (1971). Both were based on true stories during World War II.

He died at age 70 following a series of strokes. One month before his death, Basehart was an announcer for the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

He had been married three times. After the death of his first wife Stephanie Klein, he wed Italian actress Valentina Cortese (whose name was spelled Cortesa in American films). After their divorce, Basehart married Diana Lotery, with whom he founded the charity 'Actors and Others for Animals'.

[edit] Legacy in popular culture

Basehart had a notable fan in the character of Gypsy from the cult cable television program Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Basehart is mentioned in the song "The Radio Is Broken" on the 1983 Frank Zappa album The Man from Utopia.

[edit] Partial filmography

[edit] External links

• Richard Basehart at the Internet Movie Database
• Richard Basehart at Allmovie
• Official site, with biography and filmography.
• "The Birdmen" movie fan website, Information about the movie.

Persondata
NAME	Basehart, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Basehart, John Richard
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Actor
DATE OF BIRTH	1914-8-31
PLACE OF BIRTH	Zanesville, Ohio USA
DATE OF DEATH	1984-9-17
PLACE OF DEATH	Los Angeles, California