George Sanders

For other people named George Sanders, see George Sanders (disambiguation).

George Sanders
Portrait of Sanders by Allan Warren, 1972
Born	(1906-07-03)3 July 1906 Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died	25 April 1972(1972-04-25) (aged 65) Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain
Alma mater	Manchester Technical College
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1929–1972
Spouse(s)	Susan Larson ​ ​ (m. 1940; div. 1949)​ Zsa Zsa Gabor ​ ​ (m. 1949; div. 1954)​ Benita Hume ​ ​ (m. 1959; died 1967)​ Magda Gabor ​ ​ (m. 1970; div. 1971)​
Partner(s)	Lorraine Chanel (1968–72; his death)
Relatives	Tom Conway (brother)

George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous characters. He is remembered for his roles as Jack Favell in Rebecca (1940), Scott ffolliott in Foreign Correspondent (1940, a rare heroic part), The Saran of Gaza in Samson and Delilah (1949), the most popular film of the year, Addison DeWitt in All About Eve (1950, for which he won an Oscar), Sir Brian De Bois-Guilbert in Ivanhoe (1952), King Richard the Lionheart in King Richard and the Crusaders (1954), Mr. Freeze in a two-parter episode of Batman (1966), the voice of Shere Khan in Disney's The Jungle Book (1967), the suave crimefighter The Falcon during the 1940s (a role eventually bequeathed to his elder brother, Tom Conway), and Simon Templar, The Saint, in five films made in the 1930s and 1940s.

Early life

Sanders was born on 3 July 1906 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, at number 6 Petrovski Ostrov. His parents were Henry Peter Ernest Sanders (1868–1960), and Margarethe Jenny Bertha Sanders (née Kolbe; 1883–1967), who was born in Saint Petersburg, of mostly German, but also Estonian and Scottish, ancestry. A biography published in 1990 claimed that Sanders' father was the illegitimate son of a prince of the House of Oldenburg and a Russian noblewoman of the Tsar’s court, married to a sister of the Tsar. Actor Tom Conway (1904–1967) was George Sanders' elder brother. Their younger sister, Margaret Sanders, was born in 1912.

In 1917, at the outbreak of the Russian Revolution, Sanders and his family moved to Great Britain. Like his brother, he attended Bedales School and Brighton College, a boys' independent school in Brighton, then went on to Manchester Technical College, after which he worked in textile research.

Sanders travelled to South America, where he managed a tobacco plantation. The Depression sent him back to Britain. He worked at an advertising agency, where the company secretary, aspiring actress Greer Garson, suggested that he take up a career in acting.

Career

In the trailer for Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940)

Early British work

Sanders learned how to sing and got a role on stage in Ballyhoo, which only had a short run, but helped establish him as an actor.

He began to work regularly on the British stage, appearing several times with Edna Best. He co-starred with Dennis King in The Command Performance. He appeared in a British film, Love, Life and Laughter (1934).

Sanders travelled to New York to appear on Broadway in a production of Noël Coward's Conversation Piece (1934), directed by Coward, which only ran for 55 performances.

He returned to Britain, where he had small parts in films such as Things to Come (1936), Strange Cargo (1936), Find the Lady (1936), The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936), and Dishonour Bright (1936).

Hollywood and 20th Century Fox

Some of these British films were distributed by 20th Century Fox, which was looking for an actor to play a villain in its Hollywood-shot film Lloyd's of London (1936). Sanders was duly cast as Lord Everett Stacy, opposite Tyrone Power, in one of his first leads, as the hero; Sanders' smooth, upper-class English accent, his sleek manner, and his suave, superior, and somewhat threatening air made him in demand for American films for years to come. Lloyd's of London was a big hit, and in November 1936, Fox placed Sanders under a seven-year contract. Fox cast him opposite Power again in Love Is News (1937), then he supported Wallace Beery in Slave Ship (1937) and Gloria Stuart in The Lady Escapes (1937).

Public response to Sanders had been strong, so Fox gave him his first heroic lead, in the B picture Lancer Spy (1937) with Dolores del Río. Del Río and he were promptly reteamed in International Settlement (1938). Sanders was second-billed (to Richard Greene) in John Ford's Four Men and a Prayer (1938), and Fox had him play a villain in Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1939).

Sanders returned to Britain to make The Outsider (1939) for Associated British Picture Corporation and So This Is London (1939) for Fox.

The Saint, The Falcon, and character roles

Sanders returned to Hollywood, where RKO wanted him to play the hero in a series of B-movies, The Saint. The Saint in New York (1938) had already been made starring Louis Hayward in the title role, but when he decided not to return to the role, Sanders took over for The Saint Strikes Back (1939). Sanders was now being cast as international villains: in Mr. Moto's Last Warning, Confessions of a Nazi Spy, Nurse Edith Cavell, and Allegheny Uprising (all 1939).

RKO sent Sanders to Britain, where its British unit (including director John Paddy Carstairs) filmed The Saint in London (1939). He played a double role in The Saint's Double Trouble (1940), then went to Universal for Green Hell (1940) and The House of the Seven Gables (1940).

Alfred Hitchcock cast him in a supporting role for Rebecca (1940), a huge success. After The Saint Takes Over (1940), Hitchcock used him again in Foreign Correspondent (1940).

MGM used him as a villain in Bitter Sweet (1940), and he performed a similar function for Edward Small in The Son of Monte Cristo (1940). Sanders made his last appearance as Simon Templar in The Saint in Palm Springs (1941), then MGM called him back for Rage in Heaven (1941), an early film noir, playing the trustworthy good guy whose best friend, Robert Montgomery, goes murderously insane and sets him up for the rap.

Sanders was a Nazi in Man Hunt (1941), but heroic in Sundown (1941).

The Falcon

RKO had been in dispute with Leslie Charteris, creator of The Saint, so they stopped the series and put Sanders in a new B picture series about a suave crimefighter, The Falcon. The first entry was The Gay Falcon (1941). It was popular and quickly followed by A Date with the Falcon (1942).

At Fox, he was in Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake (1942) with Tyrone Power, then it was back to The Falcon Takes Over (1942), based on Farewell, My Lovely.

MGM used him in Her Cardboard Lover (1942), and he was one of several stars in Tales of Manhattan (1942).

Sanders tired of playing The Falcon, so he handed the role to his brother Tom Conway in The Falcon's Brother (1942), in which both appeared (and Sanders' character was killed off). The only other film in which the two siblings appeared together was Death of a Scoundrel (1956), in which they also played brothers.

A-picture leading man

Sanders was borrowed by United Artists to play the lead in an A film, The Moon and Sixpence (1942), based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham.

In July 1942, Fox suspended him for refusing the lead in The Undying Monster (1942). "I like to be seen in pictures that at least seem to be slightly worthwhile." In September, they suspended him again for refusing an "unsympathetic role" in The Immortal Sergeant (he was replaced by Morton Lowry). In November, Fox and Sanders came to terms, with the studio offering him a raise in pay and the lead in a film, School for Saboteurs, which became They Came to Blow Up America. Sanders was a pirate villain in The Black Swan (1943), again fighting Tyrone Power, at Fox; the same studio used him in Quiet Please, Murder (1943).

RKO called him back for This Land Is Mine (1943). They bought an original story for him, Nine Lives, but it does not appear to have been made. He was lent to Columbia for Appointment in Berlin (1943).

In February 1943, Fox announced it was developing three film projects for Sanders – The Porcelain Lady, a murder mystery, plus biopics of the Earl of Suffolk and Bethune. Fox originally announced him to play the role of the detective in Laura (1944) alongside Laird Cregar, but neither ended up being in the final film. Fox finished his long-term contract with the studio in Paris After Dark (1943) and The Lodger (1944), playing the romantic lead to Laird Cregar's title villain.

RKO

Sanders signed a new three-film contract with RKO, starting with Action in Arabia (1944). After starring as a tragic Russian judge in Summer Storm (1944), Fox called him back to do a Lodger follow-up with Cregar, Hangover Square (1945).

Sanders played Lord Henry Wotton in the film version of The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) at MGM, and had the lead in The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1946) at Universal. He did three films for United Artists: A Scandal in Paris (1946), The Strange Woman (1946), and The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (1947). Sanders was the third lead in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) at Fox, supporting Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. After playing the lead in Lured (1947), Fox cast him as Charles II in its expensive Forever Amber (1949). The same studio used him in The Fan (1949). He was a villain in Cecil B. DeMille's biblical epic Samson and Delilah (1949), the most popular film of the year.

All About Eve and beyond

As Addison DeWitt in the trailer for All About Eve (1950)

For his role as the acerbic, cold-blooded theatre critic Addison DeWitt in All About Eve (1950), Sanders won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He was a leading man in Black Jack (1950), but was back to supporting/villain roles in I Can Get It for You Wholesale (1951). He signed a three-picture deal with MGM, for which he did The Light Touch (1951) and Ivanhoe (1952), playing Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert and dying in a duel with Robert Taylor after professing his love for Jewish maiden Rebecca, played by Elizabeth Taylor. It was a huge success.

He followed it with Assignment – Paris! (1952), a thriller; Call Me Madam (1953), a rare musical role for Sanders; and Witness to Murder (1954). He starred as King Richard the Lionheart in King Richard and the Crusaders (1954).

Sanders went to Italy to appear opposite Ingrid Bergman in Journey to Italy (1954). Back in Hollywood, he made several movies for MGM: Jupiter's Darling (1955), Moonfleet (1955), The Scarlet Coat (1955), and The King's Thief (1955) (again as Charles II).

In 1955, he was announced as hosting and occasionally appearing in The Ringmaster, a TV series about the circus. The series was never made. Instead, Sanders was in "A Portrait of a Murderer" on The 20th Century-Fox Hour, a remake of Laura (1944), playing the role of Waldo Lydecker, made famous by Clifton Webb.

Sanders was then usually a supporting actor: Never Say Goodbye (1956), While the City Sleeps (1956), That Certain Feeling (1956). On television Sanders appeared with his wife Zsa Zsa Gabor in The Ford Television Theatre ("Autumn Fever"), and he had roles in Screen Directors Playhouse.

Sanders played the lead in Death of a Scoundrel (1956) and the TV series The George Sanders Mystery Theater (1957).

Sanders was in The Seventh Sin (1957), The Whole Truth (1958), From the Earth to the Moon (1958), and That Kind of Woman (1959). He was seen on TV in Schlitz Playhouse, Studio 57, and Decision.

He worked one last time with Power on Solomon and Sheba (1959); Power died during filming and was replaced by Yul Brynner.

Sanders was in A Touch of Larceny (1960) and The Last Voyage (1960). He had a rare lead in Bluebeard's Ten Honeymoons (1960) then after Cone of Silence (1960) had the star part in Village of the Damned (1960), a surprise hit.

Then, it was back to supporting parts: Five Golden Hours (1961), Erik the Conqueror (1961), The Rebel (1961), Operation Snatch (1962), In Search of the Castaways (1962). On TV he guest starred on Goodyear Theatre, Alcoa Theatre, General Electric Theater, and Checkmate.

Sanders was top-billed in Cairo (1963), then appeared in The Cracksman (1963), Dark Purpose (1964), and The Golden Head (1964). Peter Sellers and Sanders appeared together in The Pink Panther sequel A Shot in the Dark (1964). Sanders had earlier inspired Sellers's character Hercules Grytpype-Thynne in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show (1951–60).

Sanders guest-starred in The Rogues, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and Daniel Boone. He played an upper-crust English villain, G. Emory Partridge, in two episodes of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in 1965, "The Gazebo in the Maze Affair" and "The Yukon Affair". He also portrayed Mr. Freeze in two episodes of the live-action TV series Batman, both shown in February 1966.

In films, he was in Last Plane to Baalbek (1965), Trunk to Cairo (1965), The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965), The Quiller Memorandum (1966), Warning Shot (1967), and Good Times (1967) with Sonny and Cher.

Sanders's last significant performance was voicing the malevolent Bengal tiger Shere Khan in the Walt Disney production of The Jungle Book (1967).

Sanders declared bankruptcy in 1966 due to some poor investments.

Final films

After being top-billed in The Body Stealers (1967), Sanders was in One Step to Hell (1968), another version of Laura (1968) (again as Waldo), The Girl from Rio (1968), The Candy Man (1969), and The Best House in London (1969).

He had a supporting role in John Huston's The Kremlin Letter (1969), in which his first scene showed him dressed in drag and playing the piano in a gay bar in San Francisco. In 1969, he announced he was leaving show business.

He continued to act, though; his final roles were "Fade Out" with Stanley Baker on ITV Sunday Night, The Night of the Assassin (1970), Mission: Impossible ("The Merchant"), Rendezvous with Dishonour (1971); Doomwatch (1972), a feature-film version of a contemporary BBC television series; Endless Night (1972), and Psychomania (1973).

Novels

Two ghostwritten crime novels were published under his name to cash in on his fame at the height of his wartime film series. The first was Crime on My Hands (1944), written in the first person, and mentioning his Saint and Falcon films. This was followed by Stranger at Home in 1946. Both were written by female authors: the former was by Craig Rice, and the latter by Leigh Brackett.

Singing

As Lord Henry Wotton in the trailer for The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)

In 1958, Sanders recorded an album called The George Sanders Touch: Songs for the Lovely Lady. The album, released by ABC-Paramount Records, featured lush string arrangements of romantic ballads, crooned by Sanders in a fit baritone/bass (spanning from low to middle C), including "Such is My Love", a song he had himself composed. After going to great lengths to get the role, he appeared in the Broadway cast of South Pacific, but was overwhelmed with anxiety over the singing and quickly dropped out. His singing voice can be heard in The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry, Summer Storm, and Call Me Madam. He also signed on for the role of Sheridan Whiteside in the stage musical Sherry! (1967), based on Kaufman and Hart's play The Man Who Came to Dinner, but he found the stage production demanding and quit after his wife Benita Hume discovered that she had terminal bone cancer.

During the production of The Jungle Book, Sanders was unavailable to provide the singing voice for his character Shere Khan during the final recording of the song, "That's What Friends Are For". According to Richard Sherman, Bill Lee, a member of The Mellomen, was called in to substitute for Sanders.

Personal life

On 27 October 1940, Sanders married Susan Larson (real name Elsie Poole). The couple divorced in 1949. From later that year until 1954, Sanders was married to Zsa Zsa Gabor, with whom he starred in the film Death of a Scoundrel (1956). On 10 February 1959, Sanders married Benita Hume, widow of Ronald Colman. She died of bone cancer in 1967, aged 60, the same year that Sanders's brother Tom Conway died of liver failure. Sanders had become distant from his brother because of Conway's drinking problem. Sanders endured a further blow in the same year with the death of their mother Margarethe.

Sanders' autobiography Memoirs of a Professional Cad was published in 1960 and gained critical praise for its wit. Sanders suggested the title A Dreadful Man for his biography, later written by his friend Brian Aherne and published in 1979. Sanders's fourth and last marriage on 4 December 1970 was to Magda Gabor, the elder sister of his second wife. This marriage lasted only 32 days, after which he began drinking heavily.

Final years and death

Sanders as Captain Billy Leech in The Black Swan (1942)

Sanders suffered from dementia in the last few years of his life, worsened by waning health, and visibly teetered in his last films, owing to a loss of balance. Even before his dementia, Sanders had grown increasingly reclusive and depressed due to a string of tragedies including the deaths of his third wife, his mother, and his brother Tom in the space of a year, followed by a failed sausage investment, which cost him millions, dementia diagnosis, a quick divorce from his fourth wife, and a volatile on-off relationship over four years with another woman. According to Aherne's biography, he also had a minor stroke. Sanders could not bear the prospect of losing his health or needing help to carry out everyday tasks, and became deeply depressed. About this time, he found that he could no longer play his grand piano, so he dragged it outside and smashed it with an axe. His last girlfriend, Lorraine Chanel, with whom he had an on-off relationship in the last four years of his life, persuaded him to sell his beloved house in Majorca, Spain, which he later bitterly regretted. From then on, he drifted.

On 23 April 1972, Sanders checked into a hotel in Castelldefels, a coastal town near Barcelona, where he phoned his friend George Mikell. He died from cardiac arrest two days later after swallowing the contents of five bottles of the barbiturate Nembutal. He left behind two suicide notes, one of which read:

Dear World, I am leaving because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool. Good luck.

Sanders's body was returned to Britain for funeral services. He was cremated, and his ashes were scattered in the English Channel.

David Niven wrote in Bring on the Empty Horses (1975), the second volume of his memoirs, that in 1937, his friend George Sanders had predicted that he would commit suicide from a barbiturate overdose when he was 65, and that in his 50s, he had appeared to be depressed because his marriages had failed and several tragedies had befallen him.

Sanders has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for films at 1636 Vine Street and television at 7007 Hollywood Boulevard.

In popular culture

The Kinks' 1972 single Celluloid Heroes, released eight months after Sanders' death, pays tribute to the actor with the lyric "If you covered him with garbage, George Sanders would still have style."

Complete filmography

Year	Film	Role	Director	Notes
1934	Love, Life and Laughter	Singer in Public Bar	Maurice Elvey	uncredited
1936	Things to Come	Pilot	William Cameron Menzies	uncredited
1936	Strange Cargo	Roddy Burch	Lawrence Huntington
1936	Find the Lady	Curly Randall	Roland Grillette
1936	The Man Who Could Work Miracles	Indifference	Lothar Mendes
1936	Dishonour Bright	Lisle	Tom Walls
1936	Lloyd's of London	Lord Everett Stacy	Henry King
1937	Love Is News	Count Andre de Guyon	Tay Garnett
1937	Slave Ship	Lefty	Tay Garnett
1937	The Lady Escapes	Rene Blanchard	Eugene Forde
1937	Lancer Spy	Baron Kurt von Rohback / Lt. Michael Bruce	Gregory Ratoff
1938	International Settlement	Del Forbes	Eugene Forde
1938	Four Men and a Prayer	Wyatt Leigh	John Ford
1939	Mr. Moto's Last Warning	Eric Norvel	Norman Foster
1939	The Outsider	Anton Ragatzy	Paul L. Stein
1939	So This Is London	Dr. de Reseke	Thornton Freeland
1939	The Saint Strikes Back	The Saint	John Farrow	Simon Templar
1939	Confessions of a Nazi Spy	Schlager	Anatole Litvak
1939	The Saint in London	Simon Templar / The Saint	John Paddy Carstairs
1939	Nurse Edith Cavell	Capt. Heinrichs	Lloyd Richards (assistant)
1939	Allegheny Uprising	Capt. Swanson	William A. Seiter
1940	The Saint's Double Trouble	Simon Templar aka The Saint / 'Boss' Duke Bates	Jack Hively
1940	Green Hell	Forrester	James Whale
1940	The House of the Seven Gables	Jaffrey Pyncheon	Joe May
1940	Rebecca	Jack Favell	Alfred Hitchcock
1940	The Saint Takes Over	Simon Templar / The Saint	Jack Hively
1940	Foreign Correspondent	Scott ffolliott	Alfred Hitchcock
1940	Bitter Sweet	Baron von Tranisch	W. S. Van Dyke
1940	The Son of Monte Cristo	Gen. Gurko Lanen	Rowland V. Lee
1941	The Saint in Palm Springs	Simon Templar / The Saint	Jack Hively
1941	Rage in Heaven	Ward Andrews	Richard Thorpe
1941	Man Hunt	Major Quive-Smith	Fritz Lang
1941	Sundown	Coombes	Henry Hathaway
1941	The Gay Falcon	Gay Laurence / The Falcon	Irving Reis
1942	A Date with the Falcon	Gay Laurence / The Falcon	Irving Reis
1942	Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake	Sir Arthur Blake	John Cromwell
1942	The Falcon Takes Over	Gay Lawrence / The Falcon	Irving Reis
1942	Her Cardboard Lover	Tony Barling	George Cukor
1942	Tales of Manhattan	Williams	Julien Duvivier
1942	The Falcon's Brother	Gay Lawrence / The Falcon	Stanley Logan
1942	The Moon and Sixpence	Charles Strickland	John E. Burch (assistant)
1942	The Black Swan	Capt. Billy Leech	Henry King
1942	Quiet Please, Murder	Jim Fleg	John Larkin
1943	This Land Is Mine	George Lambert	Jean Renoir
1943	They Came to Blow Up America	Carl Steelman / Ernst Reiter	Edward Ludwig
1943	Appointment in Berlin	Wing Cmdr. Keith Wilson	Alfred E. Green
1943	Paris After Dark	Dr. Andre Marbel	Léonide Moguy
1944	The Lodger	Inspector John Warwick	John Brahm
1944	Action in Arabia	Michael Gordon	Leonide Moguy
1944	Summer Storm	Fedor Mikhailovich Petroff	Douglas Sirk
1945	Hangover Square	Dr. Allan Middleton	John Brahm
1945	The Picture of Dorian Gray	Lord Henry Wotton	Albert Lewin
1945	The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry	Harry Melville Quincey	Robert Siodmak
1946	A Scandal in Paris	Eugène François Vidocq	Douglas Sirk
1946	The Strange Woman	John Evered	Edgar G. Ulmer
1947	The Private Affairs of Bel Ami	Georges Duroy	Albert Lewin
1947	The Ghost and Mrs. Muir	Miles Fairley	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
1947	Lured	Robert Fleming	Douglas Sirk
1947	Forever Amber	King Charles II	Otto Preminger
1949	The Fan	Lord Robert Darlington	Otto Preminger
1949	Samson and Delilah	The Saran of Gaza	Cecil B. DeMille
1950	All About Eve	Addison DeWitt	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
1950	Black Jack	Mike Alexander	Julien Duvivier
1951	I Can Get It for You Wholesale	J.F. Noble	Michael Gordon
1951	The Light Touch	Felix Guignol	Richard Brooks
1952	Ivanhoe	De Bois-Guilbert	Richard Thorpe
1952	Assignment as Paris!	Nicholas Strang
1953	Call Me Madam	General Cosmo Constantine	Walter Lang
1954	Witness to Murder	Albert Richter	Roy Rowland
1954	King Richard and the Crusaders	King Richard I	David Butler
1954	Journey to Italy	Alexander 'Alex' Joyce	Roberto Rossellini
1955	Jupiter's Darling	Fabius Maximus	George Sidney
1955	Moonfleet	Lord Ashwood	Fritz Lang
1955	The Scarlet Coat	Dr. Jonathan Odell	John Sturges
1955	The King's Thief	Charles II	Hugo Fregonese (uncredited)
1956	Never Say Goodbye	Victor	Jerry Hopper
1956	While the City Sleeps	Mark Loving	Fritz Lang
1956	That Certain Feeling	Larry Larkin	Melvin Frank
1956	Death of a Scoundrel	Clementi Sabourin	Charles Martin
1957	The Seventh Sin	Tim Waddington	Ronald Neame
1959	Rock-A-Bye Baby	Danny Poole (1959)	Frank Tashlin	scenes cut
1958	The Whole Truth	Carliss	John Guillermin
1958	From the Earth to the Moon	Stuyvesant Nicholl	Byron Haskin
1959	That Kind of Woman	A.L.	Sidney Lumet
1959	Solomon and Sheba	Adonijah	King Vidor
1960	A Touch of Larceny	Sir Charles Holland	Guy Hamilton
1960	The Last Voyage	Captain Robert Adams	Andrew L. Stone
1960	Bluebeard's Ten Honeymoons	Henri Landru	W. Lee Wilder
1960	Cone of Silence	Sir Arnold Hobbes	Charles Frend
1960	Village of the Damned	Gordon Zellaby	Wolf Rilla
1961	The Rebel	Sir Charles Brewer	Robert Day	film
1961	Five Golden Hours	Mr. Bing	Mario Zampi
1961	Le Rendez-vous	J.K. / Kellermann
1962	Operation Snatch	Maj. Hobson	Robert Day
1962	In Search of the Castaways	Thomas Ayerton	Robert Stevenson
1963	Cairo	The Major	Wolf Rilla
1963	The Cracksman	Guv'nor	Peter Graham Scott
1964	Dark Purpose	Raymond Fontaine	George Marshall
1964	The Golden Head	Basil Palmer	James Hill
1964	A Shot in the Dark	Benjamin Ballon	Blake Edwards
1965	Last Plane to Baalbeck	Prince Makowski	Hugo Fregonese
1965	The Golden Head	Basil Palmer	James Hill
1965	The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders	The Banker	Terence Young
1965	Trunk to Cairo	Professor Schlieben	Menahem Golan
1966	The Quiller Memorandum	Gibbs	Michael Anderson
1966	Witchdoctor in Tails
1967	Warning Shot	Calvin York	Buzz Kulik
1967	Good Times	Mordicus / Knife McBlade / White hunter / Zarubian	William Friedkin
1967	The Jungle Book	Shere Khan, the Tiger	Wolfgang Reitherman	voice
1968	Laura	Waldo Lydecker		TV movie
1968	King of Africa	Captain Walter Phillips
1969	The Candy Man	Sidney Carter	Herbert J. Leder
1969	The Girl from Rio	Masius	Jesús Franco
1969	The Body Stealers	General Armstrong	Gerry Levy
1969	The Best House in London	Sir Francis Leybourne	Philip Saville
1970	The Kremlin Letter	Warlock	John Huston
1970	Rendezvous with Dishonour	General Downes	Adriano Bolzoni
1972	Doomwatch	Sir Geoffrey	Peter Sasdy
1972	Endless Night	Andrew Lippincott	Sidney Gilliat
1973	Psychomania	Shadwell	Don Sharp	final film role

Television

• Screen Directors Playhouse (1956) as Charles Ferris / Baron
• Ford Star Jubilee "You're the Top" (1956)
• The George Sanders Mystery Theater (1957)
• What's My Line? 15 September 1957 (Episode No. 380) (season 9, episode 3) Mystery Guest
• The Rogues (1965) as Leonard Carvel
• Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea "The Traitor" (1965) as Fenton
• The Man From U.N.C.L.E. "The Gazebo in the Maze Affair" and "The Yukon Affair" (1965) as G. Emory Partridge
• Daniel Boone (1966) as Col. Roger Barr
• Batman (1966) as Mr. Freeze
• Mission: Impossible - The Merchant (1971) as Armand Anderssarian

Broadway

• Conversation Piece, at the 44th Street Theatre, 1934

Notes

^ a: Nicholas II's sister Olga Alexandrovna married Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg, but he was born in 1868, and therefore could not have been the father of Henry Sanders.

References

Bibliography

• Aherne, Brian. A Dreadful Man: The Story of Hollywood's Most Original Cad, George Sanders. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979. ISBN 0-671-24797-2.
• McNally, Peter. Bette Davis: The Performances that made her Great. Jefferson North Carolina: McFarland, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7864-3499-2.
• Niven, David. The Moon's A Balloon. London: Dell Publishing, 1983. ISBN 978-0-440-15806-6.
• Sanders, George. Memoirs of a Professional Cad: The Autobiography of George Sanders. London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1960. ISBN 0-8108-2579-1.
• VanDerBeets, Richard. George Sanders: An Exhausted Life. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Madison Books, 1990. ISBN 0-8191-7806-3.

Further reading

• Alistair, Rupert (2018). "George Sanders". The Name Below the Title : 65 Classic Movie Character Actors from Hollywood's Golden Age (softcover) (First ed.). Great Britain: Independently published. pp. 237–239. ISBN 978-1-7200-3837-5.

External links

• George Sanders at IMDb
• George Sanders at the Internet Broadway Database
• George Sanders at the BFI's Screenonline
• George Sanders at the TCM Movie Database