Richard Basehart

Acting · Born 1914-08-31 in Zanesville, Ohio, USA

Biography

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…

Filmography

  • La Strada as Il 'Matto'
  • Being There as Vladimir Skrapinov
  • Moby Dick as Ishmael
  • The Swindle as Carlo
  • Decision Before Dawn as Lt. Dick Rennick
  • He Walked by Night as Roy Martin / Roy Morgan
  • The Island of Dr. Moreau as Sayer of the Law
  • Tension as Warren Quimby
  • Reign of Terror as Maximilian Robespierre
  • The Satan Bug as Dr. Gregor Hoffman

TV