George Zucco

Infobox actor
name = George Zucco


caption =
birthdate = January 11, 1886
location = Manchester, England
deathdate = May 28, 1960
notable role =

George Zucco (January 11, 1886–May 28, 1960) was an English character actor who appeared, almost always in supporting roles, in 96 films during a career spanning two decades, from 1931 to 1951.

Biography

Early life

Zucco was born in Manchester, England to a merchant father of Greek descent and a mother who was a former lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria. He debuted on the Canadian stage in 1908. He and his wife Frances toured the American vaudeville circuit during the 1910s, their satirical sketch about suffragettes earning them renown. He returned to Britain and became a leading stage actor of the 1920s, and made his film debut in 1931, playing Jacques Marie Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac in "The Dreyfus Case", an early British re-telling of the Dreyfus Affair.

Career

Zucco returned to the U.S.A. in 1935 to play Benjamin Disraeli alongside Helen Hayes in "Victoria Regina", and appeared with Gary Cooper and George Raft in "Souls at Sea" (1937). His best known film role was that of Professor Moriarty in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (1939), opposite Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes.

During the 1940s, he took every role he was offered, landing himself in B-movies and Universal horror films, including "The Mummy's Hand" (1940), "The Mummy's Tomb" (1942), "The Mad Ghoul" (1943), "The Mummy's Ghost" (1944), "House of Frankenstein" (1944), and "Tarzan and the Mermaids" (1948). He was reunited with Basil Rathbone in another Sherlock Holmes adventure, "Sherlock Holmes in Washington", this time playing not Moriarty, but a Nazi spy.

He retired after playing a bit part in "David and Bathsheba" in 1951 due to illness. He died of pneumonia in a Hollywood hospital.

External links

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Persondata
NAME= Zucco, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Actor
DATE OF BIRTH= January 11, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH= Manchester, England
DATE OF DEATH= May 28, 1960
PLACE OF DEATH=