Richard Basehart
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 (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. In 1971, Basehart played "Captain Sligo", a comical Irishman with a pet buffalo who negotiates a flawed but legal cattle purchase and unconventionally courts a widow with two children, played by Salome Jens, in CBS's western series, Gunsmoke, with James Arness. Basehart appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-O, and as Hannibal Applewood, an abusive schoolteacher in Little House on the Prairie in 1976. In 1972, he appeared in the Columbo episode 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. He made a few TV movies 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.
Known For
Il 'Matto'
La strada
Vladimir Skrapinov
Being There
Ishmael
Moby Dick
Lt. Dick Rennick
Decision Before Dawn
Roy Martin / Roy Morgan
He Walked by Night
Sayer of the Law
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Warren Quimby
Tension
Maximilian Robespierre
Reign of Terror
Dr. Gregor Hoffman
The Satan Bug
Host / Narrator
They've Killed President Lincoln!
Dr. Leonard Chaney
Mansion of the Doomed
Alan Spender
The House on Telegraph Hill
Carlo
Il bidone
William Williams
Repeat Performance
Ivan Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov
James Caldwell Demarest
Cry Wolf
George S. Headley
Titanic
Maj. Harry Cargill
Time Limit
Joe Halsey
The Good Die Young
Wilton Knight
Knight Rider: Knight of the Phoenix
Howard Mason
Portrait in Black
Cpl. Denno
Fixed Bayonets!
The President
City Beneath the Sea
Ah Min
Kings of the Sun
Roy Morgan/Roy Martin in He Walked By Night (archive footage)
Los Angeles Plays Itself
Willy Brandt
21 Hours at Munich
Robert Cosick
Fourteen Hours
Larry Nelson
Outside the Wall
Brig. Gen. Russell Hamner
Sole Survivor
Larry Kendall
Canyon Crossroads
Cpl. Denno (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Reginald 'Reggie' Wilson
The Intimate Stranger
Martino
Los jueves, milagro
Dr. Roy Caldwell
Rage
Adolf Hitler
Hitler
George Latimer
Judgment: The Court Martial of Lt. William Calley
Manny Benchly
The Great Bank Hoax
Steve Fallon
Tierra brutal
Duke of Kentland
The Rebels
Narrator (voice)
Four Days In November
John Cutler
Flood!
Il conte Jacques de Maudy
Le avventura di Cartouche
Dr. Boeker
Hans Brinker
Don Benton
Visa to Canton
Schiller
The Birdmen
Mounts Hatfield
Roseanna McCoy
Joe Blake
The Extra Day
Narrator (voice)
Let My People Go: The Story of Israel
Johnny Hyde
Marilyn: The Untold Story
Narrator (voice)
The Yanks Are Coming
Robert Barnes
The Death of Me Yet
Carl Brenner
Maneater
Joe Hamstringer
La mano dello straniero
Wittkuhn
Jons und Erdme
Henry Wirz
The Andersonville Trial
Eric Reinhardt
Five Branded Women
Doctor Stefano Luprandi
Avanzi di galera
Acteur
Un Homme Qui Me Plaît
Himself
Land of Celtic Ghosts
Ing. Stefano Manfredi
La vena d'oro
Paolo Martelli
Amore e guai...
Dr. Joshua Henderson (1871)
Time Travelers
Maj. Barney Caldwell
Assignment: Munich
George Rancourt
L'ambitieuse
Dr Douglas Pruitt
...And Millions Die!
Father Phelan
For the Love of Mike
Narrator
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Angus Keough
The Bounty Man
King Arthur
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Nye Buell
Chato's Land
Valley Forge
Narrator
Trial at Nuremberg
Narrator
Planet Mars
Elliott Osborn
Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model?
Self
Bix: Ain't None of Them Play Like Him Yet
Narrator (Self)
Egypt: Quest for Eternity
Jacqueline Susann and the Valley of the Dolls
Woodrow Wilson
The First Woman President
Lionel Amblin
So Soon to Die
Martin Lambert
The Hiding Place
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
80
Gender
Male
Birthday
1914-08-31
Place of Birth
Zanesville, Ohio, USA
Also Known As
Ричард Бейсхарт