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.
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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0000865
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q963593
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Filmography (Movies)
Los Angeles Plays Itself
Character:Roy Morgan/Roy Martin in He Walked By Night (archive footage)
Release Date:28/07/2004
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Character:Cpl. Denno (archive footage) (uncredited)
Release Date:02/07/2002
Bix: Ain't None of Them Play Like Him Yet
Character:Self
Release Date:25/12/1982
Knight Rider: Knight of the Phoenix
Character:Wilton Knight
Release Date:26/09/1982
Egypt: Quest for Eternity
Character:Narrator (Self)
Release Date:06/03/1982
Marilyn: The Untold Story
Character:Johnny Hyde
Release Date:10/11/1980
Being There
Character:Vladimir Skrapinov
Release Date:19/12/1979
Land of Celtic Ghosts
Character:Himself
Release Date:15/10/1979
The Rebels
Character:Duke of Kentland
Release Date:14/05/1979
Planet Mars
Character:Narrator
Release Date:01/01/1979
The Great Bank Hoax
Character:Manny Benchly
Release Date:01/11/1978
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Character:King Arthur
Release Date:23/05/1978
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Character:Sayer of the Law
Release Date:13/07/1977
Flood!
Character:John Cutler
Release Date:05/06/1977
Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model?
Character:Elliott Osborn
Release Date:16/01/1977
21 Hours at Munich
Character:Willy Brandt
Release Date:25/12/1976
Mansion of the Doomed
Character:Dr. Leonard Chaney
Release Date:01/10/1976
Time Travelers
Character:Dr. Joshua Henderson (1871)
Release Date:19/03/1976
Valley Forge
Character:
Release Date:03/12/1975
Judgment: The Court Martial of Lt. William Calley
Character:George Latimer
Release Date:12/01/1975
The First Woman President
Character:Woodrow Wilson
Release Date:14/04/1974
Maneater
Character:Carl Brenner
Release Date:08/12/1973
The Birdmen
Character:Schiller
Release Date:08/11/1973
...And Millions Die!
Character:Dr Douglas Pruitt
Release Date:01/01/1973
Rage
Character:Dr. Roy Caldwell
Release Date:22/11/1972
The Bounty Man
Character:Angus Keough
Release Date:31/10/1972
Chato's Land
Character:Nye Buell
Release Date:25/05/1972
Assignment: Munich
Character:Maj. Barney Caldwell
Release Date:30/04/1972
The Death of Me Yet
Character:Robert Barnes
Release Date:27/10/1971
City Beneath the Sea
Character:The President
Release Date:16/07/1971
They've Killed President Lincoln!
Character:Host / Narrator
Release Date:12/02/1971
The Andersonville Trial
Character:Henry Wirz
Release Date:17/05/1970
Sole Survivor
Character:Brig. Gen. Russell Hamner
Release Date:09/01/1970
Hans Brinker
Character:Dr. Boeker
Release Date:14/12/1969
Love Is a Funny Thing
Character:Acteur
Release Date:12/12/1969
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Character:Narrator
Release Date:06/03/1968
Jacqueline Susann and the Valley of the Dolls
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1967
The Satan Bug
Character:Dr. Gregor Hoffman
Release Date:26/03/1965
Let My People Go: The Story of Israel
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:01/01/1965
Trial at Nuremberg
Character:Narrator
Release Date:09/12/1964
Four Days In November
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:07/10/1964
Kings of the Sun
Character:Ah Min
Release Date:18/12/1963
The Yanks Are Coming
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:04/11/1963
Hitler
Character:Adolf Hitler
Release Date:21/03/1962
The Savage Guns
Character:Steve Fallon
Release Date:01/11/1961
Visa to Canton
Character:Don Benton
Release Date:26/12/1960
For the Love of Mike
Character:Father Phelan
Release Date:28/08/1960
Portrait in Black
Character:Howard Mason
Release Date:27/07/1960
The Hiding Place
Character:Martin Lambert
Release Date:22/03/1960
Five Branded Women
Character:Eric Reinhardt
Release Date:15/03/1960
The Ambitious One
Character:George Rancourt
Release Date:14/10/1959
Jons und Erdme
Character:Wittkuhn
Release Date:04/03/1959
Love and Troubles
Character:Paolo Martelli
Release Date:19/12/1958
The Brothers Karamazov
Character:Ivan Karamazov
Release Date:20/02/1958
Time Limit
Character:Maj. Harry Cargill
Release Date:23/10/1957
Miracles of Thursday
Character:Martino
Release Date:22/08/1957
So Soon to Die
Character:Lionel Amblin
Release Date:17/01/1957
Moby Dick
Character:Ishmael
Release Date:27/06/1956
The Intimate Stranger
Character:Reginald 'Reggie' Wilson
Release Date:01/06/1956
The Extra Day
Character:Joe Blake
Release Date:01/01/1956
The Swindle
Character:Carlo
Release Date:07/10/1955
The Golden Vein
Character:Ing. Stefano Manfredi
Release Date:30/09/1955
Cartouche
Character:Il conte Jacques de Maudy
Release Date:01/07/1955
Canyon Crossroads
Character:Larry Kendall
Release Date:01/01/1955
La Strada
Character:Il 'Matto'
Release Date:23/09/1954
Jailbirds
Character:Doctor Stefano Luprandi
Release Date:18/09/1954
The Good Die Young
Character:Joe Halsey
Release Date:02/03/1954
The Stranger's Hand
Character:Joe Hamstringer
Release Date:20/01/1954
Titanic
Character:George S. Headley
Release Date:11/04/1953
Decision Before Dawn
Character:Lt. Dick Rennick
Release Date:21/12/1951
Fixed Bayonets!
Character:Cpl. Denno
Release Date:21/11/1951
The House on Telegraph Hill
Character:Alan Spender
Release Date:12/05/1951
Fourteen Hours
Character:Robert Cosick
Release Date:01/04/1951
Outside the Wall
Character:Larry Nelson
Release Date:08/02/1950
Tension
Character:Warren Quimby
Release Date:25/11/1949
Reign of Terror
Character:Maximilian Robespierre
Release Date:15/10/1949
Roseanna McCoy
Character:Mounts Hatfield
Release Date:12/10/1949
He Walked by Night
Character:Roy Martin / Roy Morgan
Release Date:06/02/1949
Cry Wolf
Character:James Caldwell Demarest
Release Date:19/08/1947
Repeat Performance
Character:William Williams
Release Date:22/05/1947
Television Appearances
Knight Rider
Character:Wilton Knight
Mr. Merlin
Character:
Masada
Character:Modern-Day Narrator (voice, uncredited)
Tales of the Unexpected
Character:Slade
Vega$
Character:
W.E.B.
Character:
The Critical List
Character:Matt Kinsella
The Love Boat
Character:Stan Ellis
How the West Was Won
Character:Colonel Flint
Joe Forrester
Character:
Medical Story
Character:
Little House on the Prairie
Character:
The Streets of San Francisco
Character:Bishop Tim Farrow
Columbo
Character:Nicholas Framer
Dan August
Character:Prof. Theodore Rye
Marcus Welby, M.D.
Character:Professor Andrew Kirkcastle
Marcus Welby, M.D.
Character:Reece Sutton
Hawaii Five-O
Character:Murdock
Ironside
Character:Noel Seymour
National Geographic Specials
Character:Narrator (voice)
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Character:Adm. Harriman Nelson
Arrest and Trial
Character:
Combat!
Character:Capt. Steiner
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Character:Philip Townsend
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Character:Miles Crawford
Ben Casey
Character:
Route 66
Character:
The Twilight Zone
Character:Adam Cook
Rawhide
Character:Tod Stone
Naked City
Character:Lester Bergson
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Character:David Manning
Gunsmoke
Character:Captain Aron Sligo
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Character:Conway
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Character:General Washington
Studio One
Character:Matt Donovan
Images
