Sydney Greenstreet
Sydney Greenstreet in Casablanca.
Born	Sydney Hughes Greenstreet December 27, 1879(1879-12-27) Sandwich, Kent, England
Died	January 18, 1954 (aged 74) Hollywood, Los Angeles, California

Sydney Hughes Greenstreet (December 27, 1879 – January 18, 1954) was an English actor. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... This article is about the 1942 film. ... December 27 is the 361st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (362nd in leap years). ... Year 1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Hollywood redirects here. ... December 27 is the 361st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (362nd in leap years). ... Year 1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Actor (disambiguation). ...

Biography

Greenstreet was born in Sandwich, Kent, England, the son of a leather merchant, and had seven siblings. He left home at age 18 to make his fortune as a Ceylon tea planter, but drought forced him out of business and back to England. He managed a brewery and, to escape boredom, took acting lessons. His stage debut was as a murderer called Craigen in a 1902 production of a Sherlock Holmes entry by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at the Marina Theatre in Ramsgate, Kent. He toured England with Ben Greet's Shakespearian company, and in 1905, he made his New York debut. Thereafter, Greenstreet appeared in numerous plays in England and America, working through most of the 1930s with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne at the Theatre Guild. Throughout his stage career, his parts ranged from musical comedy to Shakespeare, and years of such versatile acting on two continents led to many offers to appear in films. He refused until he was 62. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (ශ්රී ලංකා in Sinhala / இலங்கை in Tamil) (known as Ceylon before 1972) is a tropical island nation off the southeast coast of the Indian subcontinent. ... Year 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday [1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... A portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget from the Strand Magazine, 1891 Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. ... Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. ... Sir Philip Ben Greet (1857-1936) was a Shakespearean actor, director and impresario. ... For other uses, see 1905 (disambiguation). ... This article is about the state. ... Alfred Lunt photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1932 Alfred Lunt (August 12, 1892–August 3, 1977) was an American actor. ... Lynn Fontanne (December 6, 1887 – July 30, 1983) was an Emmy Award winning actress who was a major stage star for over 40 years and who with her husband Alfred Lunt was part of the most acclaimed acting team in the history of the American theater. ... The Theatre Guild was a theatrical society founded by Lawrence Langner in New York City in 1918, with the purpose of producing noncommercial american and foreign plays. ...

In 1941, Greenstreet began working for Warner Bros. His debut film role was also his most famous: Kasper Gutman ("The Fat Man") in The Maltese Falcon, which co-starred Peter Lorre as the twitchy Joel Cairo, a pairing that would prove profitable and long-lasting for Warner Bros. The duo appeared in nine films together, including Casablanca as crooked club owner Signor Ferrari (for which he received a salary of $3750 per week for seven weeks), as well as Background to Danger (1943, with George Raft), Passage to Marseille (1944, reteaming him with Casablanca stars Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains), The Mask of Dimitrios (1944, receiving top billing), The Conspirators (1944, with Hedy Lamarr and Paul Henreid), Hollywood Canteen (1944), Three Strangers (1946, receiving top billing), and The Verdict (1946, with top billing). After a mere eight years, in 1949, Greenstreet's film career ended with Malaya, in which he was billed third, after Spencer Tracy and James Stewart. In those eight years, he worked with stars ranging from Clark Gable to Ava Gardner to Joan Crawford. Author Tennessee Williams wrote his one-act play The Last of My Solid Gold Watches with Greenstreet in mind, and dedicated it to him. The year 1941 in film involved some significant events. ... “WB” redirects here. ... The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. ... Peter Lorre (June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964), born László Löwenstein, was an Hungarian[1] - Austrian - American actor frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner. ... This article is about the 1942 film. ... Background to Danger is a 1943 film starring George Raft, Brenda Marshall, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre. ... Spanish film poster for Passage to Marseille Passage to Marseille is a 1944 war film made by Warner Brothers, directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Hal B. Wallis with Jack L. Warner as executive producer. ... Bogart redirects here. ... Claude Rains (November 10, 1889 – May 30, 1967) was a British-born theatre and film actor, who later held American citizenship, best known for his many roles in Hollywood films. ... The Mask of Dimitrios (U.S. title: A Coffin for Dimitrios) (1939) is a novel by Eric Ambler. ... The Verdict is a 1946 film-noir drama directed by Don Siegel and written by Israel Zangwill and Peter Milne, based on Zangwills novel The Big Bow Mystery. ... Year 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Malaya is a 1949 war film starring Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, John Hodiak, Valentina Cortese, Lionel Barrymore, and Sydney Greenstreet. ... Spencer Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was a two-time Academy Award-winning American film and stage actor who appeared in 74 films from 1930 to 1967. ... For other persons named James Stewart, see James Stewart (disambiguation). ... William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901 – November 16, 1960) was an Academy Award-winning American film actor. ... Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an Academy Award-nominated American film and television actress. ... For other persons named Joan Crawford, see Joan Crawford (disambiguation). ... Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), better known by the nickname Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright of the twentieth century who received many of the top theatrical awards for his work. ...

In 1950 and 1951, Greenstreet played Nero Wolfe on the NBC radio program The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe, based loosely on the rotund detective genius created by Rex Stout. Bitter End — Carl Mueller illustrated Rex Stouts first Nero Wolfe novella for The American Magazine (November 1940) Nero Wolfe is a fictional detective, created by the American mystery writer Rex Stout, who made his debut in 1934. ... This article is about the television network. ... Nero Wolfe, the fictional detective genius created in 1934 by Rex Stout, has been portrayed in four radio series. ... Rex Stout, full name Rex Todhunter Stout, (December 1, 1886 - October 27, 1975) was an American writer best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe. ...

Greenstreet suffered from diabetes and Bright's disease, a kidney disorder. Five years after leaving films, Greenstreet died in 1954 from complications arising from his diabetes. He is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California in the Utility Columbarium area of the Great Mausoleum, which is not accessible to the public. He was survived by his only child, John Ogden Greenstreet, born out of Sydney's marriage to Dorothy Marie Ogden. John Ogden Greenstreet died March 4, 2004 at age 84. This article is about the disease that features high blood sugar. ... Brights disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. ... Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Gates of Forest Lawn Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a cemetery in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California, in the United States. ... Nickname: Location of Glendale within Los Angeles County and the State of California. ... is the 63rd day of the year (64th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Sydney is the great uncle of actor Mark Greenstreet. Mark Greenstreet is a British actor who first came to prominence in the 1985 BBC television serial Brat Farrar. ...

As a tribute to Greenstreet, the crimeboss Hector Lemans in the computer game Grim Fandango was based on him. Jim Ward voiced the character, and even copied Greenstreet's unmistakable evil laugh. Grim Fandango is a graphical adventure computer game released by LucasArts in 1998. ...

Filmography

• Malaya (1949) .... The Dutchman
• Flamingo Road (1949) .... Sheriff Titus Semple
• The Woman in White (1948) .... Count Alessandro Fosco
• Ruthless (1948) .... Buck Mansfield
• The Velvet Touch (1948) .... Capt. Danbury
• The Hucksters (1947) .... Evan Llewellyn Evans
• That Way with Women (1947) .... James P. Alden
• The Verdict (1946) .... Supt. George Edward Grodman
• Devotion (1946) .... William Makepeace Thackeray
• Three Strangers (1946) .... Jerome K. Arbutny
• Christmas in Connecticut (1945) .... Alexander Yardley
• Conflict (1945) .... Dr. Mark Hamilton
• Pillow to Post (1945) .... Colonel Michael Otley
• Hollywood Canteen (1944) .... Himself
• The Conspirators (1944) .... Ricardo Quintanilla
• The Mask of Dimitrios (1944) .... Mr. Peters
• Between Two Worlds (1944) .... Reverend Tim Thompson
• Passage to Marseille (1944) .... Major Duval
• Background to Danger (1943) .... Colonel Robinson
• Casablanca (1942) .... Signor Ferrari
• Across the Pacific (1942) .... Dr. Lorenz
• They Died with Their Boots On (1941) .... Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott
• The Maltese Falcon (1941) .... Kasper Gutman

Malaya is a 1949 war film starring Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, John Hodiak, Valentina Cortese, Lionel Barrymore, and Sydney Greenstreet. ... Flamingo Road is a 1949 film starring Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott, Sydney Greenstreet and David Brian. ... Ruthless (1948) is a drama film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and starring Zachary Scott and Louis Hayward. ... The Velvet Touch is a 1947 American drama film. ... The Hucksters is a 1947 film directed by Jack Conway and starring Clark Gable, Deborah Kerr, and Ava Gardner. ... The Verdict is a 1946 film-noir drama directed by Don Siegel and written by Israel Zangwill and Peter Milne, based on Zangwills novel The Big Bow Mystery. ... A Devotion in Christianity has come to mean time spent alone or in a small group of people reading and studying the Bible in a way as it relates to ones spiritual health and wellbeing. ... Christmas in Connecticut is a 1945 christmas movie, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan and Sydney Greenstreet. ... The Hollywood Canteen operated at 1451 Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood, California between October 3, 1942 and the end of World War II as a club offering food and entertainment for American servicemen, usually on their way overseas. ... The Mask of Dimitrios (U.S. title: A Coffin for Dimitrios) (1939) is a novel by Eric Ambler. ... A 1944 Movie staring with a remarkable cast including John Garfield Paul Henreid Sydney Greenstreet and Eleanor Parker. ... Spanish film poster for Passage to Marseille Passage to Marseille is a 1944 war film made by Warner Brothers, directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Hal B. Wallis with Jack L. Warner as executive producer. ... Background to Danger is a 1943 film starring George Raft, Brenda Marshall, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre. ... This article is about the 1942 film. ... Across the Pacific is a 1942 thriller set on the eve of the United States entry into World War II. The film was directed first by John Huston, then by Vincent Sherman after Huston joined the United States Army Signal Corps. ... They Died with Their Boots On is a 1941 western film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. ... The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. ...

References

• Casablanca (Two-Disc Special Edition DVD) (1942).

For other uses, see Casablanca (disambiguation). ...

Further reading

• Youngkin, Stephen D. (2005). The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-813-12360-7.  -- Contains a full chapter on the professional friendship between Greenstreet and classic film actor Peter Lorre.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Sydney Greenstreet

• Sydney Greenstreet at the Internet Movie Database
• Sydney Greenstreet at the TCM Movie Database
• Sydney Greenstreet at the Internet Broadway Database
• Sandwich Kent England UK: Local History Scrapbook: Sydney Greenstreet http://www.open-sandwich.co.uk
• FreeOTRShows — The Adventures of Nero Wolfe