Richard Basehart
- Acting
- August 31, 1914 · Zanesville, Ohio, USA
- September 17, 1984
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
Filmography
- The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller · Cpl. Denno (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Save the Panda · Narrator (Voice)
- Bix: Ain't None of Them Play Like Him Yet · Self
- Knight Rider: Knight of the Phoenix · Wilton Knight
- Knight Rider · Wilton Knight
- Egypt: Quest for Eternity · Narrator (Self)
- Mr. Merlin
- Masada · Modern-Day Narrator (voice, uncredited)
- Marilyn: The Untold Story · Johnny Hyde
- Being There · Vladimir Skrapinov
- Land of Celtic Ghosts · Self
- The Rebels · Duke of Kentland
- Tales of the Unexpected · Slade
- Planet Mars · Narrator
- The Great Bank Hoax · Manny Benchly
- Vega$
- W.E.B.
- The Critical List · Matt Kinsella
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court · King Arthur
- The Love Boat · Stan Ellis
- The Island of Dr. Moreau · Sayer of the Law
- Flood! · John Cutler
- How the West Was Won · Colonel Flint
- Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model? · Elliott Osborn
- 21 Hours at Munich · Willy Brandt
- Mansion of the Doomed · Dr. Leonard Chaney
- Time Travelers · Dr. Joshua Henderson (1871)
- Valley Forge · Gen. Washington
- Joe Forrester
- Medical Story · Dr. Charles Galpin
- Judgment: The Court Martial of Lt. William Calley · George Latimer
- Little House on the Prairie · Hannibal Applewood
- The First Woman President · Woodrow Wilson
- Maneater · Carl Brenner
- The Birdmen · Schiller
- ...and millions will die! · Dr Douglas Pruitt
- Rage · Dr. Roy Caldwell
- The Bounty Man · Angus Keough
- The Streets of San Francisco · Bishop Tim Farrow
- Chato's Land · Nye Buell
- Assignment: Munich · Maj. Barney Caldwell
- The Death of Me Yet · Robert Barnes
- Columbo · Nicholas Framer
- City Beneath the Sea · The President
- They've Killed President Lincoln! · Host / Narrator
- Dan August · Prof. Theodore Rye
- The Andersonville Trial · Henry Wirz
- Sole Survivor · Brig. Gen. Russell Hamner
- Hans Brinker · Dr. Boeker
- Love Is a Funny Thing · Acteur
- Marcus Welby, M.D. · Professor Andrew Kirkcastle, Reece Sutton
- Hawaii Five-O · Murdock
- The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich · Narrator
- Ironside · Noel Seymour
- Jacqueline Susann and the Valley of the Dolls
- National Geographic Specials · Narrator (Voice)
- The Satan Bug · Dr. Gregor Hoffman
- Let My People Go: The Story of Israel · Narrator (Voice)
- Trial at Nuremberg · Narrator
- Four Days In November · Narrator (Voice)
- Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea · Adm. Harriman Nelson
- Kings of the Sun · Ah Min
- The Yanks Are Coming · Narrator (Voice)
- Arrest and Trial
- Combat! · Capt. Steiner
- The Alfred Hitchcock Hour · Philip Townsend, Miles Crawford
- Hitler · Adolf Hitler
- The Savage Guns · Steve Fallon
- Ben Casey
- Visa to Canton · Don Benton
- Route 66
- For the Love of Mike · Father Phelan
- Portrait in Black · Howard Mason
- Playhouse 90: The Hiding Place · Martin Lambert
- Five Branded Women · Eric Reinhardt
- The Ambitious One · George Rancourt
- The Twilight Zone · Adam Cook
- Jons und Erdme · Wittkuhn
- Rawhide · Tod Stone
- Love and Troubles · Paolo Martelli