George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British film and television actor, singer-songwriter, music composer, and author. His career as an actor spanned over forty years. His heavy upper-class English accent and smooth bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous characters. He is perhaps best known as Jack Favell in Rebecca (1940), Scott ffolliott in Foreign Correspondent (1940, a rare heroic part), The Saran of Gaza in Samson and Delilah (1949), the most popular film of the year, Addison DeWitt in All About Eve (1950, for which he won an Oscar), Sir Brian De Bois-Guilbert in Ivanhoe (1952), King Richard the Lionheart in King Richard and the Crusaders (1954), Mr. Freeze in a two-parter episode of Batman (1966), the voice of the malevolent man-hating tiger Shere Khan in Disney's The Jungle Book (1967), the suave crimefighter The Falcon during the 1940s (a role eventually bequeathed to his elder brother, Tom Conway), and Simon Templar, The Saint, in five films made in the 1930s and 1940s.
Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actor
Known For
The Jungle Book
(1967)
Shere Khan the Tiger (voice)
Things to Come
(1936)
Celestial Body (uncredited)
Samson and Delilah
(1949)
The Saran of Gaza
Foreign Correspondent
(1940)
Scott ffolliott
Solomon and Sheba
(1959)
Adonijah
Rebecca
(1940)
Jack Favell
All About Eve
(1950)
Addison DeWitt
A Shot in the Dark
(1964)
Benjamin Ballon
Man Hunt
(1941)
Major Quive-Smith
Ivanhoe
(1952)
De Bois-Guilbert
Confessions of a Nazi Spy
(1939)
Franz Schlager
The Black Swan
(1942)
Captain Billy Leech
Lured
(1947)
Robert Fleming
The Picture of Dorian Gray
(1945)
Lord Henry Wotton
Doomwatch
(1972)
The Admiral
Psychomania
(1973)
Shadwell
Full Filmography
Acting
Love, Life and Laughter
(1934)
Singer in Public Bar
Things to Come
(1936)
Celestial Body (uncredited)
Lloyd's of London
(1936)
Everett Stacy
Dishonour Bright
(1936)
Lisle
The Man Who Could Work Miracles
(1936)
Indifference - a God
Lancer Spy
(1937)
Baron Kurt von Rohback / Lt. Michael Bruce
Slave Ship
(1937)
Lefty
Love Is News
(1937)
Count Andre de Guyon
The Lady Escapes
(1937)
Rene Blanchard
Four Men and a Prayer
(1938)
Wyatt Leigh
International Settlement
(1938)
Del Forbes
Allegheny Uprising
(1939)
Captain Swanson
The Saint Strikes Back
(1939)
Simon Templar
Mr. Moto's Last Warning
(1939)
Eric Norvel
The Saint in London
(1939)
Simon Templar
Confessions of a Nazi Spy
(1939)
Franz Schlager
Nurse Edith Cavell
(1939)
Capt. Heinrichs
So This Is London
(1939)
Dr. de Reseke
The Outsider
(1939)
Anton Ragatzy
Rebecca
(1940)
Jack Favell
Foreign Correspondent
(1940)
Scott ffolliott
The House of the Seven Gables
(1940)
Jaffrey Pyncheon
The Saint's Double Trouble
(1940)
Simon Templar
The Son of Monte Cristo
(1940)
Gurko Lanen
The Saint Takes Over
(1940)
Simon Templar
Bitter Sweet
(1940)
Baron Von Tranisch
Green Hell
(1940)
Forrester
Man Hunt
(1941)
Major Quive-Smith
Rage in Heaven
(1941)
Ward Andrews
The Gay Falcon
(1941)
Gay Laurence / The Falcon
The Saint In Palm Springs
(1941)
Simon Templar
Sundown
(1941)
Major A.L. Coombes
Tales of Manhattan
(1942)
Williams
The Black Swan
(1942)
Captain Billy Leech
A Date with the Falcon
(1942)
Gay Lawrence / The Falcon
The Falcon Takes Over
(1942)
Gay Lawrence
The Falcon's Brother
(1942)
Gaylord "Gay" Lawrence
Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
(1942)
Sir Arthur Blake
The Moon and Sixpence
(1942)
Charles Strickland
Her Cardboard Lover
(1942)
Tony Barling
Quiet Please, Murder
(1943)
Jim Fleg
This Land Is Mine
(1943)
George Lambert
Appointment in Berlin
(1943)
Keith Wilson
Paris After Dark
(1943)
Dr. Andre Marbel
They Came to Blow Up America
(1943)
Carl Steelman / Ernst Reiter
The Lodger
(1944)
Inspector John Warwick
Summer Storm
(1944)
Fedja Michailovitch Petroff
Action in Arabia
(1944)
Michael Gordon
Hangover Square
(1945)
Dr. Allan Middleton
The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry
(1945)
Harry Melville Quincey
The Picture of Dorian Gray
(1945)
Lord Henry Wotton
The Strange Woman
(1946)
John Evered
A Scandal in Paris
(1946)
Eugéne François Vidocq
Lured
(1947)
Robert Fleming
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
(1947)
Miles Fairley
Forever Amber
(1947)
King Charles II
The Private Affairs of Bel Ami
(1947)
Georges Duroy
Samson and Delilah
(1949)
The Saran of Gaza
The Fan
(1949)
Lord Robert Darlington
All About Eve
(1950)
Addison DeWitt
Black Jack
(1950)
Mike Alexander
I Can Get It for You Wholesale
(1951)
J F Noble
The Light Touch
(1951)
Felix Guignol
Ivanhoe
(1952)
De Bois-Guilbert
Assignment: Paris
(1952)
Nicholas Strang
Call Me Madam
(1953)
General Cosmo Constantine
A Brief Encounter with the Rossellini Family
(1953)
Self
Journey to Italy
(1954)
Alexander 'Alex' Joyce
Witness to Murder
(1954)
Albert Richter
King Richard and the Crusaders
(1954)
King Richard I
Moonfleet
(1955)
Lord James Ashwood
The King's Thief
(1955)
King Charles II
Jupiter's Darling
(1955)
Fabius Maximus
The Scarlet Coat
(1955)
Dr. Jonathan Odell
Laura
(1955)
Waldo Lydecker
While the City Sleeps
(1956)
Mark Loving
Death of a Scoundrel
(1956)
Clementi Sabourin
That Certain Feeling
(1956)
Larry Larkin
Never Say Goodbye
(1956)
Victor
The Seventh Sin
(1957)
Tim Waddington
From the Earth to the Moon
(1958)
Stuyvesant Nicholl
The Whole Truth
(1958)
Carliss
Solomon and Sheba
(1959)
Adonijah
That Kind of Woman
(1959)
A.L.
Village of the Damned
(1960)
Gordon Zellaby
The Last Voyage
(1960)
Capitaine Robert Adams
A Touch of Larceny
(1960)
Sir Charles Holland
Bluebeard's 10 Honeymoons
(1960)
Henri Landru
Trouble in the Sky
(1960)
Sir Arnold Hobbes
Five Golden Hours
(1961)
Mr. Bing
The Rebel
(1961)
Sir Charles Broward
Rendezvous
(1961)
Kellermann
In Search of the Castaways
(1962)
Thomas Ayerton
Operation Snatch
(1962)
Maj. Hobson
Ecco
(1963)
Narrator
Cairo
(1963)
The Major
The Cracksman
(1963)
Guv'nor
A Shot in the Dark
(1964)
Benjamin Ballon
Dark Purpose
(1964)
Raymond Fontaine
F.B.I. Operation Baalbeck
(1964)
Principe Makowski
The Golden Head
(1964)
The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders
(1965)
The Banker
The Quiller Memorandum
(1966)
Gibbs
Trunk to Cairo
(1966)
Professor Schlieben
The Jungle Book
(1967)
Shere Khan the Tiger (voice)
Warning Shot
(1967)
Calvin York
Good Times
(1967)
Mr. Mordicus / Knife McBlade / White hunter / Zarubian
Laura
(1968)
Waldo Lydecker
One Step to Hell
(1968)
Captain Walter Phillips
The Girl from Rio
(1969)
Sir Masius
The Body Stealers
(1969)
Gen. Armstrong
The Best House in London
(1969)
Sir Francis Leybourne
The Candy Man
(1969)
Sidney Carter
The Kremlin Letter
(1970)
Warlock
The Night of the Assassin
(1970)
General Downes
Endless Night
(1972)
Andrew Lippincott
Doomwatch
(1972)
The Admiral
Psychomania
(1973)
Shadwell
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
(1986)
Self (from All About Eve [1950]) (archive footage)
Ingrid Bergman Remembered
(1996)
Self (archive footage)
Footsteps on the Ceiling
(2013)
Addison DeWitt (archive footage)
Writing