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
Things to Come
(1936)
Celestial Body (uncredited)
The Jungle Book
(1967)
Shere Khan the Tiger (voice)
Samson and Delilah
(1949)
The Saran of Gaza
Rebecca
(1940)
Jack Favell
Solomon and Sheba
(1959)
Adonijah
A Shot in the Dark
(1964)
Benjamin Ballon
Ivanhoe
(1952)
De Bois-Guilbert
All About Eve
(1950)
Addison DeWitt
The Black Swan
(1942)
Captain Billy Leech
Foreign Correspondent
(1940)
Scott ffolliott
Village of the Damned
(1960)
Gordon Zellaby
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
(1947)
Miles Fairley
The Picture of Dorian Gray
(1945)
Lord Henry Wotton
The Lodger
(1944)
Inspector John Warwick
Journey to Italy
(1954)
Alexander 'Alex' Joyce
While the City Sleeps
(1956)
Mark Loving
Full Filmography
Acting
Love, Life and Laughter
(1934)
Singer in Public Bar
Things to Come
(1936)
Celestial Body (uncredited)
Dishonour Bright
(1936)
Lisle
Lloyd's of London
(1936)
Everett Stacy
The Man Who Could Work Miracles
(1936)
Indifference - a God
Slave Ship
(1937)
Lefty
Love Is News
(1937)
Count Andre de Guyon
The Lady Escapes
(1937)
Rene Blanchard
Lancer Spy
(1937)
Baron Kurt von Rohback / Lt. Michael Bruce
International Settlement
(1938)
Del Forbes
Four Men and a Prayer
(1938)
Wyatt Leigh
Confessions of a Nazi Spy
(1939)
Franz Schlager
So This Is London
(1939)
Dr. de Reseke
The Saint in London
(1939)
Simon Templar
Allegheny Uprising
(1939)
Captain Swanson
Nurse Edith Cavell
(1939)
Capt. Heinrichs
The Outsider
(1939)
Anton Ragatzy
The Saint Strikes Back
(1939)
Simon Templar
Mr. Moto's Last Warning
(1939)
Eric Norvel
Foreign Correspondent
(1940)
Scott ffolliott
Bitter Sweet
(1940)
Baron Von Tranisch
The Saint Takes Over
(1940)
Simon Templar
The House of the Seven Gables
(1940)
Jaffrey Pyncheon
Green Hell
(1940)
Forrester
The Son of Monte Cristo
(1940)
Gurko Lanen
Rebecca
(1940)
Jack Favell
The Saint's Double Trouble
(1940)
Simon Templar
Man Hunt
(1941)
Major Quive-Smith
Rage in Heaven
(1941)
Ward Andrews
Sundown
(1941)
Major A.L. Coombes
The Saint In Palm Springs
(1941)
Simon Templar
The Gay Falcon
(1941)
Gay Laurence / The Falcon
The Black Swan
(1942)
Captain Billy Leech
Her Cardboard Lover
(1942)
Tony Barling
Tales of Manhattan
(1942)
Williams
The Moon and Sixpence
(1942)
Charles Strickland
The Falcon's Brother
(1942)
Gaylord "Gay" Lawrence
A Date with the Falcon
(1942)
Gay Lawrence / The Falcon
Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
(1942)
Sir Arthur Blake
The Falcon Takes Over
(1942)
Gay Lawrence
This Land Is Mine
(1943)
George Lambert
Quiet Please, Murder
(1943)
Jim Fleg
They Came to Blow Up America
(1943)
Carl Steelman / Ernst Reiter
Appointment in Berlin
(1943)
Keith Wilson
Paris After Dark
(1943)
Dr. Andre Marbel
Action in Arabia
(1944)
Michael Gordon
The Lodger
(1944)
Inspector John Warwick
Summer Storm
(1944)
Fedja Michailovitch Petroff
The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry
(1945)
Harry Melville Quincey
The Picture of Dorian Gray
(1945)
Lord Henry Wotton
Hangover Square
(1945)
Dr. Allan Middleton
The Strange Woman
(1946)
John Evered
A Scandal in Paris
(1946)
Eugéne François Vidocq
Forever Amber
(1947)
King Charles II
The Private Affairs of Bel Ami
(1947)
Georges Duroy
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
(1947)
Miles Fairley
Lured
(1947)
Robert Fleming
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
The Light Touch
(1951)
Felix Guignol
I Can Get It for You Wholesale
(1951)
J F Noble
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
King Richard and the Crusaders
(1954)
King Richard I
Witness to Murder
(1954)
Albert Richter
Journey to Italy
(1954)
Alexander 'Alex' Joyce
The King's Thief
(1955)
King Charles II
The Scarlet Coat
(1955)
Dr. Jonathan Odell
Jupiter's Darling
(1955)
Fabius Maximus
Moonfleet
(1955)
Lord James Ashwood
Laura
(1955)
Waldo Lydecker
Never Say Goodbye
(1956)
Victor
Death of a Scoundrel
(1956)
Clementi Sabourin
While the City Sleeps
(1956)
Mark Loving
That Certain Feeling
(1956)
Larry Larkin
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.
A Touch of Larceny
(1960)
Sir Charles Holland
Bluebeard's 10 Honeymoons
(1960)
Henri Landru
Trouble in the Sky
(1960)
Sir Arnold Hobbes
The Last Voyage
(1960)
Capitaine Robert Adams
Village of the Damned
(1960)
Gordon Zellaby
The Rebel
(1961)
Sir Charles Broward
Five Golden Hours
(1961)
Mr. Bing
Rendezvous
(1961)
Kellermann
In Search of the Castaways
(1962)
Thomas Ayerton
Operation Snatch
(1962)
Maj. Hobson
Ecco
(1963)
Narrator
The Cracksman
(1963)
Guv'nor
Cairo
(1963)
The Major
F.B.I. Operation Baalbeck
(1964)
Principe Makowski
A Shot in the Dark
(1964)
Benjamin Ballon
The Golden Head
(1964)
Dark Purpose
(1964)
Raymond Fontaine
The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders
(1965)
The Banker
The Quiller Memorandum
(1966)
Gibbs
Trunk to Cairo
(1966)
Professor Schlieben
Warning Shot
(1967)
Calvin York
The Jungle Book
(1967)
Shere Khan the Tiger (voice)
Good Times
(1967)
Mr. Mordicus / Knife McBlade / White hunter / Zarubian
One Step to Hell
(1968)
Captain Walter Phillips
Laura
(1968)
Waldo Lydecker
The Best House in London
(1969)
Sir Francis Leybourne
The Body Stealers
(1969)
Gen. Armstrong
The Candy Man
(1969)
Sidney Carter
The Girl from Rio
(1969)
Sir Masius
The Night of the Assassin
(1970)
General Downes
The Kremlin Letter
(1970)
Warlock
Doomwatch
(1972)
The Admiral
Endless Night
(1972)
Andrew Lippincott
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