George Zucco

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George Zucco (born January 11, 1886 in Manchester , Great Britain , † May 27, 1960 in Los Angeles ) was an American film and theater actor.

Life

George Zucco began his career as a character actor in the theater. In 1935 he appeared in the role of Benjamin Disraeli in the drama Victoria Regina . Due to this success, the talent scouts of the MGM studios noticed him and signed him. In the following years he played supporting roles in major movies, including alongside Gary Cooper in the adventure film Shipwreck of Souls (Souls at Sea) , alongside Tyrone Power in Suez , an adventure film about the Suez Canal and its builder, Ferdinand de Lesseps , or alongside by Greta Garbo and Charles Boyer in Maria Walewska (Conquest) . With Tyrone Power he also played in the Marie-Antoinette costume strip , albeit only a tiny supporting role.

George Zucco played a mad scientist in 1938 in Charlie Chan in Honolulu , a crime novel starring the then popular but now less well-known Chinese detective Charlie Chan . George Zucco met another detective, Sherlock Holmes , a little later. In The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) he played in 1939 the Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes most famous adversary. He returned to the set of the series in 1943, but not in the role of Moriarty. He played Richard Stanley in Fatal Voyage (Sherlock Holmes in Washington) .

In the 1940s, George Zucco played crazy scientists, obsessive priests and similar roles in horror films such as The Mummy's Hand , The Mummy's Tomb , The Mad Ghoul or The Monster and the Girl . In Dr. Renault's Secret , he embodied a scientist who creates an ape-man who is supposed to avenge injustice suffered for him, but turns against his creator. In Dead Men Walk he portrayed two twin brothers, one of whom is a vampire . In Frankenstein's house he played alongside Boris Karloff Professor Lampini, the owner of a cabinet of curiosities in which the lifeless bodies of Count Dracula and the werewolf are exhibited.

At the same time, George Zucco was repeatedly given small roles outside of the horror genre. Besides Spencer Tracy , he joined the drama The Seventh Cross (The Seventh Cross) on. At the side of Gene Kelly and Judy Garland , he played the viceroy in 1948 in the musical The Pirate (The Pirate) . In the same year he set a bad priest Johnny White miller last Tarzan Adventure Tarzan and the Mermaids (Tarzan and the Mermaids) . With Fred Astaire , he turned the musicals The dancers from Broadway (The Barkley's of Broadway) and dancing is our life (Let's Dance) , in which George Zucco neither danced nor sang.

George Zucco's career came to an end when audience interest in new horror films waned. One of his last roles he played in 1951 in the Bible film David and Bathsheba (David and Bathsheba) with Gregory Peck and Susan Hayward in the lead roles. George Zucco did not play a priest, but an Egyptian ambassador.

George Zucco spent the last years of his life in a sanatorium . There he also died of pneumonia at the age of 74 .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Zucco, George
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film and stage actor
DATE OF BIRTH January 11, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Manchester , UK
DATE OF DEATH May 27, 1960
Place of death los Angeles