Richard Basehart
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- August 31, 1914
- Died
- September 17, 1984 (aged 70)
- Birthplace
- Zanesville, Ohio, USA
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
Photos
Filmography
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Movie · as Cpl. Denno (archive footage) (uncredited)
Save the Panda
Movie · as Narrator (Voice)
Knight Rider: Knight of the Phoenix
Movie · as Wilton Knight
Bix: Ain't None of Them Play Like Him Yet
Movie · as Self
Egypt: Quest for Eternity
Movie · as Narrator (Self)
Knight Rider
TV · as Wilton Knight · 1 ep
Mr. Merlin
TV · 1 ep
Masada
TV · as Modern-Day Narrator (voice, uncredited) · 2 eps
Marilyn: The Untold Story
Movie · as Johnny Hyde
Being There
Movie · as Vladimir Skrapinov
Land of Celtic Ghosts
Movie · as Himself
Planet Mars
Movie · as Narrator
Tales of the Unexpected
TV · as Slade · 1 ep
The Rebels
TV · as Duke of Kentland · 2 eps
The Great Bank Hoax
Movie · as Manny Benchly
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Movie · as King Arthur
Vega$
TV · 1 ep
W.E.B.
TV · 8 eps
The Critical List
TV · as Matt Kinsella · 2 eps
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Movie · as Sayer of the Law
Flood!
Movie · as John Cutler
Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model?
Movie · as Elliott Osborn
The Love Boat
TV · as Stan Ellis · 1 ep
How the West Was Won
TV · as Colonel Flint · 2 eps
Mansion of the Doomed
Movie · as Dr. Leonard Chaney
21 Hours at Munich
Movie · as Willy Brandt
Time Travelers
Movie · as Dr. Joshua Henderson (1871)
Judgment: The Court Martial of Lt. William Calley
Movie · as George Latimer
Valley Forge
Movie · as Gen. Washington
Joe Forrester
TV · 1 ep
Medical Story
TV · as Dr. Charles Galpin · 1 ep
The First Woman President
Movie · as Woodrow Wilson
Little House on the Prairie
TV · as Hannibal Applewood · 1 ep
The Birdmen
Movie · as Schiller
Maneater
Movie · as Carl Brenner
...and millions will die!
Movie · as Dr Douglas Pruitt
Rage
Movie · as Dr. Roy Caldwell
Assignment: Munich
Movie · as Maj. Barney Caldwell
The Bounty Man
Movie · as Angus Keough
Chato's Land
Movie · as Nye Buell
The Streets of San Francisco
TV · as Bishop Tim Farrow · 1 ep
They've Killed President Lincoln!
Movie · as Host / Narrator
City Beneath the Sea
Movie · as The President
The Death of Me Yet
Movie · as Robert Barnes
Columbo
TV · as Nicholas Framer · 1 ep
Sole Survivor
Movie · as Brig. Gen. Russell Hamner
The Andersonville Trial
Movie · as Henry Wirz
Dan August
TV · as Prof. Theodore Rye · 1 ep
Hans Brinker
Movie · as Dr. Boeker
Love Is a Funny Thing
Movie · as Acteur
Hawaii Five-O
TV · as Murdock · 1 ep
Marcus Welby, M.D.
TV · as Professor Andrew Kirkcastle, Reece Sutton · 1 ep
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Movie · as Narrator
Jacqueline Susann and the Valley of the Dolls
Movie
Ironside
TV · as Noel Seymour · 1 ep
The Satan Bug
Movie · as Dr. Gregor Hoffman
Let My People Go: The Story of Israel
Movie · as Narrator (voice)
National Geographic Specials
TV · as Narrator (voice) · 1 ep
Four Days In November
Movie · as Narrator (voice)
Trial at Nuremberg
Movie · as Narrator
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
TV · as Adm. Harriman Nelson · 110 eps
Kings of the Sun
Movie · as Ah Min
The Yanks Are Coming
Movie · as Narrator (voice)
Arrest and Trial
TV · 1 ep
Hitler
Movie · as Adolf Hitler
Combat!
TV · as Capt. Steiner · 2 eps
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
TV · as Philip Townsend, Miles Crawford · 1 ep
The Savage Guns
Movie · as Steve Fallon
Ben Casey
TV · 1 ep
Portrait in Black
Movie · as Howard Mason
Visa to Canton
Movie · as Don Benton
Five Branded Women
Movie · as Eric Reinhardt
For the Love of Mike
Movie · as Father Phelan
Playhouse 90: The Hiding Place
Movie · as Martin Lambert
Route 66
TV · 1 ep
Jons und Erdme
Movie · as Wittkuhn
The Ambitious One
Movie · as George Rancourt
Rawhide
TV · as Tod Stone · 1 ep
The Twilight Zone
TV · as Adam Cook · 1 ep
The Brothers Karamazov
Movie · as Ivan Karamazov
Love and Troubles
Movie · as Paolo Martelli
Naked City
TV · as Lester Bergson · 1 ep
Time Limit
Movie · as Maj. Harry Cargill
Miracles of Thursday
Movie · as Martino
So Soon to Die
Movie · as Lionel Amblin
Moby Dick
Movie · as Ishmael
The Intimate Stranger
Movie · as Reginald 'Reggie' Wilson
The Extra Day
Movie · as Joe Blake
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
TV · as David Manning · 1 ep
The Swindle
Movie · as Carlo
Canyon Crossroads
Movie · as Larry Kendall
Cartouche
Movie · as Il conte Jacques de Maudy
The Golden Vein
Movie · as Ing. Stefano Manfredi
Gunsmoke
TV · as Captain Aron Sligo · 1 ep
La Strada
Movie · as Matto
The Good Die Young
Movie · as Joe Halsey
The Stranger's Hand
Movie · as Joe Hamstringer
Jailbirds
Movie · as Doctor Stefano Luprandi
Titanic
Movie · as George S. Headley
Decision Before Dawn
Movie · as Lt. Dick Rennick
The House on Telegraph Hill
Movie · as Alan Spender
Fixed Bayonets!
Movie · as Cpl. Denno
Fourteen Hours
Movie · as Robert Cosick
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV · as Conway, General Washington · 1 ep
Outside the Wall
Movie · as Larry Nelson
He Walked by Night
Movie · as Roy Martin / Roy Morgan
Tension
Movie · as Warren Quimby
Reign of Terror
Movie · as Maximilian Robespierre
Roseanna McCoy
Movie · as Mounts Hatfield
Studio One
TV · as Matt Donovan · 2 eps
Repeat Performance
Movie · as William Williams
Cry Wolf
Movie · as James Caldwell Demarest