George Sanders is an Oscar-winning English actor for his role in the black-and-white film All About Eve (1950). In general, his filmography includes more than 130 films and TV series. Today, there are two stars of George Sanders on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. He was awarded one for his success in cinema, and the second for his TV career.
Childhood and youth
George Sanders was born in the Russian Empire, in St. Petersburg. The date of his birth is July 3, 1906. His father had a business in Russia, he was a major industrialist.
In May 1917, after the revolution and the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne, the family decided to leave Petersburg and returned to Britain. There, George studied at Brighton College, and then became a student at the Manchester Technical College.
After receiving higher education, the future film actor got a job in an advertising company. Once the secretary of this company recommended that he try his hand at show business. George followed this advice and went to the capital - to London.
It is known that in London, Sanders, before he managed to break into the theater, sang in the choir and performed before the public in drinking establishments. And in the theater, at first, he was mainly an understudy.
From first film roles to Oscars
In 1934, George Sanders made his debut in British cinema. And just two years later, he first appeared in a Hollywood film called Lloyds of London (1936). Here he played Everett Stacy - the English lord. He very recognizably portrayed the snobbery characteristic of aristocrats. In addition, Sanders' character in the movie spoke with the accent that the British elite spoke with at the time.
A promising actor was noticed in Hollywood - already in November 1936, 20th Century Fox signed a seven-year contract with him.
One of Sanders' most illustrative early work was the role of Jack Favell in the film adaptation of the novel Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (1940). By the way, this adaptation was directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Then Sanders landed major roles in the low-budget films Foreign Correspondent (1940) and Sunset (1941). Also in the early forties, he played the adventurer Gay Lawrence named Falcon in the trilogy dedicated to his adventures. In addition, he was remembered by the audience as the main character in a series of films about an amateur detective (and at the same time a noble thief) Simon Templar.
In 1945, Sanders successfully played Lord Henry in The Picture of Dorian Gray, based on the famous work of Oscar Wilde. Here, his partner in the frame was the actress Donna Reed, who was very famous in those years. This work by Sanders has received rave reviews from critics and audiences. The game of the British actor was also positively evaluated in such films as "The Phantom and Mrs. Muir" (1947), "Personal Affairs of a Dear Friend" (1947), "Samson and Delilah" (1949)
In 1950, George Sanders performed one of the brightest film roles in his career. In the drama All About Eve (directed by Joseph Leo Mankiewicz), he appeared as the cynical and influential theatrical figure Addison DeWitt. This tape is considered a classic of American cinema today. At the end of 1950, she got into fourteen Oscar nominations and won six of them. One of the statuettes (for the best supporting role) went to Sanders.
Further career
In the fifties, there were several other paintings in which Sanders played secondary characters. These are, for example, the paintings "Never Say Goodbye" (1956), "The Seventh Sin" (1957), "Understudies" (1958), "Such a Woman" (1959).
And during this period, Sanders began to appear often on television screens. In 1957, he even hosted his own show, The George Sanders Mystery Theater. But this show had low ratings and was canceled less than six months later.
In 1958, Sanders also tried himself as a singer - he released the disc "The George Sanders Touch: Songs for the Lovely Lady", which is a collection of romantic ballads. It should be noted that Sanders had a soft, charming baritone and sang quite professionally.
In the sixties, Sanders starred a lot, not only in big movies, but also in TV shows. So, for example, in 1965 he appeared in the series "Agents of A. N. K. L." (half a century later, in 2015, Guy Ritchie made a film of the same name on the basis of this series), and in 1966 - in the series "Batman". Moreover, in "Batman" he played Freeze - a popular supervillain who is able to freeze his enemies with a special cannon.
And a little later, in 1967, the actor took part in the voice acting of the Disney cartoon "The Jungle Book" - he gave his voice to the tiger Sherkhan.
Sanders' last film role was that of Shadwell's butler in the horror film Psychomania (released in 1973), which revolves around a gang of rebellious bikers committing atrocities in a small town.
Personal life
In the fall of 1940, George Sanders married actress Susan Lorson. As a result, the couple lived together for nine years.
Soon after the first divorce, he married again - this time a socialite of Hungarian origin Zsa Zsa Gabor became his wife. This marriage was not too long - by 1956 they were already divorced. Interestingly, the breakup did not prevent them from playing together in the film "Death of a Brawler", released in the same 1956.
In early 1959, Sanders married Benita Hume, the widow of another English artist, Ronald Coleman. The joint life of George and Benita ended in 1967 when she died of cancer.
The last wife of Sanders in 1970 was Magda Gabor, the sister of his second wife. This marriage lasted only 32 days and broke up due to the movie actor's abuse of alcohol.
Last years and death
In the last years of his life, Sanders began to suffer from sudden fits of anxiety and anger. Then health became even more complicated due to a microstroke - it caused certain problems with speech (and after all, once it was a peculiar manner of speech that helped Sanders become famous). In addition, shortly after the stroke, the actor found that he could no longer play his piano. And so Sanders dragged him out into the street and chopped him open with an ax.
Of course, the sick and aging actor needed the support of loved ones, but at that time he practically did not have them (George Sanders' mother Margarita, as well as his brother Tom, died in 1967).
At some point, Sanders had a mistress from Mexico. She persuaded the actor to sell his house on the island of Mallorca. After a short time, George realized that this trade was a big mistake.
Ultimately, Sanders, tired of everything that had happened to him lately, committed suicide. This happened on April 25, 1972. He was found dead in a hotel in the resort town of Castelldefels, which is located near Barcelona. In his farewell note, the actor wrote that he was bored in this world. The body of George Sanders was cremated and the ashes scattered over the waters of the English Channel.
