1. George Henry Sanders was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years.
40 Facts About George Sanders
1. 2.
George Sanders starred as Simon Templar, in 5 of the 8 films in The Saint series, and as a suave Saint-like crimefighter in the first 4 of the 16 The Falcon films.
3.
Sanders was born on 3 July 1906 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, at number 6 Petrovski Ostrov, to rope manufacturer Henry Sanders and horticulturist Margaret, who was born in Saint Petersburg, of mostly German, but Estonian and Scottish ancestry.
4.
George Sanders travelled to South America, where he managed a tobacco plantation.
5.
George Sanders worked at an advertising agency, where the company secretary, aspiring actress Greer Garson, suggested that he take up a career in acting.
6.
George Sanders learned how to sing and got a role on stage in Ballyhoo, which had only a short run, but helped establish him as an actor.
7.
George Sanders began to work regularly on the British stage, appearing several times with Edna Best.
8.
George Sanders co-starred with Dennis King in The Command Performance.
9.
George Sanders travelled to New York to appear on Broadway in a production of Noel Coward's Conversation Piece, directed by Coward, which ran for only 55 performances.
10.
George Sanders was duly cast as Lord Everett Stacy, opposite Tyrone Power, in one of his first leads, as the hero; George Sanders' smooth, upper-class English accent, his sleek manner, and his suave, superior, and somewhat threatening air made him in demand for American films for years to come.
11.
George Sanders returned to Hollywood, where RKO wanted him to play the hero in a series of B-movies, The Saint.
12.
The Saint in New York had already been made starring Louis Hayward in the title role, but when he decided not to return to the role, George Sanders took over for The Saint Strikes Back.
13.
In 1940, George Sanders played Jack Favell in Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, opposite Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine.
14.
George Sanders was assigned the leading role of Gay Laurence, debonair man about town always involved in murder cases.
15.
George Sanders himself was unhappy about playing still another screen sleuth in still more "B" pictures, and bowed out of the series in 1942 after only four films.
16.
In July 1942, Fox suspended George Sanders for refusing the lead in The Undying Monster.
17.
In November 1942, Fox and George Sanders came to terms, with the studio offering him a raise in pay and the lead in a film, School for Saboteurs, which became They Came to Blow Up America.
18.
George Sanders was lent to Columbia Pictures for Appointment in Berlin.
19.
In 1947, George Sanders portrayed King Charles II in Fox's lavish production of the scandalous historical bodice-ripper, Forever Amber.
20.
George Sanders signed a new three-film contract with RKO, starting with Action in Arabia.
21.
George Sanders was leading man in Black Jack, but was back to supporting-villain roles in I Can Get It for You Wholesale.
22.
George Sanders went to Italy to appear opposite Ingrid Bergman in Journey to Italy.
23.
In 1955, George Sanders was announced as hosting and occasionally appearing in The Ringmaster, a TV series about the circus.
24.
George Sanders worked one last time with Power on Solomon and Sheba ; Power died suddenly during filming and was replaced by Yul Brynner.
25.
Peter Sellers and George Sanders appeared together in The Pink Panther sequel A Shot in the Dark.
26.
George Sanders had earlier inspired Sellers's character Hercules Grytpype-Thynne in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show.
27.
In 1966, George Sanders declared bankruptcy due to some poor investments.
28.
George Sanders appeared briefly in the espionage thriller, The Quiller Memorandum, and crime-thriller, Warning Shot.
29.
George Sanders followed those up by voicing the bengal tiger, Shere Khan, in Disney's animated hit film, The Jungle Book.
30.
George Sanders had a major supporting role in John Huston's The Kremlin Letter, in which his first scene showed him dressed in drag and playing the piano in a gay bar in San Francisco.
31.
George Sanders obtained supporting roles in Doomwatch and Endless Night, the latter being an adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel of the same name.
32.
George Sanders received top-billing for his final film, Psychomania, released posthumously.
33.
From later that year until 1954, George Sanders was married to Zsa Zsa Gabor, with whom he starred in the film Death of a Scoundrel.
34.
On 10 February 1959, George Sanders married Benita Hume, widow of Ronald Colman.
35.
George Sanders died of bone cancer in 1967, aged 60, the same year that Sanders's brother Tom Conway died of liver failure.
36.
George Sanders had become distant from his brother because of Conway's drinking problem.
37.
George Sanders suggested the title A Dreadful Man for his biography, later written by his friend Brian Aherne and published in 1979.
38.
George Sanders left behind two suicide notes, one of which read:.
39.
David Niven wrote in Bring on the Empty Horses, the second volume of his memoirs, that in 1937, his friend George Sanders had predicted that he would commit suicide from a barbiturate overdose when he was 65, and that in his 50s, he had appeared to be depressed because his marriages had failed and several tragedies had befallen him.
40.
George Sanders has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for films at 1636 Vine Street and television at 7007 Hollywood Boulevard.