George Sanders

Born

1906

Died

1972

From

St. Petersburg, Russian Empire [now Russia]·Castelldefels, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

132

Credits on file

Decades active

Awards

In short · Worked for five decades — 132 credits.

Remembered for

Ranked by community engagement + sustained interest across this person's credits in our database.

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Biography

George Sanders was born to English parents in St. Petersburg, Russia. He worked in a Birmingham textile mill, in the tobacco industry, and as a writer in advertising. He entered show business in London as a chorus boy, later moving into cabaret, radio, and theatrical understudy roles. His film debut, in 1936, was as Curly Randall in *Find the Lady* (1936). His U.S. debut, also in 1936, with Twentieth Century-Fox, was as Lord Everett Stacy in *Lloyd's of London* (1936). During the late 1930s and early 1940s, he appeared in several films as Simon Templar—the Saint—and as Gay Lawrence, the Falcon. He portrayed Nazis (Maj. Quive-Smith in Fritz Lang's *Man Hunt* (1941)), royalty (Charles II in Otto Preminger's *Forever Amber* (1947)), and biblical characters (Saran of Gaza in Cecil B. DeMille's *Samson and Delilah* (1949)). He won the 1950 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as theatre critic Addison De Witt in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's *All About Eve* (1950). In 1957, he hosted a TV series, *The George Sanders Mystery Theater* (1957). He continued to play mostly villains and charming antagonists until his suicide in 1972.