Sydney Greenstreet

Actor
Sydney Greenstreet

About

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Also Known As
Sydney H Greenstreet
Birth Place
Sandwich, England, GB
Born
December 27, 1879
Died
January 18, 1954
Cause of Death
Complications From Diabetes And Bright's Disease

Biography

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Portly English actor with a uniqely insinuating style of line delivery who made a sensational screen debut as the cunning Kaspar Guttman in John Huston's "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) at age 61. Greenstreet subsequently appeared in numerous films as a brilliant schemer and shrewd architect of villainy, memorably opposite Peter Lorre, with change-of-pace sympathetic roles (e.g. "Christmas i...

Filmography

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Flamingo Road (1949)
Sheriff Titus Semple
Malaya (1949)
The Dutchman
It's a Great Feeling (1949)
Himself
The Woman in White (1948)
Count [Alesandro] Fosco
The Velvet Touch (1948)
Captain Danbury
Ruthless (1948)
Buck Mansfield

Photos & Videos

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Christmas in Connecticut - Movie Posters
2 Photos
Christmas In Connecticut (1945) -- (Movie Clip) Flapjacks
That Way With Women - Movie Posters
2 Photos
Maltese Falcon - Scene Stills
19 Photos
Maltese Falcon, The (1941) -- (Movie Clip) I Like To Talk

Biography

Portly English actor with a uniqely insinuating style of line delivery who made a sensational screen debut as the cunning Kaspar Guttman in John Huston's "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) at age 61. Greenstreet subsequently appeared in numerous films as a brilliant schemer and shrewd architect of villainy, memorably opposite Peter Lorre, with change-of-pace sympathetic roles (e.g. "Christmas in Connecticut" 1945) cropping up occasionally.

Filmography

 

Cast (Feature Film)

Flamingo Road (1949)
Sheriff Titus Semple
Malaya (1949)
The Dutchman
It's a Great Feeling (1949)
Himself
The Woman in White (1948)
Count [Alesandro] Fosco
The Velvet Touch (1948)
Captain Danbury
Ruthless (1948)
Buck Mansfield
That Way with Women (1947)
Jas. P. Alden
The Hucksters (1947)
Evan Llewellyn Evans
Three Strangers (1946)
Jerome K. Arbutny
The Verdict (1946)
George Edward Grodman
Devotion (1946)
William Makepeace Thackeray
Pillow to Post (1945)
Col. Michael Otley
Conflict (1945)
Dr. Mark Hamilton
Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
Alexander Yardley
Hollywood Canteen (1944)
The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
Mr. Peters, also known as Erik Peterson
The Conspirators (1944)
Riccardo Quintanilla
Between Two Worlds (1944)
Reverend Frank Thompson
Passage to Marseille (1944)
Major Duval
Background to Danger (1943)
Colonel Robinson
They Died with Their Boots On (1942)
Lt. General Winfield Scott
Casablanca (1942)
Ferrari
Across the Pacific (1942)
Dr. Lorenz
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Kasper Gutman

Life Events

1897

Left family to seek fortune as a tea planter in Ceylon

1902

Returned home to pursue acting career after drought brought him to ruin

1902

London stage debut "Sherlock Holmes"

1941

Made screen debut at age 61 in "The Maltese Falcon"

1950

Suffering from diabetes and Bright's disease, retired from the screen; last film, "Malaya"

Photo Collections

 
2 Photos
Christmas in Connecticut - Movie Posters
Here are a few American release movies posters from Christmas in Connecticut (1945), starring Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan.
2 Photos
That Way With Women - Movie Posters
That Way With Women - Movie Posters
19 Photos
Maltese Falcon - Scene Stills
Here is a group of film stills from The Maltese Falcon (1941), starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet.

Videos

Movie Clip

Christmas In Connecticut (1945) -- (Movie Clip) Flapjacks Columnist Elizabeth (Barbara Stanwyck), posing as a real hostess, gets cooking lessons from Felix (S.Z. Sakall), receives the wrong baby, dodges Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet) and almost gets married in Christmas In Connecticut, 1945.
Maltese Falcon, The (1941) -- (Movie Clip) I Like To Talk Detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) visits the San Francisco hotel suite of "the fat man" Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet), who refuses to explain his interest in the black bird, in John Huston's The Maltese Falcon, 1941.
Hucksters, The (1947) -- (Movie Clip) Don't Disagree With Him! Spectacular entrance of soap tycoon Evan Llewellyn Evans (Sydney Greenstreet) with a tirade for ad men Kimberly (Adolphe Menjou), Cooke (Richard Gaines) and Norman (Clark Gable) in The Hucksters, 1947.
Background To Danger (1943) -- (Movie Clip) Your Trouble And Discomfort Goon Mailer (Kurt Katch) delivers American Joe (George Raft), a salesman who seems drawn to international intrigue, to Robinson (Sydney Greenstreet), whom we know to be a Nazi agent though he is posing here as a Turkish police official, for a talk about secret papers, in Raoul Walsh's Background To Danger, 1943.
Mask Of Dimitrios, The (1944) -- (Movie Clip) Who Paid For The Bullet? Still at the opening party in Istanbul, Turkish cop Haki (Kurt Katch) button-holing vacationing novelist Leyden (Peter Lorre),) then offering him a glimpse at the intriguing title character (Zachary Scott, not seen), in The Mask Of Dimitrios, 1944, from an Eric Ambler novel.
Mask Of Dimitrios, The (1944) -- (Movie Clip) What Is Your Game? First part of a big showpiece for Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, as curious Dutch novelist Leyden and thus far ill-defined Peters, the second confronting the first in his Sofia hotel room, asking why he's interested in the title character, in The Mask Of Dimitrios, 1944.
Three Strangers (1946) -- (Movie Clip) It Has Always Been Man's Nature Instant spellcasting, a prologue and foggy London, from the original screenplay by John Huston and Howard Koch, Jean Negulesco directing, finding Geraldine Fitzgerald in furs and Sydney Greenstreet in pursuit, opening Three Strangers, 1946, also starring Peter Lorre.
Three Strangers (1946) -- (Movie Clip) At Least Ten Years Of Fainting The last bit of Crystal (Geraldine Fitzgerald) having it out with her husband (Alan Napier, whom she claimed was overseas) then she’s transported via Kwan Yin’s statue to join her new co-conspirator West (Peter Lorre), whose mysterious friend Icy (Joan Lorring) arrives, John Huston and Howard Koch’s script twisting, in Three Strangers, 1946.
Three Strangers (1946) -- (Movie Clip) She's A Very Ancient Personage Geraldine Fitzgerald still hasn’t exchanged names with equally unacquainted Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, having lured them up to her plush first floor London apartment, beginning to explain what she has in mind, from an original script by John Huston and Howard Koch, in Three Strangers, 1946.
Hollywood Canteen (1944) -- (Movie Clip) Gettin' Corns For My Country Patty Andrews is rescued from a gung-ho marine (James Flavin) by Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre, joining sisters Laverne and Maxene for a tune by Jean Barry, Leah Worth and Dick Charles, in Warner Bros' tribute to the wartime volunteer project, Hollywood Canteen, 1944.
Woman In White, The (1948) -- (Movie Clip) Waiting For That Supreme Moment Sensible cousin Marian (Alexis Smith), returned to Fairlie House, is concerned at the behavior of her cousin Laura (Eleanor Parker) after her marriage to Percival (John Emery), who tangles with Count Fosco (Sydney Greenstreet), whose wife (Agnes Moorehead) seems even more weird, in The Woman In White, 1948.
Woman In White, The (1948) -- (Movie Clip) This Romantic Adventure Arising after a mercifully calm first evening at the Fairlie Estate, tutor Hartright (Gig Young) meets Eleanor Parker, whom he assumes is the same woman he met in the woods on his arrival, but learns she is his pupil Laura, who is happy to tell cousin Marian (Alexis Smith) and Count Fosco (Sydney Greenstreet) of the mistake, in The Woman In White, 1948.

Trailer

Devotion (1946) -- (Original Trailer) The Bronte sisters and their brother fight personal demons in the film biography, Devotion (1946),with Ida Lupino & Olivia de Havilland.
Hollywood Canteen -- (Original Trailer) Half of Hollywood pitches in to help a serviceman and a starlet find love at the Hollywood Canteen (1944)
Maltese Falcon, The (1941) -- (Original Trailer) Humphrey Bogart plays Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon (1941), possibly the greatest detective movie of all time.
They Died With Their Boots On -- (Original Trailer) Errol Flynn stars in They Died With Their Boots On (1941), a romanticized biography of General George Armstrong Custer.
Casablanca - (Original Trailer) An American saloon owner in North Africa is drawn into World War II when his lost love turns up in Casablanca (1942) starring Humphrey Bogart.
Flamingo Road -- (Original Trailer) A stranded carnival dancer (Joan Crawford) takes on a corrupt political boss when she marries into small-town society in Flamingo Road (1949).
That Way With Women - (Original Trailer) An elderly millionaire (Sydney Greenstreet) makes a hobby of playing cupid in That Way with Women (1947).
It's a Great Feeling -- (Original Trailer) When nobody at Warner Bros. will work with him, movie star Jack Carson decides to turn an unknown into his co-star in It's a Great Feeling (1949).
Three Strangers - (Original Trailer) Three people who share a sweepstakes ticket travel a tangled road to collect their winnings in Three Strangers (1946) starring Peter Lorre.
Passage to Marseille - (Original Trailer) Devil's Island escapees join up with the Allies during World War II in Passage to Marseille (1944) starring Humphrey Bogart.
Pillow to Post - (Original Trailer) A girl (Ida Lupino) pretends to be a war bride to get a hotel room in Washington. Co-starring Sydney Greenstreet.
Between Two Worlds - (Original Trailer) The play Outward Bound updated for World War II with John Garfield and others on a mystery ship Between Two Worlds (1944).

Bibliography

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