Richard Basehart
Acting
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.
TV Shows(33)
Knight Rider
Wilton Knight
1982
Mr. Merlin
1981
Masada
Modern-Day Narrator (voice, uncredited)
1981
The Rebels
Duke of Kentland
1979
Tales of the Unexpected
Slade
1979
Vega$
1978
W.E.B.
1978
The Critical List
Matt Kinsella
1978
The Love Boat
Stan Ellis
1977
How the West Was Won
Colonel Flint
1977
Joe Forrester
1975
Medical Story
Dr. Charles Galpin
1975
Little House on the Prairie
Hannibal Applewood
1974
The Streets of San Francisco
Bishop Tim Farrow
1972
Columbo
Nicholas Framer
1971
Dan August
Prof. Theodore Rye
1970
Marcus Welby, M.D.
Professor Andrew Kirkcastle
1969
Hawaii Five-O
Murdock
1968
Ironside
Noel Seymour
1967
National Geographic Specials
Narrator (voice)
1965
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Adm. Harriman Nelson
1964
Arrest and Trial
1963
Combat!
Capt. Steiner
1962
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Philip Townsend
1962
Ben Casey
1961
Route 66
1960
The Twilight Zone
Adam Cook
1959
Rawhide
Tod Stone
1959
Naked City
Lester Bergson
1958
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
David Manning
1956
Gunsmoke
Captain Aron Sligo
1955
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Conway
1951
Studio One
Matt Donovan
1948
Movies(79)
Los Angeles Plays Itself
Roy Morgan/Roy Martin in He Walked By Night (archive footage)
2004
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Cpl. Denno (archive footage) (uncredited)
2002
Bix: Ain't None of Them Play Like Him Yet
Self
1982
Knight Rider: Knight of the Phoenix
Wilton Knight
1982
Egypt: Quest for Eternity
Narrator (Self)
1982
Marilyn: The Untold Story
Johnny Hyde
1980
Being There
Vladimir Skrapinov
1979
Land of Celtic Ghosts
Himself
1979
Planet Mars
Narrator
1979
The Great Bank Hoax
Manny Benchly
1978
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
King Arthur
1978
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Sayer of the Law
1977
Flood!
John Cutler
1977
Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model?
Elliott Osborn
1977
21 Hours at Munich
Willy Brandt
1976
Mansion of the Doomed
Dr. Leonard Chaney
1976
Time Travelers
Dr. Joshua Henderson (1871)
1976
Valley Forge
1975
Judgment: The Court Martial of Lt. William Calley
George Latimer
1975
The First Woman President
Woodrow Wilson
1974
Maneater
Carl Brenner
1973
The Birdmen
Schiller
1973
...And Millions Die!
Dr Douglas Pruitt
1973
Rage
Dr. Roy Caldwell
1972
The Bounty Man
Angus Keough
1972
Chato's Land
Nye Buell
1972
Assignment: Munich
Maj. Barney Caldwell
1972
The Death of Me Yet
Robert Barnes
1971
City Beneath the Sea
The President
1971
They've Killed President Lincoln!
Host / Narrator
1971
The Andersonville Trial
Henry Wirz
1970
Sole Survivor
Brig. Gen. Russell Hamner
1970
Hans Brinker
Dr. Boeker
1969
Love Is a Funny Thing
Acteur
1969
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Narrator
1968
Jacqueline Susann and the Valley of the Dolls
1967
The Satan Bug
Dr. Gregor Hoffman
1965
Let My People Go: The Story of Israel
Narrator (voice)
1965
Trial at Nuremberg
Narrator
1964
Four Days In November
Narrator (voice)
1964
Kings of the Sun
Ah Min
1963
The Yanks Are Coming
Narrator (voice)
1963
Hitler
Adolf Hitler
1962
The Savage Guns
Steve Fallon
1961
Visa to Canton
Don Benton
1960
For the Love of Mike
Father Phelan
1960
Portrait in Black
Howard Mason
1960
The Hiding Place
Martin Lambert
1960
Five Branded Women
Eric Reinhardt
1960
The Ambitious One
George Rancourt
1959
Jons und Erdme
Wittkuhn
1959
Love and Troubles
Paolo Martelli
1958
The Brothers Karamazov
Ivan Karamazov
1958
Time Limit
Maj. Harry Cargill
1957
Miracles of Thursday
Martino
1957
So Soon to Die
Lionel Amblin
1957
Moby Dick
Ishmael
1956
The Intimate Stranger
Reginald 'Reggie' Wilson
1956
The Extra Day
Joe Blake
1956
The Swindle
Carlo
1955
The Golden Vein
Ing. Stefano Manfredi
1955
Cartouche
Il conte Jacques de Maudy
1955
Canyon Crossroads
Larry Kendall
1955
La Strada
Il 'Matto'
1954
Jailbirds
Doctor Stefano Luprandi
1954
The Good Die Young
Joe Halsey
1954
The Stranger's Hand
Joe Hamstringer
1954
Titanic
George S. Headley
1953
Decision Before Dawn
Lt. Dick Rennick
1951
Fixed Bayonets!
Cpl. Denno
1951
The House on Telegraph Hill
Alan Spender
1951
Fourteen Hours
Robert Cosick
1951
Outside the Wall
Larry Nelson
1950
Tension
Warren Quimby
1949
Reign of Terror
Maximilian Robespierre
1949
Roseanna McCoy
Mounts Hatfield
1949
He Walked by Night
Roy Martin / Roy Morgan
1949
Cry Wolf
James Caldwell Demarest
1947
Repeat Performance
William Williams
1947