William Sylvester
Birth : 1922-01-31, Oakland, California, USA
Death : 1995-01-25
History
William Sylvester (January 31, 1922 – January 25, 1995) was an American TV and film actor. His most famous film credit was Dr. Heywood Floyd in Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968). Born in Oakland, California and married at one time to the British actress Veronica Hurst, he moved to England after the Second World War and became a staple of British B films at a time when American and Canadian actors were much in demand in order to give indigenous films some appeal in the US.
As a result, he gained top billing in one of his very first films, House of Blackmail (1953), directed by the veteran filmmaker Maurice Elvey, for whom he also made What Every Woman Wants the following year. He also starred in such minor films as The Stranger Came Home (1954, for Hammer), Dublin Nightmare (1958), Offbeat (1960), Information Received (1961), Incident at Midnight, Ring of Spies and Blind Corner (all 1963). There were also lead roles in four British horror films: Gorgo (1960), Devil Doll (1963), Devils of Darkness (1964) and The Hand of Night (1966). Among his many TV credits were a 1959 BBC version of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (playing Mark Antony), The Saint, The Baron, The High Chaparral, Harry O and The Six Million Dollar Man.
His later films included You Only Live Twice (1967) and, back in the USA after his prominent role for Kubrick, Busting (1973), The Hindenburg (1975) and Heaven Can Wait (1978). He died in Sacramento, California in 1995, aged 72.
Sam Slade (archive footage)
Retrospective documentary on the making of Gorgo (1961).
Dr. Heywood R. Floyd (archive footage) (uncredited)
The making of Stanley Kubrick's classic space epic, presented by James Cameron, including unseen footage.
TV Interviewer
When the First Daughter is kidnapped by an African tribe, the President must do what he can to keep them from sacrificing her.
Nuclear Reporter
Joe Pendleton is a quarterback preparing to lead his team to the superbowl when he is almost killed in an accident. An overanxious angel plucks him to heaven only to discover that he wasn't ready to die, and that his body has been cremated. A new body must be found, and that of a recently-murdered millionaire is chosen. His wife and accountant—the murderers—are confused by this development, as he buys the L.A. Rams in order to once again quarterback them into the Superbowl.
Dimwitted, meaty guy foils criminals by turning invisible.
Luftwaffe Colonel
In this highly speculative historical thriller, Colonel Franz Ritter (George C. Scott), a former hero pilot now working for military intelligence, is assigned to the great Hindenburg airship as its chief of security. As he races against the clock to uncover a possible saboteur aboard the doomed zeppelin he finds that any of the passengers and crew could be the culprit.
Mr. Weldman
Two Los Angeles vice squad officers find themselves up against their corrupt superiors when they try to bring a crime boss to justice. During the course of their investigation, the two cops disguise themselves as gay men and raid a gay bar.
Tom Henderson
A young couple inherits an old mansion inhabited by small demon-like creatures who are determined to make the wife one of their own.
Paul Harrison
Tony Petrocelli, a bright young lawyer practicing in the rich cattle town of Baker, becomes embroiled in a murder case.
Brad York
Racers compete in the Grand Prix.
Burt Hickey
Two vehicles lurch across the east African bush, carrying an ill-assorted party of prospectors who have formed a syndicate to search for uranium deposits. As their four-week window for digging starts to close, trouble soon starts amongst the group and there are some sinister 'accidents'... It is obvious that one of the party is trying to sabotage the expedition; but who?
Paul Carver
A tourist travelling through Morocco discovers an ancient curse and must choose between light and dark.
Trumpeter
Musical short, filmed for the abandoned portmanteau film Red, White and Zero (1967).
Dr. Heywood Floyd
Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer.
Paul Baxter
A secret vampire cult, which has its headquarters beneath the town cemetery, searches for victims for its human sacrifice rituals.
Mark English
An evil hyponotist/ventriloquist plots to gain an heiress' millions.
Gordon Lonsdale
The film is based on the actual events of the Portland Spy Ring trial in the U.K. A disgruntled Navy Clerk is transferred to a secret research establishment and is subsequently black-mailed/paid by Czech intelligence to procure secrets for them. He seduces the secretary who controls the most secret documents, and they enjoy the fruits of their treachery until the British authorities begin to close in on them.
Paul Gregory
Paul Gregory (William Sylvester) is an accomplished composer despite his blindness, and his beautiful wife Anne (Barbara Shelley) seems to be the perfect supporting wife. But unknown to Paul, she is having a passionate affair with Ricky (Alexander Davion), a struggling artist. Keen to support her artist lover and give them more time to make love, she persuades Paul to commission Ricky to paint her portrait. But Paul senses their affection for each other, and threatens to cut Anne off without a penny. Desperate to keep both her lover and Paul s money, Anne plots the perfect murder and asks Ricky to carry it out...
Vince Warren
In a late night chemist a shot bank robber has been taken for treatment, and to rendezvous with the gang leader.
Rick Hogan
Drama of an underworld double-cross as a man and woman set a death trap from which only one could possibly escape.
Sam Slade
Greedy sailors capture a giant lizard off the coast of Ireland and sell it to a London circus. Then its mother shows up.
Layton / Steve Ross
When Scotland Yard finds themselves up against a brick wall in tracking down a vicious gang of thieves and bank robbers, they call in Layton, a loner from MI5 to work his way into the gang and help bring them down.
Hermann
The ex-girlfriend (Juliette Greco) of a German fugitive hides with the captain (O.W. Fischer) and crew of a ship on the Rhine.
John Kevin
Loot goes missing in robbery double-cross. Gang members, an ex-lover and a handsome stranger are left to sort it out.
Alec Douglas
After returning home to a rugged island near Nova Scotia, Joanna, daughter of the local bigwig, struggles to choose between three eligible bachelors -- the rebel (Patrick McGoohan), the steadfast friend (Michael Craig) and the poetry-quoting newcomer (William Sylvester). As the local lobster supply dwindles due to overfishing, the island's inhabitants encounter economic difficulties.
Dave Forrester
An actress and an artist are linked by his brother to deadly smugglers sought by Scotland Yard.
Philip Vickers
Someone knocked out a man and left him for dead during a fishing trip in Portugal. That someone is either his fetching wife, or two business partners, all sporting guilty faces after his unexpected return. Two more murders and a frame-up befall the quartet before an inspector closes the case.
Jim Barnes
Young couple Mark and Jane are forced to thrash out marital problems in a borrowed room in Jane’s parents’ tiny house. Meanwhile, Jane’s cousin, Jim - back from the war in Korea - and Mark’s involvement in left-wing politics place further strain on the relationship. Can grandfather help?
Texas
The British inmates of a POW camp think they have an informer among them after several escape attempts fail. One of the prisoners constructs a dummy which they christen "Albert" and use at roll call in order to foil the German guards.
Jimmy
A blackmailer is murdered, and the police find that there is a long list of suspects who wanted to see him dead.
Mac
Wing-commander Tim Mason leads a squadron of Lancaster bombers on almost nightly raids from England. Having flown eighty-seven missions he will shortly be retiring from flying, but the strain is showing. He tries to make sure his men concentrate only on their job and so keeps women away from the base, but then he himself meets naval officer Eve Canyon.
Len Turner
A young boy is blackmailed by a crook who saw him unwittingly cause his friend's death.
American Soldier (uncredited)
The film begins in a WW II training depot of a British Guards armoured regiment where recruits from many walks of life learn to survive the strict discipline and training together before going into battle in tanks. There is a cameo appearance by the real Sgt. Major Brittain who was famous in the British guards regiments.
Giovanni
Exiled from Hollywood due to the blacklist, director Edward Dmytryk briefly operated in England in the late 1940s. Though filmed in its entirety in London, Dmytryk's Give Us This Day is set in New York during the depression. Fellow blacklistee Sam Wanamaker is starred as the head of an Italian immigrant family struggling to survive the economic crisis.
