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William Sylvester is a Actor American born on 31 january 1922 at California (USA)

William Sylvester

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Birth name William Sylvester
Nationality USA
Birth 31 january 1922 at California (USA)
Death 25 january 1995 (at 72 years) at Butte County (USA)

William Sylvester (January 31, 1922 – January 25, 1995) was an American television and film actor. His most famous film credit was Dr. Heywood Floyd in Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968). Sylvester declined to reprise his role in the film 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), in which he was replaced by Roy Scheider. Scheider is generally regarded as having been mis-cast for the part, with such a vast difference in mannerisms and appearance between Sylvester and Scheider such that the roles have periodically been mistaken for different characters [1].

Born in Oakland, California and married at one time to the British actress Veronica Hurst, he moved to England after World War II 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 United States.

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 A 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 television credits were a 1959 BBC version of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (playing Mark Antony), The Saint, The Baron, The High Chaparral, Harry O, Danger Man, The Six Million Dollar Man and Quincy, M.E..

His later films included You Only Live Twice (1967) and, back in the United States after his prominent role for Kubrick, Busting (1974), The Hindenburg (1975) and Heaven Can Wait (1978). He died in Sacramento, California in 1995, age 72.

Biography

À la suite de son mariage avec l'actrice britannique Veronica Hurst, et après la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, William Sylvester émigre en Grande-Bretagne.

Dans les années 1950, il enregistre des fictions radiophoniques et joue dans de nombreuses séries télévisées (notamment des productions de la BBC), et apparaît dans bon nombre de films mineurs. On retiendra sa prestation auprès de Juliette Gréco dans une importante production britannique, La Lorelei brune de Lewis Allen (1959).

Au début des années 1960, il tourne une suite de films d'horreur de série B dont les Britanniques ont le secret : Gorgo (1961), La Poupée sanglante (1964), Orgie satanique (1965), etc.

On l'aperçoit dans le cinquième opus britannique des aventures de James Bond, On ne vit que deux fois (1967), mais c'est au réalisateur américain Stanley Kubrick qu'il doit sa célébrité avec le rôle du professeur Heywood R. Floyd dans 2001, l'Odyssée de l'espace (1968).

William Sylvester continue sa carrière jusqu'au début des années 1980 en enchaînant téléfilms, séries télévisées, et en figurant dans des productions américaines notables comme L'Odyssée du Hindenburg (1975) et Le ciel peut attendre (1978).