Sydney Greenstreet Overview:

Legendary character actor, Sydney Greenstreet, was born Sydney Hughes Greenstreet on Dec 27, 1879 in Sandwich, Kent. Greenstreet died at the age of 74 on Jan 18, 1954 in Hollywood, CA and was laid to rest in Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Cemetery in Glendale, CA.

MINI BIO:

Huge English actor with impeccable diction and tiny, hostile features above a bulky body that at one time reached 325 pounds. A massive hit in more ways than one as the fat man in The Maltese Falcon - his first film at 61 - and a regular in Warner Brothers films after that throughout the forties. Ill-health forced him to retire earlier than the studio would have wished. Most popular of all in films that teamed him with Peter Lorre - a kind of Laurel and Hardy in Hell. He was once a tea planter in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). Died from Bright's Disease complicated by diabetes. Oscar-nominated for The Maltese Falcon.

(Source: available at Amazon Quinlan's Film Stars).

HONORS and AWARDS:

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Although Greenstreet was nominated for one Oscar, he never won a competitive Academy Award.

Academy Awards

YearAwardFilm nameRoleResult
1941Best Supporting ActorThe Maltese Falcon (1941)Kaspar GutmanNominated
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BlogHub Articles:

By Amanda Garrett on Dec 17, 2016 From Old Hollywood Films

Today, I'm looking at the life and career of character actor . This article is part of the Fifth Annual What a Character! Blogathon hosted by Paula's Cinema Club, Once Upon a Screen, and Outspoken and Freckled. The wonderful character actor didn't make his ... Read full article


Flamingo Road (1949) with Joan Crawford and

By Orson De Welles on Jun 9, 2016 From Classic Film Freak

Share This! A wrong girl for the right side of the tracks. Director Michael Curtiz reunited with Mildred Pierce star Joan Crawford for 1949?s Flamingo Road, a Southern story with noir leanings full of politics and intrigue.? Thankfully the politics never take center stage and stay in the near backgr... Read full article


How many Films did and Peter Lorre Star in Together?

By Annmarie Gatti on Dec 27, 2015 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

An Iconic Pair: and Peter Lorre made his Feature Film Debut in 1941 at the age of 62 as “Fat Man” Kasper Gutman in The Maltese Falcon.?The film also featured Peter Lorre, as the shady Joel Cairo, and of course Humphrey Bogart as private eye Sam Spade... Read full article


Seven Things to Know About

By Rick29 on Nov 19, 2015 From Classic Film & TV Cafe

1. did not appear in a movie until he was 62. His film debut was pretty memorable, though—he played Kasper Gutman in The Maltese Falcon. 2. Despite a number of popular supporting performances (e.g., Casablanca, Christmas in Connecticut, Devotion), etc., he received only one... Read full article


By Bogart Fan on Aug 10, 2014 From The Bogie Film Blog

Birth Name: Sydney Hughes Greenstreet Birthdate: December 27, 1879 Date of Death: January 18, 1954 Number of Films made with Humphrey Bogart: 5 The Actor The son of a leather merchant, spent some time working in both the tea industry and a brewery before finall... Read full article


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Sydney Greenstreet Quotes:

Colonel Robinson: [To Rudick] In international diplomacy, the shortest distance between two points is never a straight line.


Dr. Mark Hamilton: I knew everything there was to know, but I didn't know enough to get married.


Kasper Gutman: Well, sir, what do you suggest? We stand here and shed tears and call each other names... or shall we go to Istanbul?
Joel Cairo: Are you going?
Kasper Gutman: Seventeen years I've wanted that little item and I've been trying to get it. If we must spend another year on the quest... well, sir, it will be an additional expenditure in time of only... five and fifteen seventeenths percent.


read more quotes from Sydney Greenstreet...



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Best Supporting Actor Oscar 1941






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Sydney Greenstreet Facts
Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, California, USA, in the Utility Columbarium area of the Great Mausoleum (not accessible for public viewing).

Starred as the title character on NBC Radio's "The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe" (1950-1951).

Partially inspired the appearance of Jabba the Hut in the "Star Wars" series. When asked what the intergalactic gangster should look like by the designer, George Lucas replied, "A big blob, a huge mass of matter." The designer immediately thought of Greenstreet in Casablanca (1942). At one point during the production, a fez was placed on the final Jabba's head, to make him look like Greenstreet.

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