George Zucco
George Zucco was a British character actor who appeared in plays and 96 films, mostly American-made, during a career spanning over two decades, from the 1920s to 1951. In his films, he often played a suave villain, a member of nobility, or a mad doctor.
Early life and family
George Desylla Zucco was born in Manchester, Lancashire, on 11 January 1886. His mother Marian ran a dressmaking business. His father, George De Sylla Zucco, was a Greek merchant from Corfu who became a naturalised British subject in 1865.
Zucco debuted on the Canadian stage in 1908 in a stock theater company.
He returned to the UK and served as a lieutenant in the British Army's West Yorkshire Regiment during the First World War. He lost the use of two fingers when he was shot in the right arm in France. When the war ended, he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and later taught there.
He became a leading stage actor of the 1920s, and made his film debut as Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac in The Dreyfus Case, a British film dramatising the Dreyfus Affair.
Career
Zucco returned to the United States in 1935 to play Benjamin Disraeli in Victoria Regina, and appeared with Gary Cooper and George Raft in Souls at Sea.
He played Professor Moriarty in The Adventures of [Sherlock Holmes (film)|The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes], opposite Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. Zucco earned a reputation as a bespectacled, nefarious character in films such as After the Thin Man, Fast Company, Arrest Bulldog Drummond, Charlie Chan in Honolulu, The Cat and the Canary, and My Favorite Blonde.
During the 1940s, he took every role he was offered, landing himself in B-films and Universal horror films, including The Mummy's Hand, The Mummy's Tomb, The Mad Monster, The Mad Ghoul, Dead Men Walk, The Mummy's Ghost, House of Frankenstein, and Tarzan and the Mermaids. He was reunited with Basil Rathbone in another Sherlock Holmes adventure, Sherlock Holmes in Washington, this time playing not Moriarty, but a Nazi spy.
Last years and death
After playing a bit part in David and Bathsheba, Zucco undertook a role in The Desert Fox, but suffered a stroke one day on the set, and never significantly recovered. He suffered from stroke-induced dementia for the rest of his life, and he died on 27 May 1960 from pneumonia in a nursing facility in Hollywood, aged 74.
Personal life
He and his wife, Stella Francis, had a daughter, Frances, who died of throat cancer at age 30, and a grandson, George Zucco. Stella Zucco died from natural causes on May 11, 1999, aged 99, in Woodland Hills, California.
Filmography
Dreyfus as Cavaignac There Goes the Bride as Prosecutor The Midshipmaid as Lord DoreThe Good Companions as FauntleyThe Roof as James RentonThe Man from Toronto as SquireAutumn Crocus as Reverend MayneSomething Always Happens as Proprietor of the Maison de Paris The Lady Is Willing as Man from Reclamation Agent What Happened Then? as Inspector HullWhat's in a Name? as FootRoad House as Hotel Manager Abdul the Damned as Officer of the Firing SquadIt's a Bet as Convict The Common Round as Dr. PykeThe Man Who Could Work Miracles as The Colonel's ButlerSinner Take All as BascombAfter the Thin Man as Dr. KammerParnell as Sir Charles RussellSaratoga as Dr. Harmsworth BierdLondon by Night as Inspector JeffersonSouls at Sea as Barton WoodleyThe Firefly as Secret Service ChiefMadame X as Dr. LaFargeThe Bride Wore Red as Count ArmaliaConquest as Sen. Malachowski Rosalie as General MaroffArsène Lupin Returns as Prefect of PoliceThree Comrades as Dr. Plauten Lord Jeff as James 'Jim' HampsteadFast Company as Otto BrocklerMarie Antoinette as Governor of Conciergerie Vacation from Love as Dr. WaxtonSuez as Prime MinisterArrest Bulldog Drummond as Rolf AlfersonCharlie Chan in Honolulu as Dr. CardiganCaptain Fury as Arnold TristThe Magnificent Fraud as Dr. Luis VirgoThe Adventures of Sherlock Holmes as Professor MoriartyHere I Am a Stranger as James K. SpauldingThe Cat and the Canary as Lawyer CrosbyThe Hunchback of Notre Dame as ProcuratorNew Moon as Vicomte RibaudThe Mummy's Hand as AndohebArise, My Love as Prison GovernorDark Streets of Cairo as AbbadiThe Monster and the Girl as Dr. ParryTopper Returns as Dr. JerisA Woman's Face as Defense AttorneyInternational Lady as WebsterEllery Queen and the Murder Ring as Dr. Edwin L. JanneryMy Favorite Blonde as Dr. Hugo StregerThe Mad Monster as Dr. CameronHalfway to Shanghai as Peter van HoostDr. Renault's Secret as Dr. Robert RenaultThe Mummy's Tomb as AndohebThe Black Swan as Lord DenbyDead Men Walk as Dr. Lloyd Clayton/Dr. Elwyn ClaytonSherlock Holmes in Washington as StanleyThe Black Raven as Amos Bradford aka The RavenHoly Matrimony as Mr. CrepitudeThe Mad Ghoul as Dr. Alfred MorrisNever a Dull Moment as Tony RoccoVoodoo Man as NicholasThe Mummy's Ghost as High PriestReturn of the Ape Man as Ape Man The Seventh Cross as FahrenburgShadows in the Night as Frank SwiftHouse of Frankenstein as Professor Bruno LampiniFog Island as Leo GraingerHaving Wonderful Crime as King aka The Great MovelSudan as HoradefMidnight Manhunt as JelkeWeek-End at the Waldorf as Bey of AribajanConfidential Agent as Detective GeddesHold That Blonde as Dr. Pavel StoraskyThe Flying Serpent as Prof. Andrew ForbesScared to Death as Dr. Joseph Van EeThe Imperfect Lady as Mr. MallamMoss Rose as Craxton - the butlerLured as Officer H. R. BarrettDesire Me as Father DonnardWhere There's Life as Paul StertoriusCaptain from Castile as Marquis De CarvajalTarzan and the Mermaids as Palanth - The High PriestWho Killed Doc Robbin as Doc Hugo RobbinThe Pirate as The ViceroySecret Service Investigator as Otto DagoffJoan of Arc as Constable of ClervauxThe Secret Garden as Dr. FortescueThe Barkleys of Broadway as The JudgeMadame Bovary as DuBocageHarbor of Lost Men as H.G. DanzigerLet's Dance as Judge MackenzieFlame of Stamboul as The VoiceThe First Legion as Father Robert StuartDavid and Bathsheba as Egyptian Ambassador