Sanders, George, 1906-1972

George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a Russian-born British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous characters. He is remembered for his roles as the wicked Jack Favell in Rebecca (1940), Scott Ffolliott in Foreign Correspondent (1940, a rare heroic part), The Saran of Gaza in Samson and Delilah (1949, the most popular film of the year), theatre critic Addison DeWitt in All About Eve (1950, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor), Sir Brian De Bois-Guilbert in Ivanhoe (1952), King Richard the Lionheart in King Richard and the Crusaders (1954), Mr. Freeze in a two-part episode of Batman (1966), and the voice of Shere Khan in Disney's The Jungle Book (1967). He also starred as Simon Templar, in five of the eight films in The Saint series (1939–1941), and as a suave Saint-like crimefighter in the first four of the sixteen The Falcon films (1941–1942).