By Meaghan Walsh Gerard
He had a deep, sonorous voice, a wave of perfect hair, and a wry smile. He could deliver a biting remake with a layer of smarm, or shine as a suave and gentle hero. It was certainly how he amassed nearly 150 screen credits and won a best supporting Oscar. He even lent his vocal talents to Disney classics and crooning records. Yet, his personal life was far less smooth. Married and divorced four times (including to two Gabor sisters), and winner of a Sour Apple award for Least Cooperative Actor, he cheekily titled his autobiography Memoirs of a Professional Cad. From playing Mr. Freeze on the classic Batman television show, to the suave spy Simon Templar, there are dozens of fabulous performances from George Sanders to savor.
One of his most well-known roles, Sanders plays slimy Jack Favell, cousin to the evil Mrs. Danvers. He brings an unsettling and nonspecific threatening aura to an already disorientingly layered film. Being cast in Hitchcock’s first American movie not only put him in front of appreciative audiences, it introduced him to the studio heads at RKO, a partnership that lasted most of his career. Also check out his role in Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent the same year.
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
Cementing his persona as a cad is his performance in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Based on the novel by Oscar Wilde, it’s a witty treatise, with a tinge of horror, on youth, pride, and friendship. Sanders plays the influential Lord Wotton who convinces Gray to sell his soul for eternal youth and beauty. The film was shot in black and white, but features color inserts for the portrait. It also earned Angela Lansbury her second Oscar nomination.
Lured (1947)
Probably my favorite movie that no one’s heard of. It stars Lucille Ball before “I Love Lucy.”
She is enlisted by London police to help them trap a killer who preys on young women via the personal ads. While not the slapstick comedy America would later come to expect from the redhead, her sense of humor is evident. She is delightful against Sanders’ silky smooth persona and under the lush direction of Douglas Sirk.
The Ghost and Mrs Muir (1947)
Paired with another actor who often played the cad in Rex Harrison, George Sanders plays the charming publisher who woos a writer, played by Gene Tierney.
Living alone in a cliffside cottage, she falls in love with the charismatic ghost of a sea captain. The two decide to turn the captain’s life story into books, and the ghost realizes he must disappear from her memory so she can have a chance at happiness in life. It’s a sweet and often funny story.
All About Eve (1950)
Bette Davis plays Margo, a popular but aging Broadway star, worried about her staying power. She is introduced to a wide-eyed Eve, played by Anne Baxter. Slowly, Eve ingratiates herself into Margo’s life until she threatens to usurp her place on stage.
Sanders is the sly theater critic turned blackmailer, a role which earned him a best supporting actor Oscar (the film won four total, including Best Picture). It would be Sanders’s only Academy Award in a long career. Watch for a small role for an unknown Marilyn Monroe.
Village of the Damned (1960)
In answer to the post-Atomic era and in the throes of the Cold War, Village of the Damned is a tense, sci-fi flick that stands up. Like the best of “The Twilight Zone,” the film breeds a vague sense of dread in the most mundane moments of daily life.
Sanders plays the rational professor who is torn by the findings that will affect his own family. Creepy, stylish, and dramatic, it’s a modern classic.
The Jungle Book (1967)
Sanders lent his smooth voice to Disney’s The Jungle Book as the villainous tiger Shere Khan. Sanders had starred in the live action Disney film In Search of the Castaways and became friends with Walt Disney.
The story is that Walt saw Sanders in the early sketches of the tiger and cast him. The Jungle Book was the last produced by Walt Disney (he died while it was being completed) and became the second-highest-grossing animated film in the United States and Canada.
Meaghan Walsh Gerard has been writing about films (especially classic ones) and books (especially gothic ones) for more than ten years on her site. She is obsessed with the art of storytelling and holds a master’s degree in cinema studies. Meaghan has been a DVD Netflix member since 2003. Follow Meaghan at mwgerard.com, on Twitter @mwgerard, or Facebook and Instagram.