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Donald Sinden is a Actor British born on 9 october 1923 at Plymouth (United-kingdom)

Donald Sinden

Donald Sinden
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Birth name Donald Alfred Sinden
Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 9 october 1923 at Plymouth (United-kingdom)
Death 11 september 2014 (at 90 years)
Awards Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire

Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE FRSA (9 October 1923 – 12 September 2014) was an English actor in theatre, film, television and radio as well as an author.

Achieving early fame as a Rank Organisation film star in the 1950s, Sinden then became highly regarded as an award-winning Shakespearean and West End theatre actor and television sit-com star.

Biography

Sinden was born in St Budeaux, Plymouth, Devon on 9 October 1923. The middle child of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes (née Fuller), he had an elder sister (Joy) and a younger brother Leon (born 1927, also an actor). They grew up in Ditchling, where their home, "The Limes", doubled as the local chemist shop.

According to his second autobiography, while investigating his family genealogy he discovered that the only previous relatives who were also members of the theatrical profession were the Victorian brother and sister act of Bert and Topsy Sinden, who were distant cousins. Topsy achieved "some fame as a 'skirt dancer' and première danseuse at the Empire Theatre of Varieties in Leicester Square."

He was colour blind and suffered from asthma, which prevented him from joining the armed forces during the Second World War and suffered from negative buoyancy, meaning that he was unable to float or swim in water, which was discovered while filming The Cruel Sea when the ship was sinking. Co-star Jack Hawkins saved him from drowning in the open air water-tank at Denham Studios.

He died at his home in Wittersham on the Isle of Oxney, Kent, on 12 September 2014, aged 90, from prostate cancer which had been diagnosed several years earlier. The participants at his funeral on the 19 September in St John the Baptist Church, Wittersham were Dame Judi Dench, his grandson Hal Sinden and Sir Patrick Stewart. The eulogy was read by Lord Archer. An Honorary Life Member and Trustee of the Garrick Club in London, which he joined in 1960, he was buried in a coffin painted in the Club's 'salmon and cucumber' colours.

It was announced that his estate on his death was valued at £2.3 million.

A Blue Plaque in his memory was attached to his former family home in Hampstead Garden Suburb in 2015.

Best films

The Island at the Top of the World (1974)
(Actor)
Mogambo (1953)
(Actor)

Usually with

Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Donald Sinden (38 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

Nancherrow
Nancherrow (1999)
, 3h
Directed by Simon Langton
Genres Drama
Actors Joanna Lumley, Tristan Gemmill, Robert Hardy, Lynda Baron, Susan Hampshire, Patrick Ryecart
Roles Robin Jarvis
Rating59% 2.9539752.9539752.9539752.9539752.953975
After the Colonel dies it is his irrepressible daughter, Loveday, who inherits the house and all of its problems. Bewitched by the magic of Nancherrow, Loveday fights to keep the estate going so that, in time, her young son Nat may inherit same, while dealing with the reappearance of her one true love Gus and her failing marriage to Walter.
Alice in Wonderland, 2h9
Directed by Nick Willing
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Science fiction, Fantastic, Fantasy
Themes Films about animals, Films about magic and magicians, Films about cats, Mise en scène d'un lapin ou d'un lièvre, Films based on Alice in Wonderland, Children's films, Mise en scène d'un mammifère
Actors Tina Majorino, Miranda Richardson, Martin Short, Whoopi Goldberg, Simon Russell Beale, Robbie Coltrane
Roles Gryphon (voice)
Rating63% 3.150063.150063.150063.150063.15006
The film follows the storyline of the book closely, save for adding some scenes from Through the Looking-Glass. It also changes the opening real world scene from Alice and her sister sitting at a riverbank to Alice in her bedroom, reluctantly practicing the song "Cherry Ripe", which she is expected to perform at a garden party. (The party guests are played by the same actors as the Wonderland characters, and are shown as resembling them in appearance and personality, in a similar manner to the MGM version of The Wizard of Oz. The toys in Alice's room also reflect the residents of Wonderland). Thanks to stage fright, and constant nagging from her confident music teacher, Alice runs out of the house and hides herself in the woods nearby until the party has ended. However, an apple floats down from the tree and seems to hover in Alice's face. She is suddenly distracted by a human-sized White Rabbit (voiced by Richard Coombs) rushing by. Curious, Alice follows the White Rabbit, falling down his rabbit hole and ending up in Wonderland.
The Treasure Seekers
Genres Drama, Comedy
Actors Camilla Power, Felicity Jones, Donald Sinden, Janet Henfrey, Patsy Byrne, John Sessions
Roles Old Wincott
Rating62% 3.1447853.1447853.1447853.1447853.144785
Cinq enfants à l'imagination débordante tentent par tous les moyens de rétablir la fortune familiale. Persuadés que leur demeure recèle de trésors cachés, ils partent en quête d'une richesse aussi vaste que leurs rêves fantaisistes. Faisant face à la réalité du monde des adultes, ces enfants découvriront bien vite que leur quête elle-même constitue ce trésor perdu : le Rêve de l'enfance !
The Canterville Ghost, 1h32
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Thriller, Comedy, Fantasy
Themes Ghost films
Actors Patrick Stewart, Neve Campbell, Cherie Lunghi, Raymond Pickard, Joan Sims, Donald Sinden
Roles Mr. Umney
Rating61% 3.098113.098113.098113.098113.09811
Hiram Otis comes to England with his wife, daughter and two sons on a research grant; he and his family will live in a castle called Canterville Hall. But the Castle is haunted by the ghost of a deceased ancestor, Sir Simon de Canterville, doomed to remain on the estate after the death of his wife; his goal is to send the family packing so he begins a ghostly reign of terror: reappearing bloodstains, clanking chains, haunting moans. As is revealed by Lord Canterville (Sir Simon's descendant) and the servants Mr. and Mrs. Umney, numerous people have stayed at Canterville Hall in the last few years and have all been scared away by Sir Simon - the locals start betting on how long the Otis family will stay.
Balto
Balto (1995)
, 1h18
Directed by Simon Wells
Origin USA
Genres Adventure, Animation
Themes Films about animals, Films about dogs, Wolves in film, Mise en scène d'un ours, Children's films, Mise en scène d'un mammifère
Actors Kevin Bacon, Bob Hoskins, Bridget Fonda, Jim Cummings, Phil Collins, Juliette Brewer
Roles a doctor
Rating71% 3.5536153.5536153.5536153.5536153.553615
In present-day at New York City, an elderly woman and her granddaughter are walking through Central Park, looking for a memorial statue. As they seat themselves for a rest, the grandmother tells a story about Nome, Alaska, back in 1925 which shifts the film from live-action to animation.
That Lucky Touch, 1h29
Directed by Christopher Miles
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy, Crime
Themes Films about writers, Films about journalists
Actors Roger Moore, Susannah York, Jamila Massey, Shelley Winters, Lee J. Cobb, Jean-Pierre Cassel
Roles British Gen. Armstrong
Rating48% 2.4213852.4213852.4213852.4213852.421385
An international arms dealer, at a NATO meeting to sell weaponry, becomes entangled with a female journalist from the Washington Post whose worldview is very different to his.
The Island at the Top of the World, 1h34
Directed by Robert Stevenson, Arthur J. Vitarelli
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Fantastic, Fantasy, Action, Adventure
Themes Films about animals, Seafaring films, Transport films, Aviation films, Cétacé, Films based on science fiction novels, Films set in the Viking Age, Steampunk films, Children's films, Mise en scène d'un cétacé
Actors Donald Sinden, David Hartman, Jacques Marin, Mako Iwamatsu, David Gwillim, Lasse Kolstad
Roles Sir Anthony Ross
Rating62% 3.102613.102613.102613.102613.10261
In London in the year 1907, a British aristocrat named Sir Anthony Ross (Donald Sinden) hastily arranges an expedition to the Arctic to search for his lost son Donald. Donald had become lost on a whaling expedition to find the fabled island where whales go to die.
The Day of the Jackal, 2h23
Directed by Fred Zinnemann, Andrew Marton, Alain Bonnot
Origin France
Genres Thriller, Action
Themes Assassinat, Spy films, La provence, Political films, Histoire de France
Actors Edward Fox, Michael Lonsdale, Michel Auclair, Terence Alexander, Derek Jacobi, Alan Badel
Roles Mallinson
Rating77% 3.8979153.8979153.8979153.8979153.897915
In the Paris suburb of Petit-Clamart on 22 August 1962, an assassination attempt is made on the President of France General Charles de Gaulle by the militant French underground organisation OAS in anger over the French government granting independence to Algeria. As the president's motorcade passes, de Gaulle's unarmoured Citroën DS car is raked with machine gun fire, but the entire entourage escapes without injury. Within six months, OAS leader Jean Bastien-Thiry and several other members of the plot are captured and Bastien-Thiry is executed.
Father Dear Father, 1h39
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Actors Patrick Cargill, Natasha Pyne, Noël Dyson, Ursula Howells, Jack Watling, Donald Sinden
Roles Philip Glover
Rating49% 2.491212.491212.491212.491212.49121
Patrick feels his daughters need a mother so he decides to marry his agent Georgie (Jill Melford), only to then mistakenly propose to the cleaning lady (Beryl Reid).
Rentadick
Rentadick (1972)

Directed by Jim Clark
Genres Comedy
Actors James Booth, Richard Briers, Julie Ege, Ronald Fraser, Donald Sinden, Tsai Chin
Roles Jeffrey Armitage
Rating40% 2.0105552.0105552.0105552.0105552.010555
Villain
Villain (1971)
, 1h38
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Crime
Themes Films about sexuality, LGBT-related films, Heist films, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related film
Actors Richard Burton, Ian McShane, T.P. McKenna, Donald Sinden, Nigel Davenport, Fiona Lewis
Roles Gerald Draycott
Rating64% 3.246023.246023.246023.246023.24602
Ruthless East End gangster Vic Dakin has plans for an ambitious raid on the wages van of a plastics factory. This is a departure from Dakin's usual modus operandi and the job is further complicated by his having to work with fellow gangster Frank Fletcher's firm.
Decline and Fall ...of a Birdwatcher, 1h53
Directed by John Krish
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy, Musical
Themes Musical films
Actors Robin Phillips, Colin Blakely, Michael Elwyn, Kenneth Griffith, Donald Wolfit, Leo McKern
Roles The Prison Governor
Rating56% 2.820212.820212.820212.820212.82021
Paul Pennyfeather is an Oxford divinity student who finds himself expelled after a gang of drunken freshmen remove his pants and he is accused of exposing himself to a girl. Looking for work, he retains the services of an unsavory employment agency that secures a position for him at a sleazy Welsh boarding school for boys, presided over by the colorful Dr. Fagan. On staff at the school are an assortment of distasteful screwballs; Mr. Prendergast (Robert Harris) is a withdrawn former clergyman; Captain Grimes is a one-legged two-timer with his eye on Fagan's daughter, Flossie; and Soloman Philbrick is an undercover criminal posing as Fagan's butler.
Mix Me a Person, 1h56
Directed by Leslie Norman
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Crime
Actors Donald Sinden, Anne Baxter, Adam Faith, Walter Brown, Carole Ann Ford, Anthony Booth
Roles Philip Bellamy, QC
Rating61% 3.096683.096683.096683.096683.09668
Phillip Bellamy, a leading barrister, tells his wife, psychiatrist Anne Dyson, about his most recent case defending a young layabout, Harry Jukes, who has apparently shot a policemen on a country road and been found by police still holding the gun. Bellamy is convinced of his guilt, but Anne is less sure. Much of her practice is with troubled young people and she feels there is more to the story than the police evidence.