William Sylvester
William Sylvester (January 31, 1922 – January 25, 1995) was an American TV and film actor. His most famous film credit was Dr. Heywood Floyd in Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968). Born in Oakland, California and married at one time to the British actress Veronica Hurst, he moved to England after the Second World War and became a staple of British B films at a time when American and Canadian actors were much in demand in order to give indigenous films some appeal in the US. As a result, he gained top billing in one of his very first films, House of Blackmail (1953), directed by the veteran filmmaker Maurice Elvey, for whom he also made What Every Woman Wants the following year. He also starred in such minor films as The Stranger Came Home (1954, for Hammer), Dublin Nightmare (1958), Offbeat (1960), Information Received (1961), Incident at Midnight, Ring of Spies and Blind Corner (all 1963). There were also lead roles in four British horror films: Gorgo (1960), Devil Doll (1963), Devils of Darkness (1964) and The Hand of Night (1966). Among his many TV credits were a 1959 BBC version of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (playing Mark Antony), The Saint, The Baron, The High Chaparral, Harry O and The Six Million Dollar Man. His later films included You Only Live Twice (1967) and, back in the USA after his prominent role for Kubrick, Busting (1973), The Hindenburg (1975) and Heaven Can Wait (1978). He died in Sacramento, California in 1995, aged 72.
Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its...
Movie pageHeaven Can Wait
as Nuclear ReporterJoe Pendleton is a quarterback preparing to lead his team to the superbowl when he is almost...
Movie pageDon't Be Afraid of the Dark
as Tom HendersonA young couple inherits an old mansion inhabited by small demon-like creatures who are...
Movie pageGorgo
as Sam SladeGreedy sailors capture a giant lizard off the coast of Ireland and sell it to a London circus....
Movie pageThe Hindenburg
as Luftwaffe ColonelColonel Franz Ritter, a former hero pilot now working for military intelligence, is assigned to...
Movie pageDevil Doll
as Mark EnglishAn evil hyponotist/ventriloquist plots to gain an heiress' millions.
Movie pageBusting
as Mr. WeldmanDefying orders to lay-off the case, two Los Angeles vice-squad cops go after a local mobster and...
Movie pageDevils of Darkness
as Paul BaxterA secret vampire cult, which has its headquarters beneath the town cemetery, searches for...
Movie pageThe Stranger Came Home
as Philip VickersSomeone knocked out a man and left him for dead during a fishing trip in Portugal. That someone...
Movie page2001: The Making of a Myth
as Dr. Heywood R. Floyd (archive footage) (uncredited)The making of Stanley Kubrick's classic space epic, presented by James Cameron, including unseen...
Movie pageAppointment in London
as MacWing-commander Tim Mason leads a squadron of Lancaster bombers on almost nightly raids from...
Movie pagePortrait of Alison
as Dave ForresterAn actress and an artist are linked by his brother to deadly smugglers sought by Scotland Yard.
Movie pageAlbert R.N.
as TexasThe British inmates of a POW camp think they have an informer among them after several escape...
Movie pageFirst Family
as TV Commentator HowardWhen the First Daughter is kidnapped by an African tribe, the President must do what he can to...
Movie pageWhat Every Woman Wants
as Jim BarnesYoung couple Mark and Jane are forced to thrash out marital problems in a borrowed room in...
Movie pageThe Lawyer
as Paul HarrisonTony Petrocelli, a bright young lawyer practicing in the rich cattle town of Baker, becomes...
Movie pageRing of Spies
as Gordon LonsdaleThe film is based on the actual events of the Portland Spy Ring trial in the U.K. A disgruntled...
Movie pageHouse of Blackmail
as JimmyA blackmailer is murdered, and the police find that there is a long list of suspects who wanted...
Movie pageThey Were Not Divided
as American Soldier (uncredited)The film begins in a WW II training depot of a British Guards armoured regiment where recruits...
Movie pageGive Us This Day
as GiovanniExiled from Hollywood due to the blacklist, director Edward Dmytryk briefly operated in England...
Movie pageInformation Received
as Rick HoganDrama of an underworld double-cross as a man and woman set a death trap from which only one...
Movie pageRoger Moore: A Matter Of Class
as Self (archive footage)The story of actor Roger Moore, including clips from his movies, television shows and interviews...
Movie pageRiding with Death
as Leonard DriscollAgent Sam Casey is in a satellite explosion and the radiation turns him invisible. He gets a...
Movie pageThe Yellow Balloon
as Len TurnerA young boy is blackmailed by a crook who saw him unwittingly cause his friend's death.
Movie pageIncident at Midnight
as Vince WarrenIn a late night chemist a shot bank robber has been taken for treatment, and to rendezvous with...
Movie pageRed and Blue
as TrumpeterMusical short, filmed for the abandoned portmanteau film Red, White and Zero (1967).
Movie pageWhirlpool
as HermannThe ex-girlfriend of a German fugitive hides with the captain and crew of a ship on the Rhine.
Movie pageDublin Nightmare
as John KevinLoot goes missing in robbery double-cross. Gang members, an ex-lover and a handsome stranger are...
Movie pageThe Hand of Night
as Paul CarverA tourist travelling through Morocco discovers an ancient curse and must choose between light...
Movie pageBlind Corner
as Paul GregoryPaul Gregory (William Sylvester) is an accomplished composer despite his blindness, and his...
Movie pageThe Syndicate
as Burt HickeyTwo vehicles lurch across the east African bush, carrying an ill-assorted party of prospectors...
Movie pageHigh Tide at Noon
as Alec DouglasAfter returning home to a rugged island near Nova Scotia, Joanna, daughter of the local bigwig,...
Movie pageThe 9th Wonder of the World: The Making of 'Gorgo'
as Sam Slade (archive footage)Retrospective documentary on the making of Gorgo (1961).
Movie pageOffbeat
as Layton / Steve RossWhen Scotland Yard finds themselves up against a brick wall in tracking down a vicious gang of...
Movie pageQuincy, M.E.
as Joe CrawfordLos Angeles County medical examiner Quincy routinely engages in police investigations.
TV Show pageThe Saint
as Foots FortunatiSimon Templar is The Saint, a handsome, sophisticated, debonair, modern-day Robin Hood who...
TV Show pageThe Saint
as Ralph DamienSimon Templar is The Saint, a handsome, sophisticated, debonair, modern-day Robin Hood who...
TV Show pageThe Six Million Dollar Man
as Frederick CollinsFollow the adventures of Steve Austin, cybernetically enhanced astronaut turned secret agent,...
TV Show pageThe Six Million Dollar Man
as Admiral PrescottFollow the adventures of Steve Austin, cybernetically enhanced astronaut turned secret agent,...
TV Show pageThe High Chaparral
as Jack SimmonsThe High Chaparral is an American Western-themed television series starring Leif Erickson and...
TV Show pageThe High Chaparral
as Lafe CroswellThe High Chaparral is an American Western-themed television series starring Leif Erickson and...
TV Show pageCannon
as uncreditedCannon is a CBS detective television series produced by Quinn Martin which aired from March 26,...
TV Show pageBuck Rogers in the 25th Century
as Lt. General Preston Myers20th-century astronaut Buck Rogers awakens in the 25th century after a freak accident puts him...
TV Show pageGreen Acres
as uncreditedGreen Acres is an American sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from...
TV Show pageThe F.B.I.
as Tom BarberThe F.B.I. is an American television series that was broadcast on ABC from 1965 to 1974. It was...
TV Show pageMcCloud
as uncreditedDeputy Marshal Sam McCloud of the small western town of Taos, New Mexico is assigned to the...
TV Show pageThe Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries
as uncreditedThe Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries is a television series which aired for three seasons on ABC....
TV Show pageMarcus Welby, M.D.
as Paul BerwickMarcus Welby, M.D. is an American medical drama television program that aired on ABC from...
TV Show pageSwitch
as EllisSwitch is an American action-adventure, tongue-in-cheek detective series starring Eddie Albert...
TV Show pageThe Magician
as Peter HaydenThe Magician is an American television series that ran during the 1973–1974 season. It starred...
TV Show pageHarry O
as uncreditedAfter being shot in the line of duty, Harry Orwell was forced to retire from the San Diego...
TV Show pageBanacek
as Dr. StahlBanacek is an American detective TV series starring George Peppard that aired on the NBC network...
TV Show pageWhat Really Happened To the Class Of '65?
as uncreditedSam Ashley, a graduate of 1965 class of Bret Harte High School, who was now a teacher at the...
TV Show pageThe Sentimental Agent
as uncreditedThe Sentimental Agent is a television drama series spin-off from Man of the World. It was...
TV Show pageGemini Man
as Leonard DriscollSam Casey is an agent for INTERSECT, a government think-tank and operations center specializing...
TV Show page