Basil Gill (10 March 1877 – 23 April 1955) was a British stage actor and film actor. His stage career included many roles in plays of Shakespeare.

Life

He was a son of the Rev. John Gill, of Cambridge.Obituary, ''The Glasgow Herald'', page 9, 25 April 1955. His first stage appearance, in Bury, Lancashire in 1897, was in '' The Sign of the Cross'' ( Wilson Barrett's most successful play); the following year he appeared in this play in London. He then toured Australia and the US with ''The Sign of the Cross'' and ''

Ben-Hur Ben-Hur or Ben Hur may refer to: Fiction *'' Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ'', an 1880 novel by American general and author Lew Wallace ** ''Ben-Hur'' (play), a play that debuted on Broadway in 1899 ** ''Ben Hur'' (1907 film), a one-reel silent ...

''. In 1903 he joined

Herbert Beerbohm Tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (17 December 1852 – 2 July 1917) was an English actor and Actor-manager, theatre manager. Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre in the West End theatre, West End, winning ...

's company at

His Majesty's Theatre, London His Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated in the Haymarket, London, Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The building, designed by Charles J. Phipps, was constructed in 1897 for the actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who ...

, and appeared in plays of Shakespeare, playing several important roles. He left the company in 1907. He continued to perform, into the 1930s, in Shakespeare's plays during his career. As well as being a Shakespearean actor, he was regarded as a

matinée idol Matinée idol is a term used mainly to describe film or theatre stars who are adored to the point of adulation by their fans. The term almost exclusively refers to adult male actors. Matinée idols often tend to play romantic and dramatic ...

and played romantic parts in modern plays.Basil Gill
Shakespeare and the Players, accessed 18 August 2015. His career as a

film actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

started with ''

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

'' (1911): he appeared with Beerbohm Tree, on whose version of the play the film was based. In 1926, Gill appeared in two short films made in the De Forest

Phonofilm Phonofilm is an optical sound-on-film system developed by inventors Lee de Forest and Theodore Case in the early 1920s. In 1919 and 1920, de Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patents on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofi ...

sound-on-film process, ''Santa Claus'' as the title character, and ''

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

'' as Brutus. He appeared in many more films, the last being ''

The Citadel The Citadel Military College of South Carolina (simply known as The Citadel) is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Established in 1842, it is the third oldest of the six senior military colleges ...

'' of 1938.Basil Gill
BFI Database, accessed 18 August 2015.

Partial filmography

* ''

'' (1911) * ''

On the Banks of Allan Water ''On the Banks of Allan Water'' is a 1916 British silent film directed by Wilfred Noy Wilfred Noy (born Wilfred Noy Blumberg, 24 December 1883 – 29 March 1948) was an English film director, actor, screenwriter and film producer, produce ...

'' (1916) * ''

Missing the Tide ''Missing the Tide'' is a 1918 British silent drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually ...

'' (1918) * ''

The Admirable Crichton ''The Admirable Crichton'' is a comic stage play written in 1902 by J. M. Barrie. Origins Barrie took the title from the sobriquet of a fellow Scotland, Scot, the polymath James Crichton, a 16th-century genius and athlete. The epigram-loving E ...

'' (1918) * '' The Homemaker'' (1919) * '' The Soul of Guilda Lois'' (1919) * '' The Rocks of Valpre'' (1919) * '' God's Good Man'' (1919) * ''Julius Caesar'' (1926) short film of excerpt of Shakespeare's play, filmed in Phonofilm process * ''Santa Claus'' (1926) with Gill as title character * ''

The School for Scandal ''The School for Scandal'' is a comedy of manners written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on 8 May 1777. Plot Act I Scene I: Lady Sneerwell, a wealthy young widow, and her hireling S ...

'' (1930) * '' Mrs. Dane's Defence'' (1933) * ''

The Divine Spark ''The Divine Spark'' is a 1935 British musical film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Marta Eggerth, Phillips Holmes, Benita Hume and Donald Calthrop. An Italian-language version ''Casta Diva (1935 film), Casta Diva'' was shot simultaneou ...

'' (1935) * '' Immortal Gentleman'' (1935) * ''

Royal Cavalcade ''Royal Cavalcade'', also known as ''Regal Cavalcade'', is a 1935 British, black-and-white, drama film directed by six separate directors: Thomas Bentley (Supervising Director), Herbert Brenon, Norman Lee, Walter Summers, W. P. Kellino and M ...

'' (1935) * ''

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

'' (1936) * '' Gaol Break'' (1936) * '' His Lordship'' (1936) * '' The Crimson Circle'' (1936) * '' I, Claudius'' (1937) * ''

St Martin's Lane St Martin's Lane is a street in the City of Westminster, which runs from the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, after which it is named, near Trafalgar Square northwards to Long Acre. At its northern end, it becomes Monmouth Street, London, Mo ...

'' (1938) * '' Dangerous Medicine'' (1938) – Sir Francis * ''

'' (1938)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gill, Basil 1877 births 1955 deaths Male actors from Birkenhead English male stage actors English male film actors English male silent film actors 20th-century English male actors