
Acting
Born August 31, 1914 · Zanesville, Ohio, USA
John Richard Basehart (August 31, 1914 – September 17, 1984) was an American actor. He starred in the 1960s television science fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in the role of Admiral Harriman Nelson. One of his most notable film roles was the acrobat known as "the Fool" in the acclaimed Italian film La strada directed by Federico Fellini. He also appeared as the killer in the film noir classic He Walked by Night (1948), as a psychotic member of the Hatfield clan in Roseanna McCoy (1949), as Ishmael in Moby Dick (1956), and in the drama Decision Before Dawn (1951). He was married to Italian Academy Award-nominated actress Valentina Cortese, with whom he had one son before their divorce in 1960. Cortese and Basehart also costarred in Robert Wise's The House on Telegraph Hill (1951). Basehart was also noted for his deep, distinctive voice and was prolific as a narrator of many television and movie projects ranging from features to documentaries. In 1980, Basehart narrated the mini-series written by Peter Arnett called Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War that covered Vietnam and its battles from the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945 to the final American embassy evacuation on April 30, 1975. He appeared in the pilot episode of the television series Knight Rider as billionaire Wilton Knight. He is the narrator at the beginning of the show's credits. In 1971, Basehart played "Captain Sligo", a comical Irishman with a pet buffalo who negotiates a flawed but legal cattle purchase and unconventionally courts a widow with two children, played by Salome Jens, in CBS's western series, Gunsmoke, with James Arness. Basehart appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-O, and as Hannibal Applewood, an abusive schoolteacher in Little House on the Prairie in 1976. In 1972, he appeared in the Columbo episode Dagger of the Mind in which he and Honor Blackman played a husband-and-wife theatrical team who were loose parodies of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. In the feature realm, he played a supporting role as a doctor in Rage (1972), a theatrical feature starring and directed by George C. Scott. He made a few TV movies including Sole Survivor (1970) and The Birdmen (1971). Both were based on true stories during World War II. He died at age 70 following a series of strokes. One month before his death, Basehart was an announcer for the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Plays Itself
2004

The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
2002

Bix: Ain't None of Them Play Like Him Yet
1982

Knight Rider: Knight of the Phoenix
1982

Egypt: Quest for Eternity
1982

Marilyn: The Untold Story
1980

Being There
1979

Land of Celtic Ghosts
1979

Planet Mars
1979

The Great Bank Hoax
1978

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
1978

The Island of Dr. Moreau
1977

Flood!
1977

Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model?
1977

21 Hours at Munich
1976

Mansion of the Doomed
1976

Time Travelers
1976

Valley Forge
1975

Judgment: The Court Martial of Lt. William Calley
1975

The First Woman President
1974

Maneater
1973

The Birdmen
1973

...And Millions Die!
1973

Rage
1972

The Bounty Man
1972

Chato's Land
1972

Assignment: Munich
1972

The Death of Me Yet
1971