Name
William Sylvester
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1922-01-31
Deathday
1995-01-25 (73 years old)
Place of Birth
Oakland, California, USA
Biography
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.
Known For
8.049
Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find i...
6.59
A mysterious spacecraft captures Russian and American space capsules and brings the two su...
5.5
Someone knocked out a man and left him for dead during a fishing trip in Portugal. That so...
6.4
A blackmailer is murdered, and the police find that there is a long list of suspects who w...
6.647
Joe Pendleton is a quarterback preparing to lead his team to the superbowl when he is almo...
6.6
The making of Stanley Kubrick's classic space epic, presented by James Cameron, including ...
6.3
Colonel Franz Ritter, a former hero pilot now working for military intelligence, is assign...
6.531
Wing-commander Tim Mason leads a squadron of Lancaster bombers on almost nightly raids fro...
- 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey as Dr. Heywood Floyd
- 1973 Don't Be Afraid of the Dark as Tom Henderson
- 1961 Gorgo as Sam Slade
- 1964 Devil Doll as Mark English
- 1975 The Hindenburg as Luftwaffe Colonel
- 1980 First Family as TV Commentator Howard
- 1968 The Hand of Night as Paul Carver
- 2001 2001: The Making of a Myth as Dr. Heywood R. Floyd (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1965 Devils of Darkness as Paul Baxter
- 1974 Busting as Mr. Weldman
- 1949 Give Us This Day as Giovanni
- 1964 Blind Corner as Paul Gregory
- 1954 The Stranger Came Home as Philip Vickers
- 1961 Offbeat as Layton / Steve Ross
- 1957 High Tide at Noon as Alec Douglas
- 1955 Portrait of Alison as Dave Forrester
- 1953 House of Blackmail as Jimmy
- 1958 Dublin Nightmare as John Kevin
- 1961 Information Received as Rick Hogan
- 1959 Whirlpool as Hermann
- 1958 The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
- 1964 Ring of Spies as Gordon Lonsdale
- 2013 The 9th Wonder of the World: The Making of 'Gorgo' as Sam Slade (archive footage)
- 1963 Incident at Midnight as Vince Warren
- 1953 The Yellow Balloon as Len Turner
- 1995 Roger Moore: A Matter of Class as Self (archive footage)
- 1976 Riding with Death as Leonard Driscoll
- 1968 The Syndicate as Burt Hickey
- 1970 The Challengers as Brad York
- 1954 What Every Woman Wants as Jim Barnes
- 1953 Appointment in London as Mac
- 1968 Red and Blue as Trumpeter
- 1953 Albert R.N. as Texas
- 1950 They Were Not Divided as American Soldier (uncredited)
- 1970 The Lawyer as Paul Harrison
- 1978 Heaven Can Wait as Nuclear Reporter
- 1967 You Only Live Twice as Pentagon Official (uncredited)
- 1965 Green Acres ( 4 episodes ) as Dr. Hoffman
- 1965 The F.B.I. ( 1 episode ) as Tom Barber
- 1976 Quincy, M.E. ( 4 episodes ) as Joe Crawford
- 1979 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century ( 1 episode ) as Lt. General Preston Myers
- 1969 Marcus Welby, M.D. ( 1 episode ) as Paul Berwick
- 1977 The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries ( 1 episode )
- 1962 The Saint ( 1 episode ) as Foots Fortunati
- 1971 Cannon ( 1 episode )
- 1974 Harry O ( 2 episodes )
- 1967 The High Chaparral ( 1 episode ) as Jack Simmons
- 1975 Switch ( 1 episode ) as Ellis
- 1970 McCloud ( 1 episode )
- 1976 Gemini Man ( 6 episodes ) as Leonard Driscoll
- 1979 Big Shamus, Little Shamus ( 1 episode )
- 1977 What Really Happened to the Class of '65? ( 1 episode )
- 1962 The Saint ( 1 episode ) as Ralph Damien
- 1973 The Magician ( 1 episode ) as Peter Hayden
- 1972 Banacek ( 1 episode ) as Dr. Stahl
- 1974 The Six Million Dollar Man ( 1 episode ) as Frederick Collins
- 1974 The Six Million Dollar Man ( 3 episodes ) as Admiral Prescott
- 1967 The High Chaparral ( 1 episode ) as Lafe Croswell
- 1965 The Troubleshooters ( 1 episode ) as Al Stevens
- 1970 San Francisco International Airport ( 1 episode ) as Colonel Wilkins
- 1961 Drama 61-67 ( 1 episode ) as Mark Lander
- 1956 Armchair Theatre ( 1 episode )
- 1956 Armchair Theatre ( 1 episode ) as Ed Norman
- 1956 Armchair Theatre ( 1 episode ) as Sergeant O'Hara
- 1960 Danger Man ( 1 episode ) as James Carpenter / Oscar Schumak
