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 Wilson Barrett (born William Henry Barrett; 18 February 1846 – 22 July 1904) was an English manager, actor, and playwright. With his company, Barrett is credited with attracting the largest crowds of English theatregoers ever because of his suc ...

's most successful play); the following year he appeared in this play in London. He then toured Australia and the USA with ''The Sign of the Cross'' and '' Ben-Hur''. In 1903 he joined

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

's company at

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

, 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 lead ...

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 or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

started with '' Henry VIII'' (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. Introduction In 1919 and 1920, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patents on a sound-on-film proce ...

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

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 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 a civil war, ...

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

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

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

Partial filmography

* '' Henry VIII'' (1911) * '' On the Banks of Allan Water'' (1916) * '' Missing the Tide'' (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 Scot, the polymath James Crichton, a 16th-century genius and athlete. The epigram-loving Ernest is p ...

'' (1918) * ''

The Homemaker ''The Homemaker'' is a 1919 British silent romance film directed by George Dewhurst and starring Manora Thew, Basil Gill and Gwynne Herbert.Connelly p.363 Cast * Manora Thew as Lysbeth * Basil Gill as Wilbur Benson * Gwynne Herbert as L ...

'' (1919) * ''

The Soul of Guilda Lois ''The Soul of Guilda Lois'' is a 1919 British silent drama film directed by Frank Wilson and starring Violet Hopson, Basil Gill and Cameron Carr.Low p.455 It is based on a novel by Newman Flower and is often known by the alternative title of ...

'' (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 Sn ...

'' (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'' was shot simultaneously. Both films were ...

'' (1935) * ''

Immortal Gentleman ''Immortal Gentleman'' is a 1935 British historical drama film directed by Widgey R. Newman and starring Basil Gill, Rosalinde Fuller and Dennis Hoey.Wood p.82 It was a low-budget B film, which usually did not have historical settings. Synops ...

'' (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 Mar ...

'' (1935) * '' Rembrandt'' (1936) * '' Gaol Break'' (1936) * '' His Lordship'' (1936) * '' The Crimson Circle'' (1936) * ''

I, Claudius ''I, Claudius'' is a historical novel by English writer Robert Graves, published in 1934. Written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius, it tells the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and the early years of the Ro ...

'' (1937) * '' St Martin's Lane'' (1938) * ''

Dangerous Medicine ''Dangerous Medicine'' is a 1938 British crime film, directed by Arthur B. Woods and starring Elizabeth Allan and Cyril Ritchard. It is now classed as a lost film.The Citadel The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1842, it is one of six senior military colleges in the United States. ...

'' (1938)

References

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