Sydney Greenstreet
Sydney Hughes Greenstreet (* December 27, 1879, Sandwich in England, † January 18, 1954 in Hollywood, California ) was a British actor. In the 1940s, he played in several film classics mysterious, operating in the background characters.
Life
Theater
Green Street left at age 18 his parents' house and tried his hand as tea planter in Ceylon, but where he went bankrupt because of a drought. He returned to England, conducted a brewery and took out of boredom besides acting classes. In 1902, he was in a Sherlock - Holmes - performance in the role as the murderer made his stage debut. Then Greenstreet worked for decades as a stage actor in the UK and the USA.
Career in Hollywood
1941, at the age of 62 years, was the 150 -pound actor Oscar - nominated his film debut in John Huston's crime classic The Maltese Falcon. In addition to Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre he played the central role of the mysterious "fat man " who pulled the strings in the background. In other films Green Street figured similar figures and counted in the 1940's to the best known character actors in Hollywood.
Green Street turned eight films with Peter Lorre, who acted as his perfect counterpart in physical as terms of personality. In addition to the massive, stoic acting Greenstreet played the lanky Lorre usually nervous, shifty types, which could not be trusted. Both actors were seen together in 1942, the cult film Casablanca, where Green Street to host " Signor Ferrari " of the restaurant " Blue Parrot " was playing.
Sydney Greenstreet ended his film career after eight years and retired in 1949 into private life. He died in 1954.