Sydney Greenstreet

Films – The Maltese Falcon (1941, his first film role), Casablanca (1942), and Passage to Marseille (1944) – with both Humphrey Bogart (five films total with Greenstreet) and Peter Lorre (nine films with Greenstreet, three of which were also with Bogart). Greenstreet was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Maltese Falcon. He portrayed Nero Wolfe on radio during 1950 and 1951. He became an American citizen in 1925.

• Name — Sydney Greenstreet • Birth Name — Sydney Hughes Greenstreet • Born — 27 December 1879 • Birthplace — West Malling, Kent, England • Died — 18 January 1954 • Place of death — Hollywood, California, U.S. • Resting Place — Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale • Occupation — Actor • Years Active — 1902–1951 • Children — 1

Sydney Hughes Greenstreet was born on December 27, 1879, in Eastry, Kent, the son of Ann (née Baker) and John Jarvis Greenstreet, a tanner. In the 1881 census, his father was recorded as a Master Tanner employing eighteen men, and the Greenstreet family was living in Sandwich, Kent, and had three living-in servants. The 1891 census finds Greenstreet and three of his brothers living at Dane Hill School, Margate, a boarding school for boys aged ten to eighteen, with the Rev. Charles Boulden as headmaster. Greenstreet had seven siblings. He left home at the age of 18 to make his fortune as a Ceylon tea planter, but drought forced him out of business. He began managing a brewery and, to escape boredom, took acting lessons.

Greenstreet's stage debut was as a murderer in a 1902 production of a Sherlock Holmes story at the Marina Theatre, Ramsgate, Kent. He toured Britain with Ben Greet's Shakespearean company, and in 1905 made his New York City debut in Everyman. He appeared in such plays as a revival of As You Like It (1914). He appeared in numerous plays in Britain and America, working through most of the 1930s with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne at the Theatre Guild. His stage roles ranged from musical comedy to Shakespeare, and years of such versatile acting on two continents led to many offers to appear in films. He refused until he was 61. • Illustration — Greenstreet and Peter Lorre in The Maltese Falcon (1941) • Illustration — Greenstreet in Across the Pacific (1942) • Illustration — Greenstreet and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942) • Illustration — Greenstreet in Casablanca (1942) In 1941, Greenstreet began working for Warner Bros. His debut film role was as Kasper Gutman ("The Fat Man") co-starring with Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon. In Casablanca (1942), Greenstreet played crooked club owner Signor Ferrari (for which he received a salary of $3,750 per week—equivalent to $82,972 in 2026 dollars—for seven weeks' work). He also appeared in Background to Danger (1943), with George Raft; Passage to Marseille (1944), reuniting with Casablanca stars Bogart, Peter Lorre and Claude Rains; The Mask of Dimitrios (1944); The Conspirators (1944) with Hedy Lamarr and Paul Henreid; Hollywood Canteen (1944); Conflict (1945), again with Bogart; Three Strangers (1946); and The Verdict (1946). In the last two, and The Mask of Dimitrios, he received top billing. He had dramatic roles, such as William Makepeace Thackeray in Devotion (1946), and witty performances in screwball comedies, such as Alexander Yardley in Christmas in Connecticut (1944). Near the end of his film career, he played opposite Joan Crawford in Flamingo Road (1949). After little more than eight years, Greenstreet's film career ended with Malaya (also 1949), in which he was billed fourth, after Spencer Tracy, James Stewart and Valentina Cortese. In those years, he worked with stars ranging from Clark Gable to Ava Gardner to Joan Crawford. Author Tennessee Williams wrote his one-act play The Last of My Solid Gold Watches with Greenstreet in mind, and dedicated it to him. During 1950–1951, Greenstreet played Nero Wolfe on the radio program The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe, based loosely on the rotund detective genius created by Rex Stout.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1941 — The Maltese Falcon — Kasper Gutman — Nominated Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor • They Died with Their Boots On — Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott • 1942 — Across the Pacific — Dr. Lorenz • Casablanca — Signor Ferrari • 1943 — Background to Danger — Col. Robinson • 1944 — Passage to Marseille — Major Duval • Between Two Worlds — Rev. Tim Thompson • The Mask of Dimitrios — Mr. Peters • The Conspirators — Ricardo Quintanilla • Hollywood Canteen — Himself • 1945 — Pillow to Post — Col. Michael Otley • Conflict — Dr. Mark Hamilton • Christmas in Connecticut — Alexander Yardley • 1946 — Three Strangers — Jerome K. Arbutny • Devotion — William Makepeace Thackeray • The Verdict — Supt. George Edward Grodman • 1947 — That Way with Women — James P. Alden • The Hucksters — Evan Llewellyn Evans • 1948 — Ruthless — Buck Mansfield • The Woman in White — Count Alessandro Fosco • The Velvet Touch — Capt. Danbury • 1949 — Flamingo Road — Sheriff Titus Semple • It's a Great Feeling — Himself — Uncredited • Malaya — The Dutchman