Photo of Rebecca (1940) (1) featuring George Sanders

Mini Biography

Born in St Petersburg, Sanders was educated in England and first worked in the textile business in Manchester and as a tobacco salesman in South America. He began on the English stage in revue and as a radio actor before entering films, going to Hollywood in the mid-30s, where his first role, in Lloyd’s of London, typed him as an elegant bounder. He also played the title role in the film series The Saint, which he regarded as the nadir of his career, and in its successor, The Falcon, before being replaced by his brother, Tom Conway.

He put his name to two ghost-written mystery novels of the 40s, one of which formed the basis of the 1954 film The Unholy Four / The Stranger Came Home. His four wives included actresses Zsa Zsa Gabor (1949-54), Benita Hume (1959-67) and Magda Gabor (1970-71). After his film roles, and his interest in them, declined, and business ventures went wrong, he committed suicide.

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The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936)
Indifference
Nurse Edith Cavell (1939)
Capt Heinrichs
The Outsider (1939)
Anton Ragatzy
The First Rebel (1939)
Capt Swanson
So This Is London (1940)
Dr de Reseke
The Son of Monte Cristo (1940)
Gen Gurko Lanen
Rebecca (1940)
Jack Favell
Sundown (1941)
Maj A L ‘Herbie’ Coombes
Man Hunt (1941)
Major Quive-Smith
The Black Swan (1942)
Capt Billy Leech
Appointment in Berlin (1943)
Wing Cdr Keith Wilson
The Strange Woman (1946)
John Evered
The Ghost and Mrs Muir (1947)
Miles Fairley
Lured (1947)
Robert Fleming
Lady Windermere’s Fan (1949)
Lord Robert Darlington
All About Eve (1950)
Addison DeWitt
Black Jack (1950)
Mike Alexander
The Light Touch (1952)
Felix Guignol
Assignment: Paris (1952)
Nicholas Strang
Ivanhoe (1952)
De Bois-Guilbert
Voyage to Italy (1954)
Alex Joyce
Moonfleet (1955)
Lord Ashwood
The King’s Thief (1955)
Charles II
The Whole Truth (1958)
Carliss
Solomon and Sheba (1959)
Adonijah
Bluebeard’s Ten Honeymoons (1960)
Landru
A Touch of Larceny (1960)
Sir Charles Holland
Cone of Silence (1960)
Sir Arnold Hobbes
The Rebel (1961)
Sir Charles Brewer
The Cracksman (1963)
Guv’nor
A Shot in the Dark (1964)
Benjamin Ballon
The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
Gibbs
The Body Stealers (1969)
Gen Armstrong
Doomwatch (1972)
The Admiral – Sir Geoffrey
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Personal Details

Died

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