John Richard Basehart (August 31, 1914 – September 17, 1984) was an American actor. Known for his "deep, resonant baritone voice and craggy good looks," he was active in film, theatre and television from 1947 until 1983. He won two National Board of Review Awards, for his performances in Fourteen Hours (1951) and Moby Dick (1956), and was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Time Limit (1957).

Basehart was known to television viewers for starring as Admiral Harriman Nelson on the television science-fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964–68). He also portrayed Wilton Knight in the pilot episode of the TV series Knight Rider (1982), and provided the narration that was heard during the opening credits throughout the entire series. He appeared in a number of British and Italian films in the mid-1950s, including Federico Fellini's La Strada and Il Bidone. He also narrated a wide range of television and film projects.

In 1960, Basehart received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion-picture industry.

Early life and education Basehart was born in Zanesville, Ohio, one of five children born to Mae (née Wetherald) and Harry T. Basehart, a former actor turned editor of The Zanesville Times-Signal. He worked as a reporter at his father's newspaper and as a radio announcer in Zanesville and Columbus, Ohio, before entering a stage career at the Hedgerow Theatre in Pennsylvania, where he met his first wife Stephanie Klein, a costume designer.

Career

Theatre and film Basehart made his Broadway debut in 1938. He won the 1945 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Young Actor for his starring role in John Patrick's play The Hasty Heart, which was adapted into a 1949 film of the same name. He made his film debut with Repeat Performance (1947). So confident was Eagle-Lion Films in his performance that the film was first screened in his hometown.

He soon appeared as the killer in the film noir classic He Walked by Night (1948) for Eagle-Lion, then he appeared as a psychotic member of the Hatfield clan in Roseanna McCoy (1949), as Maximilien Robespierre in the period film noir Reign of Terror (1949), as a timid husband in Tension (1950), as Ishmael in Moby Dick (1956), in the drama Decision Before Dawn (1951), George S. Healey in Titanic (1953) and as Ivan in The Brothers Karamazov (1958).

One of his most notable film roles was the acrobat and clown known as "the Fool" in the acclaimed Italian film La Strada (1954), directed by Federico Fellini. He starred in a French-Australian drama The Restless and the Damned, portrayed the title character in Hitler (1962), and a high priest in Kings of the Sun (1963).

Basehart played a supporting role as a doctor in the feature film Rage (1972), a theatrical feature starring and directed by George C. Scott. Also in the 1970s, he co-starred in Chato's Land (1972) and The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977). In 1979, he appeared as a Russian diplomat with Peter Sellers in Being There.

Television From 1964 to 1968, Basehart played the lead role, Admiral Harriman Nelson, on Irwin Allen's first foray into science-fiction television, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Basehart appeared in the pilot episode of the television series Knight Rider as billionaire Wilton Knight. He is the narrator at the beginning of the show's credits. He accepted the lead role in the 1962 film Hitler. He appeared in "Probe 7, Over and Out", an episode of The Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-O, and as Hannibal Applewood, an abusive schoolteacher in Little House on the Prairie in 1976. In 1972, Basehart appeared in the Columbo episode "Dagger of the Mind", in which Honor Blackman and he played a husband-and-wife theatrical team who accidentally kill Sir Roger Haversham, the producer of their rendition of Macbeth.

Basehart made a few TV movies, including Sole Survivor (1970) and The Birdmen (1971). Both were based on true stories during World War II.

Narration Basehart narrated a wide range of television and movie projects. As well as appearing onscreen as Ishmael, he also read extended passages of Melville's prose while relating the abridged story for John Huston and Ray Bradbury's version of Moby Dick.

In 1964, he narrated the David Wolper documentary about the Kennedy assassination, Four Days in November. In 1980, Basehart narrated the miniseries written by Peter Arnett called Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War that covered Vietnam and its battles from the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945, to the final American embassy evacuation on April 30, 1975.

One month before his death, Basehart narrated a poem during the extinguishing of the flame at the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Personal life

Basehart was married three times. His first wife, Stephanie Klein, died following a brain operation in July 1950. He next married Italian actress Valentina Cortese in 1951, with whom he had one son, actor Jackie Basehart; the couple divorced in 1960.

In 1962, he married his third wife, Diana Lotery, with whom he had two children. He and Diana remained married until his death in 1984.

Death Basehart died in Los Angeles on September 17, 1984, following a series of strokes. He was 70 years old. His body was cremated, and the ashes interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1947 Repeat Performance William Williams Cry Wolf James Demarest 1948 He Walked by Night Roy Martin / Roy Morgan 1949 Roseanna McCoy Mounts Hatfield Reign of Terror Maximilian Robespierre 1950 Tension Warren Quimby / Paul Sothern Outside the Wall Larry Nelson Side Street Bank Teller Uncredited 1951 Fourteen Hours Robert Cosick The House on Telegraph Hill Alan Spender Fixed Bayonets! Corporal Denno Decision Before Dawn Lieutenant Dick Rennick 1953 Titanic George S.Healey / Father Thomas Byles 1954 The Stranger's Hand Joe Hamstringer Angels of Darkness Bit Part Uncredited The Good Die Young Joe Halsey La Strada The Fool Avanzi di galera Dr. Stefano Luprandi 1955 Canyon Crossroads Larry Kendall Le avventure di Cartouche Count Jacques de Maudy Golden Vein Stefano Manfredi Il bidone Raul "Picasso" 1956 The Extra Day Joe Blake Moby Dick Ishmael The Intimate Stranger Reginald 'Reggie' Wilson 1957 Miracles of Thursday Martino Time Limit Major Harry Cargill 1958 The Brothers Karamazov Ivan Karamazov Love and Troubles Paolo Martelli 1959 The Restless and the Damned George Rancourt Jons und Erdme Wittkuhn, der Schmied 1960 Five Branded Women Captain Eric Reinhardt Portrait in Black Howard Mason For the Love of Mike Father Francis Phelan Passport to China Don Benton 1962 Hitler Adolf Hitler Savage Guns Steve Fallon 1963 Kings of the Sun Ah Min 1965 The Satan Bug Dr. Gregor Hoffman 1969 Love Is a Funny Thing HimselfCameo appearance Giotto Narrator (voice) 1972 Chato's Land Nye Buell Rage Dr. Roy Caldwell 1976 Mansion of the Doomed Dr. Leonard Chaney 1977 The Island of Dr. Moreau Sayer of the Law 1978 The Great Bank Hoax Manny Benchly 1979 Being There Vladimir Skrapinov

Television Year Title Role Notes 1957 Studio One Matt Donovan 2 episodes 1957–60 Playhouse 90 Martin Lambert / David Connelly / Lionel Amblin / Himself - Host 4 episodes 1958 Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre David Manning Episode: "Medal for Valor" 1960 DuPont Show of the Month Dr. George Ferguson Episode: "Men in White" Shangri-La Hugh Conway Television film 1961 The Play of the Week Stranger Episode: "He Who Gets Slapped" The Light That Failed Dick Heldar Television film Rawhide Todd Stone Season 4 Episode 7: "The Black Sheep" 1962 The Paradine Case Anthony Keane Television film Theatre '62 Anthony Keane Episode: "The Paradine Case" The DuPont Show of the Week Narrator Episode: "D-Day" Naked City Lester Bergson Episode: "Dust Devil on a Quiet Street" The Alfred Hitchcock Hour Phillip Townsend / David Webber Season 1 Episode 9: "The Black Curtain" 1963 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour Miles Crawford Season 2 Episode 7: "Starring the Defense" Route 66 Julian Roebuck Episode: "You Can't Pick Cotton in Tahiti" The Dick Powell Theatre Judge Zachary Episode: "The Judge" Combat! Captain Steiner 2 episodes Ben Casey Mark Cassidy Episode: "Light Up the Dark Corners" Arrest and Trial Alexander Stafford Episode: "Inquest Into a Bleeding Heart" The Twilight Zone Adam Cook Episode: "Probe 7, Over and Out" 1964–68 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Admiral Harriman "Harry" Nelson 110 episodes 1965 Lost in Space Shakespeare-Reading Tape Recorder Voice Episode: "The Derelict" 1968 The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Narrator Documentary 1969 Hans Brinker Dr. Boekman Television film 1970 Sole Survivor Brigadier General Russell Hamner The Andersonville Trial Henry Wirz Ironside Noel Seymour Episode: "Noel's Gonna Fly" Dan August Professor Theodore Rye Episode: "Quadrangle for Death" 1971 Gunsmoke Captain Aron Sligo Episode: "Captain Sligo" City Beneath the Sea the President Television film They've Killed President Lincoln! Host / Narrator The Birdmen Schiller The Death of Me Yet Robert Barnes 1972 Assignment: Munich Major Barney Caldwell The Bold Ones: The New Doctors Dr. Stephen McLayne Episode: "Is This Operation Necessary?" The Bounty Man Angus Keough Television film Columbo Nicholas Frame Episode: "Dagger of the Mind" 1973 Hawaii Five-O Bernard Murdock Episode: "The Odd Lot Caper" And Millions Will Die Dr. Douglas Pruitt Television film Maneater Carl Brenner 1974 Marcus Welby, M.D. Reece Sutton / Professor Andrew Kirkcastle 2 episodes The First Woman President Woodrow Wilson Television film 1975 Judgment: The Court Martial of Lieutenant William Calley George Latimer The American Parade Lambdin Milligan Episode: "The Case Against Milligan" Medical Story Dr. Charles Galpin Episode: "The God Syndrome" Joe Forrester Al Morgan Episode: "No Probable Cause" Valley Forge General George Washington Television film 1976 The Streets of San Francisco Bishop Tim Farrow Episode: "Requiem for Murder" Little House on the Prairie Hannibal Applewood Episode: "Troublemaker" Time Travelers Dr. Joshua Henderson Television film 21 Hours at Munich Chancellor Willy Brandt Flood! John Cutler 1977 Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model? Elliott Osborn 1978 How the West Was Won Colonel Harry Albert Flint 3 episodes Once Upon a Classic King Arthur Episode: "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" The Critical List Matt Kinsella Television film W.E.B. Gus Dunlap 5 episodes 1979 The Rebels Duke of Kentland Television miniseries Greatest Heroes of the Bible Johtan Episode: "Tower of Babel" The Christmas Songs Television film 1980 Marilyn: The Untold Story Johnny Hyde 1981 Vega$ J. Terrance Wainwright Episode: "Set Up" Masada Narrator, Modern Day Scene Television miniseries The Love Boat Stan Ellis Episode: "Chef's Special/Beginning Anew/Kleinschmidt" Mr. Merlin Herbert Montrose Episode: "A Moment in Camelot" 1982–86 Knight Rider Narrator (voice) / Wilton Knight Episode: "Knight of the Phoenix: Part 1"83 episodes 1983 Tales of the Unexpected Slade Episode: "The Turn of the Tide" The Crowded Life Narrator Television film

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Title Result Ref 1951National Board of Review Awards Best Actor Fourteen Hours rowspan=2 1956 Best Supporting Actor Moby Dick 1958 BAFTA Awards Best Foreign Actor Time Limit 1960 Hollywood Walk of Fame Motion Pictures -

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