| Name | Robert Newton |
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| Caption | Newton (left) in The High and the Mighty |
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| Birth date | June 01, 1905 |
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| Birth place | Shaftesbury, Dorset, England |
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| Death date | March 25, 1956 |
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| Death place | Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California |
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| Years active | 1932 - 1956 |
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| Spouse | Petronella Walton 1929-?) (divorced) 1 childAnnie McLean (m. 1936)Natalie Newhouse (1947-1952) (divorced) 1 child)Vera Budnik (?- 25 March 1956) (his death) 1 child) |
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Robert Newton (1 June 1905 – 25 March 1956) was an English stage and film actor. Along with
Errol Flynn, Newton was one of the most popular actors among the male juvenile audience of the 1940s and early 1950s, especially with British boys. He was cited as a role model by actor
Tony Hancock and drummer
Keith Moon.
Career
Newton was born in
Shaftesbury,
Dorset, a son of landscape painter Algernon Newton,
R.A. He was educated in
Lamorna near
Penzance,
Cornwall, and later at
St Bartholomew's School in
Newbury, Berkshire. His acting career began at the age of 16 at the
Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1921 and he followed this by performing in many plays in the
West End of London, including
Bitter Sweet by
Noël Coward and Horatio to
Laurence Olivier's
Hamlet at the
Old Vic. He also appeared in
Private Lives on Broadway. From 1932 to 1934 he was the manager of the Shilling Theatre in
Fulham,
London.
Newton's film career included notable ruffians and villains, mostly comedic ones like Bill Walker in George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara (1941) and Long John Silver in Walt Disney's Treasure Island (1950), but also deadly serious Bill Sikes in David Lean's 1948 film version of Oliver Twist. One interesting exception shows his acting versatility; in Alfred Hitchcock's film Jamaica Inn, he played a virtuous law-officer who is alert, benevolent, serious, dedicated, professional, gallant and calm in the face of danger, modest and altogether unlike Long John Silver. He portrayed disciplinarians such as Inspector Javert in the 1952 Les Misérables, Dr. Arnold in the 1951 film version of Tom Brown's Schooldays and Inspector Fix in his last film, Around the World in 80 Days (1956), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Newton appeared in major roles in two films based on the novella The Vessel of Wrath by W. Somerset Maugham. He played the Dutch contrôleur in the 1938 version (released in the U.S. as The Beachcomber), and the lead role of Edward "Ginger Ted" Wilson in The Beachcomber (1954). He starred as the Scottish hatter, James Brodie, in Hatter's Castle, a 1941 film based on the novel by A. J. Cronin. He also played Ancient Pistol in Laurence Olivier's 1944 film of Henry V and Lukey in Carol Reed's Odd Man Out; this performance was later immortalised in Harold Pinter's play Old Times. In 1949, he played against type as Dr. Clive Riordan in the thriller Obsession. A good example of Newton playing a sympathetic lead role is Noel Coward's This Happy Breed directed by David Lean in 1944.
He is best remembered for portraying the feverish-eyed Long John Silver and inventing the phrase "Arrrgh, matey!" in the Walt Disney version of Treasure Island. His Disney portrayal became the standard for screen portrayals of pirates and he is often credited with inventing the stereotypical "pirate voice" by exaggerating the accent of his native West Country. Newton has become the "patron saint" of the annual International Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19.
He again played Long John Silver in a 1954 Australian-made film, Long John Silver. It was shot at Pagewood Studios, Sydney and directed by Byron Haskin, who had directed Treasure Island. The company went on to make a 26-episode 1955 TV series, The Adventures of Long John Silver, in which Newton also starred.
Newton portrayed Bristol's other famous pirate Blackbeard the Pirate, but was never able to shake off the legacy of Long John Silver.
Death
His film career was cut short by chronic
alcoholism, which led to his death from a
heart attack in
Beverly Hills, California in 1956 at the age of 50. Newton married four times and had three children: Sally Newton (b. 1930), Nicholas Newton (b. 1950) and
Kim Newton (b. 1953). After some court battles, Newton's elder son was placed in the
custody of his aunt and uncle.
Robert Newton was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. Years later Nicholas Newton scattered his father's ashes in the sea in Mount's Bay, Cornwall, near Lamorna where he had spent his childhood.
Filmography
The Tremarne Case (1924)
Reunion (1932)
I, Claudius (1937)
Dark Journey (1937)
Farewell Again (1937)
Fire Over England (1937)
The Squeaker (1937)
The Green Cockatoo (1937)
Vessel of Wrath (1938)
Yellow Sands (1938)
Jamaica Inn (1939)
Poison Pen (1939)
Dead Men are Dangerous (1939)
Hell's Cargo (1939)
Channel Incident (1940, short)
Bulldog Sees It Through (1940)
21 Days (1940)
Gaslight (1940)
Busman's Honeymoon (film) (1940)
Major Barbara (1941)
Hatter's Castle (1942)
They Flew Alone (1942)
A Battle for a Bottle (1942, short)
This Happy Breed (1944)
Henry V (1944)
Night Boat to Dublin (1946)
Odd Man Out (1947)
Temptation Harbour (1947)
Snowbound (1948)
Oliver Twist (1948)
Blood on My Hands (1948)
Obsession (1949)
Treasure Island (1950)
Waterfront (1950)
Tom Brown's Schooldays (1951)
Soldiers Three (1951)
Les Misérables (1952)
Blackbeard the Pirate (1952)
Androcles and the Lion (1952)
The Desert Rats (1953)
The Beachcomber (1954)
The High and the Mighty (1954)
Return to Treasure Island (1954)
Long John Silver (1954)
Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
References
External links
A Tribute to Robert Newton, includes biography.
Robert Newton Britmovie article
Short biography of Newton's artist father
Category:English film actors
Category:English stage actors
Category:English television actors
Category:People from Shaftesbury
Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction
Category:1905 births
Category:1956 deaths
![Hatter's Castle [1 of 11]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110907074213im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xjsEVOOf-Ng/0.jpg "Hatter's Castle [1 of 11]")
![Hatter's Castle [2 of 11]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110907074213im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/co8-2XX7goI/0.jpg "Hatter's Castle [2 of 11]")
![Hatter's Castle [3 of 11]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110907074213im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wm3-bTsD23A/0.jpg "Hatter's Castle [3 of 11]")
![Hatter's Castle [4 of 11]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110907074213im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/2a6Epl4RSRI/0.jpg "Hatter's Castle [4 of 11]")
![Hatter's Castle [6 of 11]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110907074213im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/2wCkKhmhtsk/0.jpg "Hatter's Castle [6 of 11]")
![Hatter's Castle [7 of 11]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110907074213im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tK82K6xMhi0/0.jpg "Hatter's Castle [7 of 11]")
![Hatter's Castle [8 of 11]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110907074213im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vTgVAZeGVeQ/0.jpg "Hatter's Castle [8 of 11]")
![Hatter's Castle [9 of 11]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110907074213im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/i3ixJvDuT4A/0.jpg "Hatter's Castle [9 of 11]")
![Hatter's Castle [10 of 11]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110907074213im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/p78txCw4_dc/0.jpg "Hatter's Castle [10 of 11]")
![Hatter's Castle [11 of 11]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110907074213im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Et6OIV5CyIM/0.jpg "Hatter's Castle [11 of 11]")
![Although Wigan Parish Church was mentioned in the Domesday Book, the current building dates to the 15th century.[16][17]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110907074213im_/http://cdn8.wn.com/pd/73/e4/d8d16bf99144669981c0165d5558_grande.jpg "Although Wigan Parish Church was mentioned in the Domesday Book, the current building dates to the 15th century.[16][17]")
![Aside from the 1939 acquisition by the Louvre, Kahlo's work was not widely acclaimed until decades after her death. Often she was remembered only as Diego Rivera's wife. It was not until the early 1980s, when the artistic style in Mexico known as Neomexicanismo began, that she became well-known to the public.[24] It was during this time that artists such as Kahlo, Abraham Ángel, Ángel Zárraga, and others gained recognition and Helguera's classical calendar paintings became famous.[24] During the](http://web.archive.org./web/20110907074213im_/http://cdn9.wn.com/pd/60/4d/cf226b7fad9124bc6c294ececf91_grande.jpg "Aside from the 1939 acquisition by the Louvre, Kahlo's work was not widely acclaimed until decades after her death. Often she was remembered only as Diego Rivera's wife. It was not until the early 1980s, when the artistic style in Mexico known as Neomexicanismo began, that she became well-known to the public.[24] It was during this time that artists such as Kahlo, Abraham Ángel, Ángel Zárraga, and others gained recognition and Helguera's classical calendar paintings became famous.[24] During the")
![Although Wigan Parish Church was mentioned in the Domesday Book, the current building dates to the 15th century.[16][17]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110907074213im_/http://cdn7.wn.com/pd/73/e4/d8d16bf99144669981c0165d5558_thumb.jpg "Although Wigan Parish Church was mentioned in the Domesday Book, the current building dates to the 15th century.[16][17]")
![Aside from the 1939 acquisition by the Louvre, Kahlo's work was not widely acclaimed until decades after her death. Often she was remembered only as Diego Rivera's wife. It was not until the early 1980s, when the artistic style in Mexico known as Neomexicanismo began, that she became well-known to the public.[24] It was during this time that artists such as Kahlo, Abraham Ángel, Ángel Zárraga, and others gained recognition and Helguera's classical calendar paintings became famous.[24] During the](http://web.archive.org./web/20110907074213im_/http://cdn8.wn.com/pd/60/4d/cf226b7fad9124bc6c294ececf91_thumb.jpg "Aside from the 1939 acquisition by the Louvre, Kahlo's work was not widely acclaimed until decades after her death. Often she was remembered only as Diego Rivera's wife. It was not until the early 1980s, when the artistic style in Mexico known as Neomexicanismo began, that she became well-known to the public.[24] It was during this time that artists such as Kahlo, Abraham Ángel, Ángel Zárraga, and others gained recognition and Helguera's classical calendar paintings became famous.[24] During the")
