Career
A heavily built man with a striking double-chin and a deep voice, Sullivan made his acting debut at the Old Vic at age 18 in Shakespeare"s Richard III. He had considerable theatrical experience before he appeared in his first film in 1932, The Missing Rembrandt, as a German villain opposite Arthur Wontner as Sherlock Holmes. Among his film roles are Mr. Bumble in Oliver Twist (1948) and Philosophy Nosseross in the film noir Night and the City (1950).
Sullivan also played the part of Jaggers in two versions of Charles Dickens"s Great Expectations - in 1934 and 1946.
He appeared in a fourth Dickens film, the 1935 Universal Pictures version of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, in which he played Crisparkle. He was featured in The Citadel (1938), starring Robert Donat, and a decade later, he played the role of Pierre Cauchon in the technicolor version of Joan of Arc (1948), starring Ingrid Bergman.
In 1938 he starred in a revival of the Stokes brothers" play Oscar Wilde at London"s Arts Theatre. He also played the role of Pothinus in the film version of George Bernard Shaw"s Caesar and Cleopatra (1945).
The film was directed by Gabriel Pascal, and was the last film personally supervised by Shaw himself.
Sullivan reprised the role in a stage revival of the play. Earlier, he had played Hercule Poirot at London"s Embassy Theatre in the Christie play, Black Coffee (1930). He died of a heart attack, aged 53 (some sources claim he died from an unspecified "lung ailment").
