Sebastian Shaw

Acting

Sebastian Shaw

Born 1905-05-29 · Holt, Norfolk, England, UK

Sebastian Lewis Shaw was an English actor, director, novelist, playwright and poet. During his 65-year career, he appeared in dozens of stage performances and more than 40 film and television productions. Shaw was born and brought up in Holt, Norfolk, and made his acting debut at age eight at a London theatre. He studied acting at Gresham's School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Although he worked primarily on the London stage, he made his Broadway debut in 1929, when he played one of the two murderers in Rope's End. He appeared in his first film, Caste, in 1930 and quickly began to create a name for himself in films. He described himself as a "rotten actor" as a youth and said his success was primarily due to his good looks. He claimed to mature as a performer only after returning from service in the Royal Air Force during World War II. Shaw was particularly known for his performances in productions of Shakespeare plays which were considered daring and ahead of their time. In 1966, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he remained for a decade and delivered some of his most acclaimed performances. He also wrote several poems and a novel, The Christening, in 1975.

Acting credits

Return of the Jedi poster
7.9

Luke Skywalker leads a mission to rescue his friend Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt, the Emperor prepares to crush the Rebellion with a more powerful Death Star, and the Rebel fleet mounts a massive attack on the space station. Luke Skywalker confronts Darth Vader in a final climactic duel before the evil Emperor.

Return of the Jedi

1983

Fothergill poster
NR

John Fothergill, aesthete and scholar, becomes the proprietor of the Spread Eagle, in Thame, Oxfordshire, with the intent of turning it into the most celebrated Inn in England, catering to the brightest lights in London's literati.

Fothergill

1981

The Lad poster
6.2

An ex-con searching for a hidden jewel is assumed by a group of people to be investigating them.

The Lad

1935

It Happened Here poster
6.8

World War II, 1940. When the Nazi hordes invade and occupy Great Britain, the English citizens are soon divided between those who choose to submissively collaborate and those who are willing to fight.

It Happened Here

1966

High Season poster
5.1

On the isle of Rhodes, Katherine, an expatriate English photographer, lives with her daughter. A young local wants to encourage tourism, so he commissions a sculpture of the Unknown Tourist for the town square; the sculptor he brings to Rhodes is Kate's ex-husband. Also there to see Kate is Sharp, an aging antiquarian and her dear friend. He has something important to tell her. As Kate, her ex, and Sharp sort out things that go back years, two English tourists bumble about, one thinking he's fallen in love with Kate, his wife thinking she's found her own lover. A rare vase, a spy, old friendships, the statue's unveiling, and off-hand English sorting-out play into the resolution.

High Season

1987

Timon of Athens poster
8.5

Timon loves to give parties and objects to friends, but when he cannot pay his creditors, his "friends" refuse to help him, and he becomes a misanthropic hermit.

Timon of Athens

1981

A Midsummer Night's Dream poster
6.3

Peter Hall's film adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy, filmed in and around an English country house and starring actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

1968

Journey Together poster
6.6

Two Englishmen train with the Royal Air Force, ending with a bombing raid on Berlin.

Journey Together

1945

Chernobyl: The Final Warning poster
5.8

True story about the tragic nuclear power plant accident in Chernobyl.

Chernobyl: The Final Warning

1991

Caste poster
10.0

The daughter of a Cockney drunkard marries a young aristocrat who is presumed killed in action in WWI. When she gets the news she goes to stay with her aristocratic in-laws.

Caste

1930

The Spy in Black poster
6.4

A German submarine is sent to the Orkney Isles in 1917 to sink the British fleet.

The Spy in Black

1939

The Story of Star Wars poster
7.2

The Skywalker family is at the heart of the Star Wars saga. Now hear the inside story of Luke and Anakin Skywalker from the characters who witnessed it all: the famous droid duo C-3PO and R2-D2. Episodes IV,V and VI are explored in "The Story of Luke Skywalker," which follows the young man escaping from his daily chores on Tatooine to his becoming a hero in the Rebal Alliance. In "The Story of Anakin Skywalker," you'll go behind the mask of the greatest Star Wars villain and discover how Darth Vader started life as a young Podracing Champ on Tatooine and later became a headstrong young Jedi seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. With clips from the Star Wars films, C-3PO and R2-D2 take you on an hour-long journey through the saga and prepare you for the explosive final chapter: Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

The Story of Star Wars

2004

Monkey Boy poster
NR

Half man, half monkey, Chad was born in a lab and kept hidden from the world. A journalist, investigating a macabre mass-murder, discovers the mutant boy — a creature with the mind of a child and superhuman strength. But the reporter finds out the hard way that nothing, and nobody, can stand in the way of progress. (Re-titled for its American VHS release, "Monkey Boy" is an abbreviated film version of Lawrence Gordon Clark's 1991 mini-series "Chimera".)

Monkey Boy

1992

Landfall poster
7.6

A British coastal command pilot is charged with neglect when it is thought that he has sunk a British submarine rather than a German U-boat. Unable to live with his actions, he volunteers for a deadly mission. His girlfriend meanwhile tries to prove that he is innocent.

Landfall

1949

No artwork available
8.0

1939 BBC studio production of Peggy Barwell’s play Prison without Bars, set in a girls’ reformatory, which was adapted from a German play by Gina Kaus and Otto Edgar Eis. An inmate of a girl's reformatory competes with its superintendent for the affections of its young doctor.

Prison Without Bars

1939

Walk's End poster
NR

Dr Saint's offer of a free place in his comfortable old-folks' home appears entirely philanthropic to Miss Claythorpe. However, he is suspiciously vague about the treatment that goes with it.

Walk's End

1966

No artwork available
7.0

A starchy parliamentary delegation is sent to a remote Scottish Highlands community, where the residents are protesting the poor condition of their road by withholding their taxes, and spend a few days among the locals.

Laxdale Hall

1953

The Squeaker poster
6.3

London's jewel thieves are under the thumb of a mysterious fence, who ruthlessly exposes any thief who crosses him. Desperate, Scotland Yard re-hires ex-Inspector Barrabal who, as a known drunkard, is ideally suited to go undercover with a faked criminal record (which may spoil his chances with lovely Carol Stedman).

The Squeaker

1937

The Flying Squad poster
6.2

Inspector Bradley of Scotland Yard is on the trail of the murderous ringleader of a smuggling organization in London.

The Flying Squad

1940

Men Are Not Gods poster
5.6

Actor Edmund Davey becomes a star overnight when his wife and co-star teams up with the secretary of a noted stage critic to produce a glowing review of his 'Othello'.

Men Are Not Gods

1936

Jury's Evidence poster
10.0

The Foreman of an Old Bailey jury refuses to accept circumstantial evidence and helps solve murder case.

Jury's Evidence

1936

The Master Builder poster
NR

Ibsen's play is the story of Halvard Solness, Master Builder of a town in Norway. Solness is a successful architect but he's afraid of the being surpassed by those younger than himself. The arrival of a young woman called Hilda stirs up memories and feelings with stories of a promise he made her many years ago.

The Master Builder

1988

The Ace of Spades poster
6.5

The wife of a candidate for Parliament is having an affair with the brother of her husband's rival. Her lover is running for election on a promise of building a railway that the community needs, but a wealthy landowner won't give permission for the railway to be built over his land. When the landowner is later found dead, suspicion falls on the adulterous candidate.

The Ace of Spades

1935

No artwork available
8.0

The growing ambition of Julius Caesar is a source of major concern to his close friend Brutus. Cassius persuades him to participate in his plot to assassinate Caesar but they have both sorely underestimated Mark Antony

Julius Caesar

1938