Robert Newton

Acting

Robert Newton

Born 1905-06-01 · Shaftesbury, Dorset, England, UK

Robert Newton was one of the great character actors -- and great characters -- of the British cinema, best remembered today for playing Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1950) and its sequel in 1954. His portrayal of Long John Silver and of Blackbeard, the Pirate (1952) created a persona that was so indelible that his vocal intonations created the paradigm for scores of people who want to "Talk Like a Pirate." The performance overshadows Newton's legacy, which is based on many first-rate performances in such movies as This Happy Breed (1944), Odd Man Out (1947) and Oliver Twist (1948), where his Bill Sykes is truly chilling. Oliver Reed, who played Sykes in the Oscar-winning movie musical Oliver! (1968) was influenced by Newton.

Acting credits

Around the World in 80 Days poster
6.7

Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a very short period for those days.

Around the World in 80 Days

1956

Treasure Island poster
6.6

Enchanted by the idea of locating treasure buried by Captain Flint, Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey and Jim Hawkins charter a sailing voyage to a Caribbean island. Unfortunately, a large number of Flint's old pirate crew are aboard the ship, including Long John Silver.

Treasure Island

1950

Oliver Twist poster
7.6

When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin known as the Artful Dodger and his criminal mentor, Fagin. When kindly Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver in, Fagin's evil henchman Bill Sikes plots to kidnap the boy.

Oliver Twist

1948

The High and the Mighty poster
6.0

Dan Roman is a veteran pilot haunted by a tragic past. Now relegated to second-in-command cockpit assignments he finds himself on a routine Honolulu-to-San Francisco flight - one that takes a terrifying suspense-building turn when disaster strikes high above the Pacific Ocean at the point of no return.

The High and the Mighty

1954

Jamaica Inn poster
6.1

In early 19th-century Cornwall, young Mary Yellan travels to live with her aunt and uncle at the remote Jamaica Inn, where she discovers the inn is a front for a violent gang of wreckers who lure ships to their doom along the coast. As she becomes entangled in their crimes, Mary must fight to survive and uncover the truth behind the terror that haunts the moors.

Jamaica Inn

1939

Yellow Sands poster
NR

Village romance and gossip collide amongst the West Country fisherfolk of Yellow Sands, as the Varwell family gathers to celebrate the birthday of their aging matriarch, Jennifer. Apart from her Communist nephew, faithful companion and sozzled brother, everyone pays their homage with one eye towards shoring up their expected inheritances - but Jennifer may have her own ideas when she finally makes out her will.

Yellow Sands

1938

Odd Man Out poster
7.3

Belfast police conduct a door-to-door manhunt for an IRA gunman wounded in a daring robbery.

Odd Man Out

1947

The Desert Rats poster
6.3

In North Africa, German Field Marshal Rommel and his troops have successfully fended off British forces, and now intend to take Tobruk, an important port city. A ramshackle group of Australian reinforcements sent to combat the Germans is put under the command of British Captain MacRoberts. The unruly Aussies immediately clash with MacRoberts, a gruff, strict disciplinarian, however this unorthodox team must band together to protect Tobruk from the German forces.

The Desert Rats

1953

Androcles and the Lion poster
5.9

George Bernard Shaw’s breezy, delightful dramatization of this classic fable—about a Christian slave who pulls a thorn from a lion’s paw and is spared from death in the Colosseum as a result of his kind act—was written as a meditation on modern Christian values. Pascal’s final Shaw production is played broadly, with comic character actor Alan Young as the titular naïf. He’s ably supported by Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Robert Newton, and Elsa Lanchester.

Androcles and the Lion

1952

Henry V poster
6.7

In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.

Henry V

1944

21 Days poster
6.1

After Larry Darrent accidentally kills his lover's blackmailing husband, someone else is arrested for the crime. When he is found guilty, Larry and Wanda have just three weeks together before he must give himself up— or let an innocent man go to the gallows.

21 Days

1940

Dark Journey poster
6.5

British double agent Madeleine Goddard meets and falls in love with German spy Baron Karl Von Marwitz during World War I.

Dark Journey

1937

This Happy Breed poster
7.1

A chronicle of the lives of the Gibbons family, from shortly after the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second.

This Happy Breed

1944

Gaslight poster
7.1

Twenty years removed from Alice Barlow's murder by a thief looking for her jewels, newlyweds Paul and Bella Mallen move into the very house where the crime was committed. Retired detective B.G. Rough, who worked on the Barlow case, is still in the area and grows suspicious of Paul, who he feels bears a striking resemblance to one of Barlow's relatives. Rough must find the truth before the killer can strike again and reclaim his bounty.

Gaslight

1940

Fire Over England poster
6.2

In 1588, relations between Spain and England are at the breaking point. With the support of Queen Elizabeth I, British sea raiders such as Sir Francis Drake regularly capture Spanish merchantmen, bringing gold from the New World.

Fire Over England

1937

Blackbeard, the Pirate poster
5.9

Honest Robert Maynard finds himself serving as ship's surgeon under the infamous pirate Blackbeard.

Blackbeard, the Pirate

1952

Poison Pen poster
6.7

The inhabitants of a peaceful village begin receiving mysterious hate mail penned by someone with malicious thoughts.

Poison Pen

1939

Walt Disney: Behind the Magic poster
9.0

An examination of Walt Disney, the man who created "the happiest place on earth," but whose life was far from a fairy tale with employee strikes, financial hardships and personal tragedies.

Walt Disney: Behind the Magic

2024

Long John Silver poster
5.9

In this sequel to Treasure Island, Long John hopes to rescue his friend Jim from a rival pirate and return for more treasure.

Long John Silver

1954

Les Miserables poster
5.5

In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.

Les Miserables

1952

Tom Brown's Schooldays poster
7.0

In 1830s England, Tom Brown attends a rugby boys' school, where his moral and personal growth is formed through friendship, bullying–particularly from the cruel Flashman–and the influence of headmaster Dr Thomas Arnold.

Tom Brown's Schooldays

1951

Obsession poster
6.8

A British psychiatrist devises a devilish revenge plot against his wife's lover.

Obsession

1949

Kiss the Blood Off My Hands poster
6.7

Bill Saunders, a former prisoner of war living in England, whose experiences have left him unstable and violent, gets into a bar fight in which he kills a man and then flees. He hides out with the assistance of a nurse, Jane Wharton, who believes his story that the killing was an accident.

Kiss the Blood Off My Hands

1948

Soldiers Three poster
4.5

Kiplingesque tale of British forces in 19th-century India.

Soldiers Three

1951