Philip Van Zandt
| Philip Van Zandt | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
Philip Pinheiro October 4, 1904 Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Died |
February 15, 1958 (aged 53) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Suicide |
| Resting place | Chapel of the Pines Crematory |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1927–1958 |
Philip "Phil" Van Zandt (October 4, 1904 – February 15, 1958) was a Dutch actor of film, stage and television. He made over 220 film and television appearances between 1939 and 1958.
Life and career
Born Philip Pinheiro in Amsterdam, Van Zandt made his acting debut in 1927 and soon after left for the United States, where he eventually landed on Broadway, appearing in 10 different productions between 1931 and 1938.
Van Zandt made his Hollywood debut in 1939 and, in the two decades that followed, appeared in some 100 movies. However, he was usually cast in bit parts and also found himself typecast in villainous roles as a Nazi, criminal, or mad scientist. For instance, he appeared as a villain in two Laurel and Hardy films in the 1940s.
The few films in which he got more considerable screen-time were mostly comedy shorts, including several Three Stooges short subjects. In 1941, he played a small but important part as magazine editor Rawlston in Orson Welles' classic film Citizen Kane.
He established his own acting school in Hollywood in the 1950s. In 1956, he guest-starred in an episode of Johnny Weismuller's Jungle Jim syndicated television series.
By 1958, Van Zandt had become depressed with his flagging career, and had spent practically all his income on compulsive gambling. As a result, he committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills.[1] His last film appearance was in the Three Stooges comedy Fifi Blows Her Top, released nearly two months after his death.
Partial filmography
- Citizen Kane (1941)
- City of Missing Girls (1941)
- Hostages (1943)
- Air Raid Wardens (1943)
- Tarzan Triumphs (1943)
- Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943)
- Call of the Jungle (1944)
- The Big Noise (1944)
- House of Frankenstein (1944)
- The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) (unbilled)
- Sudan (1945)
- Counter-Attack (1945)
- A Thousand and One Nights (1945)
- Slave Girl (1947)
- Squareheads of the Round Table (1948)
- The Big Clock (1948)
- Fiddlers Three (1948)
- Mummy's Dummies (1948)
- Embraceable You (1948)
- The Lady Gambles (1949)
- Fuelin' Around (1949)
- Red, Hot and Blue (1949)
- Dopey Dicks (1950)
- One Shivery Night (1950)
- His Kind of Woman (1951)
- Three Arabian Nuts (1951)
- Yukon Gold (1952)
- Spooks! (1953)
- Captain John Smith and Pocahontas (1953)
- Clipped Wings (1953)
- Musty Musketeers (1954)
- Knutzy Knights (1954)
- Scotched in Scotland (1954)
- Yankee Pasha (1954)
- The Big Combo (1955)
- Bedlam in Paradise (1955)
- Hot Stuff (1956)
- Uranium Boom (1956)
- The Pride and the Passion (1957)
- Man of a Thousand Faces (1957)
- Outer Space Jitters (1957)
- The Crooked Circle (1957)
- Fifi Blows Her Top (1958)