George Sanders — actor with roots in the Russian Empire
George Henry Sanders was born in St Petersburg on 3 July 1906, at No. 6 Petrovsky Island, the second son of Henry Sanders, a rope manufacturer, and Margaret, née Kolbe, a horticulturist who had herself been born in St Petersburg. The family belonged to the city's Anglo-Russian community; Wikipedia describes his mother's ancestry as mostly German, with Estonian and Scottish strands, while Sanders in his memoir called both families Scots. A 1990 biography claimed, on the basis of family recollections, that his father was the illegitimate son of a Russian noblewoman at court and a prince of the House of Oldenburg, adopted by the Sanders family; the claim has not been confirmed. His elder brother became the actor Tom Conway.
Sanders began his schooling in a Russian school. In 1917, after the Revolution, the family left for England, travelling by way of Finland. He was educated at Bedales and Brighton College, studied at Manchester Technical College and worked in textile research and, by his own account, on a tobacco plantation in South America, before taking up acting at the suggestion of Greer Garson.
After small parts in British films he moved to Hollywood, where his suave screen persona made him one of Hollywood's best-known cads and villains. He appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca and Foreign Correspondent (both 1940), played Simon Templar in five films of The Saint series and the Falcon in four films, handing that series over in 1942 to his brother, and was Lord Henry Wotton in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945). As the acid theatre critic Addison DeWitt in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's All About Eve (1950) he won the Academy Award for best supporting actor.
In later years he worked widely in Europe, notably in Roberto Rossellini's Journey to Italy (1954), and in Village of the Damned (1960), and he gave his voice to the tiger Shere Khan in Disney's The Jungle Book (1967). In 1960 he published his autobiography, Memoirs of a Professional Cad. He was married four times, among others to the actresses Benita Hume and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
He died in Castelldefels, near Barcelona, on 25 April 1972, aged sixty-five.
"The family left Russia for Britain in 1917, after the Revolution, travelling by way of Finland."
Migration storyTracing the roots — St Petersburg (Russia)
Born in St Petersburg in 1906 to Henry Sanders, a rope manufacturer, and Margaret Kolbe, herself born in St Petersburg, he began school there before the family left for Britain in 1917.
His mother, Margaret Kolbe, was of mostly German, but also Estonian and Scottish ancestry. A 1990 biography alleged that his father was the illegitimate son of a Russian noblewoman and an Oldenburg prince.
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St Petersburg (Russia). At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.
A career defined by ambition
"I am leaving because I am bored."