Robert Beatty

Robert Beatty graduated with a B. A. from the University of Toronto and started in amateur dramatics with the Hamilton Player's Guild. For a while, he made a living as a cashier for a gas and fuel company. In order to further hone his acting skills, he made his way to London in 1936 (on the advice of Leslie Howard) to train for acting at RADA. He made his theatrical debut in "Idiot's Delight" at the Apollo, and from there obtained regular work on both stage and screen in bit parts and walk-ons, eventually making his breakthrough on radio as a broadcaster for the BBC. He was famously on hand, reporting eyewitness accounts of the London Blitz for the Overseas News Service during the war years.

On the strength of this, Beatty was promoted to more substantial film roles, beginning with San Demetrio London (1943), in which he played a Brash, alcoholic American sailor mellowed by his good-natured British crewmates in the best 'stiff-upper-lip' tradition. This seemed to set the tone for his future screen personae, for he was henceforth typecast as tough, down-to-earth Canadians or Americans, many of them cops or gumshoes in low budget potboilers.

That notwithstanding, he had his share of quality assignments as well, notably as loyal friend to IRA fugitive James Mason in Odd Man Out (1947); as a plausible Lord Beaverbrook in The Magic Box (1951); as Lieutenant William Bush, best friend and second-in-command to Gregory Peck's Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951); and as a washed-out heavyweight prizefighter in The Square Ring (1953). Throughout his career, Beatty's stock-in-trade was masculinity, dependability and forthrightness.

Immensely popular on radio, Beatty provided the voice for private eye Philip Odell in a long-running series for the BBC "Light Programme" between 1947 and 1961.

From the late 1950's, he also became increasingly prolific on television and as a narrator of documentaries. If his face was not yet recognisable enough, he appeared in commercials for a hair care product.

In addition to his many acting credits he was a well used narrator on documentaries during the '50's. These included 'The Figure Head', (1952), 'Modern Ireland' (1953),' Paris in London' and 'Four Legs to Master' (1955) 'Have a Care', 'Fur, Feathers and Finery', 'Signs of Life',and 'June in January' (1956), 'Operation Universe', 'The Savage Mountain', 'And so Forth', 'The Oyster and the Pearl', 'Battleground', and 'Mountain Holiday' (1957), 'Pooches on Parade', 'Secret World' and 'Riviera Express (1958), 'Cuckoo Land' 'The Isle and the Pussycat' and 'Wreckers Coast' (1959) 'Six of the Best- A Short Memory' (1962) and the 'Spotlight' and 'World of Life' series from the '50's.

For two years, Beatty starred in his own half-hour series, Dial 999 (1958), as a Canadian mountie seconded to Scotland Yard. On the big screen he was cast as Dr.

Appeared in two films from the Superman franchise, but playing different roles: in Superman III (1983) he played a Tanker Captain while in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) he played the U.S. President.

Played two American presidents in 1987: Ronald Reagan in Breakthrough at Reykjavik (1987) and a fictional American president in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). Later on, he played Harry Truman in Diamonds High (1988).

Ralph Halvorsen in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).