Sydney Greenstreet

Son of John (1847-1913) and Ann (née Baker) Greenstreet (1852-?).

Sydney Greenstreet's father was a leather merchant with eight children. Sydney left home at age 18 to make his fortune as a Ceylon tea planter, but drought forced him out of business and back to England. He managed a brewery and, to escape boredom, took acting lessons. His stage debut was as a murderer in a 1902 production of "Sherlock Holmes".

Father of John Ogden Greenstreet (September 30, 1920-March 4, 2004).

From then on he appeared in numerous plays in England and the US, working through most of the 1930s with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne at the Theatre Guild. His parts ranged from musical comedy to Shakespeare.

His film debut, occurring when he was 62 years old and weighing nearly 300 pounds, was as Kasper Guttman in the classic The Maltese Falcon (1941), with Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre. He teamed with Lorre in eight more movies after that. In eight years he made 24 films, all while beset by diabetes and Bright's disease.

Partially inspired the appearance of Jabba the Hut in the "Star Wars" series. When asked what the intergalactic gangster should look like by the designer, George Lucas replied, "A big blob, a huge mass of matter." The designer immediately thought of Greenstreet in Casablanca (1942). At one point during the production, a fez was placed on the final Jabba's head, to make him look like Greenstreet.

Starred as the title character on NBC Radio's "The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe" (1950-1951).

His little-known Cyrus Redblock role was recycled into another same-name character for the series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), episode "The Big Good-Bye". Played fittingly by the late Lawrence Tierney.