Erskine Sanford


Erskine Sanford was an American actor on the stage and in radio and motion pictures. A member of Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre company, he also appeared in several of Welles's films, most notably as the bumbling, perspiring newspaper editor Herbert Carter in Citizen Kane.

Biography

Erskine Sanford was born in Trinidad, Colorado, and was educated at the Horace Mann School in New York City.
He began his acting career with Minnie Maddern Fiske's company, making his professional debut in Leah Kleschna. He appeared in The Blue Bird and The Piper at the New Theatre in New York City, and in Shakespearean repertory with Ben Greet.
For some 15 years he was associated with the Theatre Guild, playing a variety of roles on Broadway and on tour, including performances of Porgy and Strange Interlude on the London stage.
In Kenosha, Wisconsin, Sanford first met Orson Welles in 1922, when the seven-year-old boy came backstage to meet him after a touring performance of Mr. Pim Passes By. Years later, Sanford left the Theatre Guild to join Welles's Mercury Theatre company, and made his Mercury debut in the 1938 stage production of Heartbreak House. Appearing as Mazzini Dunn, Sanford reprised the role he had created 18 years before in the Theatre Guild's world premiere production.

Theatre credits

DateTitleRoleNotes
February 11, 1916PlayletsBelasco Theatre, New York City
November 14 – December 30, 1916Gertrude Kingston and a Visiting CompanyNeighborhood Playhouse and Maxine Elliott Theatre, New York City
October 13, 1919 – January 1920The FaithfulHara, HonzoGarrick Theatre, New York City
Theatre Guild production
November 25, 1919 – February 1920The Rise of Silas LaphamMr. SewellGarrick Theatre, New York City
January 15 – March 1920The Power of DarknessMitrichGarrick Theatre, New York City
February 23 – September 1920Jane CleggMr. MorrisonGarrick Theatre, New York City
September 4 – October 1920The TreasureThe President of the CommunityGarrick Theatre, New York City
November 10, 1920 – February 26, 1921Heartbreak HouseMazzini DunnGarrick Theatre, New York City
February 28 – June 1921Mr. Pim Passes ByCarraway PimGarrick Theatre, New York City
April 20 – June 1921LiliomCaptain, First Policeman of the BeyondGarrick Theatre, New York City
December 20, 1922 – February 1923Johannes KreislerTheodorApollo Theatre, New York City
March 26 – April 1923Sandro BotticelliFra Filippo LippiProvincetown Playhouse, New York City
November 19, 1923 – January 1924The FailuresThe MusicianGarrick Theatre, New York City
April 14 – June 1924Man and the MassesThird Banker, A PriestGarrick Theatre, New York City
October 19 – December 1925The Glass SlipperCaptain Gal, Police SergeantGuild Theatre, New York City
January 25 – March 1926The Goat SongStarsina, PriestGuild Theatre, New York City
March 23 – April 1926What's the Big IdeaPeter ClausenBijou Theatre, New York City
October 11 – November 1926Juarez and MaximilianLawyer Siliceo, Jose Rincon GallardoGuild Theatre, New York City
November 18 – December 1926The WitchMaster LaurentiusGreenwich Village Theatre, New York City
February 24 – March 1927Puppets of PassionAttendantTheatre Masque, New York City
April 18 – August 1927Mr. Pim Passes ByCarraway PimGarrick Theatre, New York City
1928 – August 1928PorgyAlan ArchdaleRepublic Theatre, New York City
1928–29PorgyAlan ArchdaleTour including nine weeks in Chicago, six weeks in London, and performances in Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Washington, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Detroit, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and cities in the northwestern United States and Canada
September 13 – October 1929PorgyAlan ArchdaleMartin Beck Theatre, New York City
October 14, 1929 – January 1930PorgyAlan ArchdaleNational tour
October 27 – December 1930Roar ChinaMr. TouristMartin Beck Theatre, New York City
October 26, 1931 – March 1932Mourning Becomes ElectraDr. Joseph Blake, Abner SmallGuild Theatre, New York City
February 21 – March 1933American DreamMurdochGuild Theatre, New York City
February 21 – April 1934They Shall Not DieSheriff NelsonRoyale Theatre, New York City
December 10, 1934 – January 1935Valley ForgeMr. FolsomGuild Theatre, New York City
October 11 – October 1935Sweet Mystery of LifeDoctor WarrenShubert Theatre, New York City
April 29 – June 11, 1938Heartbreak HouseMazzini DunnMercury Theatre, New York City
August 16–29, 1938Too Much JohnsonFredericStony Creek Theatre, Stony Creek, Connecticut
February 27 – March 1939Five Kings Lord Chief JusticeColonial Theatre, Boston
March 13 – March 1939Five Kings Lord Chief JusticeNational Theatre, Washington, D.C.
March 20–25, 1939Five Kings Lord Chief JusticeChestnut Street Opera House, Philadelphia
March 24 – June 28, 1941Native SonMr. DaltonSt. James Theatre, New York City
May 28–31, 1947MacbethDuncanKingsbury Hall, University of Utah, Salt Lake City
Six performances staged in preparation for the film version shot in June 1947 with the same principal cast

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1938Too Much JohnsonFrederic
1940Pop Always PaysHayes
1940Citizen Kane trailerHimself, Herbert CarterShort
1941Andy Hardy's Private SecretaryMr. BossinyUncredited
1941Citizen KaneHerbert Carter / Screening Room Reporter
1941Appointment for LoveHastings's butlerUncredited
1942'Jan
1942'Roger Bronson
1943Jane EyreMr. BriggsUncredited
1944Uncertain GloryDroverUncredited
1944Mr. SkeffingtonDr. Fawcette
1944Enemy of WomenLevineUncredited
1944Ministry of FearGeorge Rennit
1945'UndertakerUncredited
1945SpellboundDr. GaltUncredited
1945Girls of the Big HouseProfessor O'Neill
1946From This Day ForwardHiggler
1946Without ReservationsTimothy HelgelanderUncredited
1946'Party guestUncredited
1946Crack-UpBarton
1946Angel on My ShoulderMinister
1946'Bullard
1947PossessedDr. Max Sherman
1947Mourning Becomes ElectraJosiah Borden
1947'Judge
1948'Storekeeper
1948You Were Meant for MeDr. Frank R. SmithUncredited
1948Letter from an Unknown WomanPorter
1948Texas, Brooklyn and HeavenDr. DansonUncredited
1948They Live by NightDoctorUncredited
1948MacbethDuncan
1948KidnappedRankeillor
1948Wake of the Red WitchDokter Van Arken
1949Your Show Time "The Invisible Wound"
1949ImpactDr. Henry Bender
1949Night Unto NightDr. Gallen Altheim
1949The Woman on Pier 13Desk Clerk at Christine's ApartmentUncredited
1950SierraJudge Prentiss
1951'Planetarium GuideUncredited
1952My Son JohnProfessor,

Radio credits