Erskine Sanford

Legend has it that Orson Welles saw his first theatrical production at age seven, when a touring company of Mr. Pim Passes By played in Welles' hometown of Kenosha, WI. Invited backstage, young Welles was effusively greeted by the play's leading man, Erskine Sanford, whose kind and encouraging words inspired Welles to pursue an acting career himself. Whether this story is true or not, the fact remains that, in 1936, Erskine Sanford left the Theatre Guild after a 15-year association to join Orson Welles' experimental Mercury Theatre. When Welles took the Mercury Players to Hollywood in 1940 to film Citizen Kane, Sanford was assigned the small but plum role of Herbert Carter, the sputtering, apoplectic former editor of the New York Inquirer. The actor went on to appear prominently in such Welles-directed films as The Magnificent Ambersons (1942, as Mr. Bronson), Lady From Shanghai (1947, as the judge), and MacBeth (1948, as King Duncan). Outside of his Mercury Theatre activities, Erskine Sanford played featured roles in such mainstream Hollywood productions as Ministry of Fear (1943) and Angel on My Shoulder (1946) before his retirement in 1950.

Highest Rated Movies

Rating	Title	Credit	Box Office	Year
50%	My Son John	Professor	—	1952
88%	Macbeth	Duncan	—	1950
No Score Yet	Sierra	Judge Prentiss	—	1950
No Score Yet	The Woman on Pier 13 (I Married a Communist)	Clerk	—	1949
No Score Yet	Night Unto Night	Dr. Altheim	—	1949
No Score Yet	Wake of the Red Witch	Doktor Van Arken	—	1949
60%	Impact	Dr. Bender	—	1949
No Score Yet	Kidnapped	Rankeillor	—	1948
100%	They Live by Night	Doctor	—	1948
84%	The Lady From Shanghai	Judge	—	1948
100%	Letter From an Unknown Woman	Porter	—	1948
No Score Yet	You Were Meant for Me	Dr. Sanford	—	1948
No Score Yet	Texas, Brooklyn and Heaven	Dr. Dunson	—	1948
No Score Yet	The Voice of the Turtle	Storekeeper	—	1947
89%	Possessed	Dr. Max Sherman	—	1947
No Score Yet	Without Reservations	Tim	—	1946
96%	The Best Years of Our Lives	Bullard	—	1946
No Score Yet	Crack-Up	Museum Director Barton	—	1946
No Score Yet	From This Day Forward	Higgler	—	1946
No Score Yet	Angel on My Shoulder	Minister	—	1946
84%	Spellbound	Dr. Galt	—	1945
100%	A Tree Grows in Brooklyn	Undertaker	—	1945
87%	Ministry of Fear	Mr. Rennit	—	1944
57%	Mr. Skeffington	Dr. Fawcette	—	1944
No Score Yet	Uncertain Glory	Drover	—	1944
100%	Jane Eyre	Mr. Braggs	—	1944
92%	The Magnificent Ambersons	Benson	—	1942
100%	Citizen Kane	Herbert Carter	—	1941
No Score Yet	Pop Always Pays	Hayes	—	1940

Drover: He was just another murderer (ie Picard)..... Nobody can help me decide this (ie the fate of Picard).
Drover: He was just another murderer [ie Picard]..... Nobody can help me decide this. [ie the fate of Picard]
Jean Picard: I'd better be going along, Gestapo clocks may be fast.
Jean Picard: Somehow (Paris) is always beautiful before dark.
Jean Picard: Somehow [Paris] is always beautiful before dark.
Jean Picard: Tell (Marianne) .... we'll think of something.
Jean Picard: Tell Marianne... we'll think of something.
Drover: What is it that brought you (Picard) back (to turn himself in to the Gestapo).
Drover: What is it that brought you [Picard] back. [to turn himself in to the Gestapo]
Jean Picard: What time do they shoot me?
Jean Picard: Its been a long road.
Jean Picard: Yes, but it has a good ending.
Gestapo Agent: You see, you forgot how to answer that one (a question that quizzed all captives).
Gestapo Agent: You see, you forgot how to answer that one. [a question that quizzed all captives]

Jean Picard: I'm looking a that little pulse there in your throat. (talking to Marriane)
Jean Picard: I'm looking a that little pulse there in your throat. [talking to Marriane]
Drover: We've had enough fishing, both of us. (after wasting time fishing).
Drover: We've had enough fishing, both of us. [after wasting time fishing]

Drover: No Picard, you have an appointment in Paris tonight.
Jean Picard: At this point everybody in the world is trembling.
Jean Picard: How better can a man live the last than three days of his life (on meeting Marianne.)
Jean Picard: How better can a man live the last than three days of his life [on meeting Marianne]
Marianne: We don't know where to turn or who to tell.
Jean Picard: What? are all the men around here blind? (asking about Marianne's romances)
Jean Picard: What? are all the men around here blind? [asking about Marianne's romances]

Drover: It wasn't my idea,[their plan to fool the Germans] there is always the guillotine you know.
Drover: It wasn't my idea, [their plan to fool the Germans] there is always the guillotine you know.
Drover: I intend to enjoy my pension some day. (chains Picard to the bed)
Drover: I intend to enjoy my pension some day. [chains Picard to the bed]
Jean Picard: Always the policeman, here I dig help to dig my own grave and you still don't trust me.

Jean Picard: At least it has more dignity than the guillotine. (being shot by a firing squad)
Jean Picard: At least it has more dignity than the guillotine. [being shot by a firing squad]
Jean Picard: A hundred innocent lives for one guilty one (his own)
Jean Picard: A hundred innocent lives for one guilty one [his own]
Jean Picard: I'll be honest with you, I do have a prejudice against the guillotine.
Jean Picard: A hundred men you could have saved and didn't.
Drover: I'm willing to risk everything on a theif and a murderer (he will release Picard to be caught by the Germans and certain death for Picard)
Drover: I'm willing to risk everything on a theif and a murderer [he will release Picard to be caught by the Germans and certain death for Picard]
Father Le Clerc: Anything that maintain a free spirit is worth a life.
Jean Picard: What's wrong with [a name like] Emile on a tombstone? Sounds like a hair dresser.