---
name: "Richard Basehart"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/richard-basehart"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "31 August 1914"
died: "17 September 1984"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T11:21:16.525261+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Richard Basehart

Actor. Born 31 August 1914 in Zanesville, Ohio, USA. Died 17 September 1984.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 31 August 1914, Zanesville, Ohio, USA
- **Died:** 17 September 1984
- **Also known as:** John Richard Basehart

## Biography

Richard Basehart was an American actor. Born John Richard Basehart on 31 August 1914 in Zanesville, Ohio, he began his career on stage before making his film debut in 1947. He appeared in numerous films and television series until the early 1980s.

He is known for his role as Admiral Harriman Nelson in the television series *Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea* (1964–68) and as Wilton Knight in the pilot episode of *Knight Rider* (1982), which he also narrated. Film roles include Matto in *La Strada* (1954), Ishmael in *Moby Dick* (1956) and Vladimir Skrapinov in *Being There* (1979). He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 and won National Board of Review Awards for *Fourteen Hours* (1951) and *Moby Dick* (1956).

Basehart was married to actress Valentina Cortese from 1951 to 1960; they had one son. He died on 17 September 1984 in Los Angeles.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Being There* (1979), Fi1m 84, as Vladimir Skrapinov — [page](https://film.one/film/being-there.md)

## Also known for

- *Knight Rider* (1982), Wilton Knight
- *La Strada* (1954), Matto
- *The Twilight Zone* (1959), Adam Cook
- *Little House on the Prairie* (1974), Hannibal Applewood
- *Columbo* (1971), Nicholas Framer
- *Moby Dick* (1956), Ishmael
- *The Swindle* (1955), Carlo
- *The Love Boat* (1977), Stan Ellis

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/richard-basehart