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See also Robert Newton for the British athlete. Robert Newton (June 1 1905 – March 25 1956) was an English actor. He was born in Shaftesbury, in Dorset, England, and died in Los Angeles, California, USA, from a heart attack. His film career includes several notable villains, among them Bill Sikes in David Lean's 1948 film version of Oliver Twist, Javert in the 1952 Les Misérables, and Inspector Fix in his last film, Around the World in Eighty Days (1956). He is most famous for playing the feverish-eyed Long John Silver in the Walt Disney Pictures movie Treasure Island (1950), as well as in a later, unrelated film of the same literary property, Return to Treasure Island (1954; sometimes also known simply as Long John Silver), and even a 13-episode TV series. His Disney portrayal has provided the template for most screen portrayals of pirates since; Newton has even become the "patron saint" of the annual International Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19). Newton went on to play Bristol's other famous pirate, Blackbeard, in the film Blackbeard the Pirate, but was never able to shake the legacy of Long John Silver. Newton appeared in major roles in two films based on the novella The Vessel of Wrath, by W. Somerset Maugham. He played the Dutch contrôleur in the 1938 version (released in the U.S. as The Beachcomber), and the lead role of Edward "Ginger Ted" Wilson in The Beachcomber (1954). He starred as the Scottish hatter, James Brodie, in Hatter's Castle, a 1942 film based on the novel by A.J. Cronin. He also played Ancient Pistol in Laurence Olivier's 1944 film of Henry V. On stage, he appeared in a number of plays by Noel Coward. Along with Errol Flynn, Newton was one of the most popular actors amongst the male juvenile audience of the 1940s and early 1950s, especially among British boys; he was cited as a role model by actor Oliver Reed and musician Keith Moon. His film career was somewhat erratic due to his chronic alcoholism, which led to his early death from a heart attack at the age of 50. He was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
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