# Erskine Sanford

Erskine Sanford (November 19, 1885 – July 7, 1969) was an American actor on the stage, radio and motion pictures. Long associated with the Theatre Guild, he later joined Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre company and appeared in several of Welles's films, including Citizen Kane (1941), in which he played Herbert Carter, the bumbling, perspiring newspaper editor.

## Biography

Erskine Sanford was born in Trinidad, Colorado, and was educated at the Horace Mann School in New York City. Beginning his acting career with Minnie Maddern Fiske's company, he made his professional debut in Leah Kleschna. He appeared in The Blue Bird and The Piper (1910–11) at the New Theatre in New York City, and in Shakespearean repertory with Ben Greet.$^{:16}$
For some 15 years, he was associated with the Theatre Guild, playing 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.$^{:351}$
In 1941, Sanford married psychiatric nursing pioneer Adele Poston, but the marriage lasted only a short time.

## Theatre credits

| Date | Title | Role | Notes |
| February 11, 1916 | Playlets | | Belasco Theatre, New York City |
| November 14 – December 30, 1916 | Gertrude Kingston and a Visiting Company | | Neighborhood Playhouse and Maxine Elliott Theatre, New York City |
| October 13, 1919 – January 1920 | The Faithful | Hara, Honzo | Garrick Theatre, New York City Theatre Guild production |
| November 25, 1919 – February 1920 | The Rise of Silas Lapham | Mr. Sewell | Garrick Theatre, New York City |
| January 15 – March 1920 | The Power of Darkness | Mitrich | Garrick Theatre, New York City |
| February 23 – September 1920 | Jane Clegg | Mr. Morrison | Garrick Theatre, New York City |
| September 4 – October 1920 | The Treasure | The President of the Community | Garrick Theatre, New York City |
| November 10, 1920 – February 26, 1921 | Heartbreak House | Mazzini Dunn | Garrick Theatre, New York City |
| February 28 – June 1921 | Mr. Pim Passes By | Carraway Pim | Garrick Theatre, New York City |
| April 20 – June 1921 | Liliom | Captain, First Policeman of the Beyond | Garrick Theatre, New York City |
| December 20, 1922 – February 1923 | Johannes Kreisler | Theodor | Apollo Theatre, New York City |
| March 26 – April 1923 | Sandro Botticelli | Fra Filippo Lippi | Provincetown Playhouse, New York City |
| November 19, 1923 – January 1924 | The Failures | The Musician | Garrick Theatre, New York City |
| April 14 – June 1924 | Man and the Masses | Third Banker, A Priest | Garrick Theatre, New York City |
| October 19 – December 1925 | The Glass Slipper | Captain Gal, Police Sergeant | Guild Theatre, New York City |
| January 25 – March 1926 | The Goat Song | Starsina, Priest | Guild Theatre, New York City |
| March 23 – April 1926 | What's the Big Idea | Peter Clausen | Bijou Theatre, New York City |
| October 11 – November 1926 | Juarez and Maximilian | Lawyer Siliceo, Jose Rincon Gallardo | Guild Theatre, New York City |
| November 18 – December 1926 | The Witch | Master Laurentius | Greenwich Village Theatre, New York City |
| February 24 – March 1927 | Puppets of Passion | Attendant | Theatre Masque, New York City |
| April 18 – August 1927 | Mr. Pim Passes By | Carraway Pim | Garrick Theatre, New York City |
| 1928 – August 1928 | Porgy | Alan Archdale | Republic Theatre, New York City |
| 1928–29 | Porgy | Alan Archdale | Tour 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 1929 | Porgy | Alan Archdale | Martin Beck Theatre, New York City |
| October 14, 1929 – January 1930 | Porgy | Alan Archdale | National tour |
| October 27 – December 1930 | Roar China | Mr. Tourist | Martin Beck Theatre, New York City |
| October 26, 1931 – March 1932 | Mourning Becomes Electra | Dr. Joseph Blake, Abner Small | Guild Theatre, New York City |
| February 21 – March 1933 | American Dream | Murdoch | Guild Theatre, New York City |
| February 21 – April 1934 | They Shall Not Die | Sheriff Nelson | Royale Theatre, New York City |
| December 10, 1934 – January 1935 | Valley Forge | Mr. Folsom | Guild Theatre, New York City |
| October 11 – October 1935 | Sweet Mystery of Life | Doctor Warren | Shubert Theatre, New York City |
| April 29 – June 11, 1938 | Heartbreak House | Mazzini Dunn | Mercury Theatre, New York City$^{:47}$ |
| August 16–29, 1938 | Too Much Johnson | Frederic | Stony Creek Theatre, Stony Creek, Connecticut$^{:50}$ |
| February 27 – March 1939 | Five Kings (Part One) | Lord Chief Justice | Colonial Theatre, Boston$^{:54}$$^{:350–351}$ |
| March 13 – March 1939 | Five Kings (Part One) | Lord Chief Justice | National Theatre, Washington, D.C.$^{:351}$ |
| March 20–25, 1939 | Five Kings (Part One) | Lord Chief Justice | Chestnut Street Opera House, Philadelphia$^{:428}$$^{:351}$ |
| March 24 – June 28, 1941 | Native Son | Mr. Dalton | St. James Theatre, New York City |
| May 28–31, 1947 | Macbeth | Duncan | Kingsbury 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$^{:52–53}$$^{:401}$ |

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1938 | Too Much Johnson | Frederic | |
| 1940 | Pop Always Pays | Hayes | |
| 1940 | Citizen Kane trailer | Himself, Herbert Carter | Short |
| 1941 | Andy Hardy's Private Secretary | Mr. Bossiny | Uncredited |
| 1941 | Citizen Kane | Herbert Carter / Screening Room Reporter | |
| 1941 | Appointment for Love | Hastings's butler | Uncredited |
| 1942 | The Wife Takes a Flyer | Jan | |
| 1942 | The Magnificent Ambersons | Roger Bronson | |
| 1943 | Jane Eyre | Mr. Briggs | Uncredited |
| 1944 | Uncertain Glory | Drover | Uncredited |
| 1944 | Mr. Skeffington | Dr. Fawcette | |
| 1944 | Enemy of Women | Levine | Uncredited |
| 1944 | Ministry of Fear | George Rennit | |
| 1945 | A Tree Grows in Brooklyn | Undertaker | Uncredited |
| 1945 | Spellbound | Dr. Galt | Uncredited |
| 1945 | Girls of the Big House | Professor O'Neill | |
| 1946 | From This Day Forward | Higgler | |
| 1946 | Without Reservations | Timothy Helgelander | Uncredited |
| 1946 | The Stranger | Party guest | Uncredited$^{:197}$ |
| 1946 | Crack-Up | Barton | |
| 1946 | Angel on My Shoulder | Minister | |
| 1946 | The Best Years of Our Lives | Bullard | |
| 1947 | Possessed | Dr. Max Sherman | |
| 1947 | Mourning Becomes Electra | Josiah Borden | |
| 1947 | The Lady from Shanghai | Judge | |
| 1948 | The Voice of the Turtle | Storekeeper | |
| 1948 | You Were Meant for Me | Dr. Frank R. Smith | Uncredited |
| 1948 | Letter from an Unknown Woman | Porter | |
| 1948 | Texas, Brooklyn and Heaven | Dr. Danson | Uncredited |
| 1948 | They Live by Night | Doctor | Uncredited |
| 1948 | Macbeth | Duncan | |
| 1948 | Kidnapped | Rankeillor | |
| 1948 | Wake of the Red Witch | Dokter Van Arken | |
| 1949 | Your Show Time (TV) | | "The Invisible Wound" |
| 1949 | Impact | Dr. Henry Bender | |
| 1949 | Night Unto Night | Dr. Gallen Altheim | |
| 1949 | The Woman on Pier 13 | Desk Clerk at Christine's Apartment | Uncredited |
| 1950 | Sierra | Judge Prentiss | |
| 1951 | The Company She Keeps | Planetarium Guide | Uncredited |
| 1952 | My Son John | Professor | (scenes deleted) |

## Radio credits

| Date | Title | Role | Notes |
| July 25, 1938 | The Mercury Theatre on the Air | The President | "A Tale of Two Cities"$^{:344}$$^{:51}$ |
| September 5, 1938 | The Mercury Theatre on the Air | Secretary | "The Man Who Was Thursday"$^{:345}$$^{:51}$ |
| December 24, 1939 | The Campbell Playhouse | | "A Christmas Carol"$^{:356}$ |
| March 17, 1940 | The Campbell Playhouse | | "Huckleberry Finn"$^{:359}$ |
| April 6, 1941 | The Free Company | Colonel Egenhorn | "His Honor, the Mayor"$^{:113–115}$ |
| October 6, 1941 | The Orson Welles Show | | $^{:367}$ |
| October 20, 1941 | The Orson Welles Show | | $^{:367}$ |
| December 22, 1941 | The Orson Welles Show | | $^{:368}$ |