Robert Newton (1 June 1905 – 25 March 1956) was an English stage and film actor. Along with Errol Flynn, Newton was one of the most popular actors among the male juvenile audience of the 1940s and early 1950s, especially with British boys. He was cited as a role model by actors Tony Hancock, Oliver Reed, and drummer Keith Moon.
Newton is best remembered for portraying the feverish-eyed Long John Silver in the Walt Disney version of Treasure Island, which became the standard for screen portrayals of pirates. A West Country native where many famous English pirates hailed from, Newton is credited with popularizing the stereotypical West Country "pirate voice" by exaggerating his West Country accent. Newton has become the "patron saint" of the annual International Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19.
Read more about Robert Newton: Career, Death, Filmography
Famous quotes containing the word newton:
“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)