| Sidney Blackmer | |
| Birth Name: | Sidney Alderman Blackmer |
| Othername: | S.A. Blackmer |
| Birth Date: | 13 July 1895 |
| Birth Place: | Salisbury, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Death Place: | New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Actor |
| Yearsactive: | 1914–1971 |
| Spouse: | |
| Children: | 2 |
| Awards: | North Carolina Award, Fine Arts |
Sidney Alderman Blackmer (July 13, 1895 – October 6, 1973) was an American Broadway and film actor active between 1914 and 1971, usually in major supporting roles.
Blackmer was born and raised in Salisbury, North Carolina, the son of Clara Deroulhac (née Alderman) and Walter Steele Blackmer.[1] He started in the insurance and financial counseling business but abandoned it. While working as a construction laborer on a new building, he saw a Pearl White serial being filmed and immediately decided to pursue acting as a career. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Blackmer had a role in the highly popular serial The Perils of Pauline (1914), his film debut.[2]
In 1929, he returned to motion pictures and went on to appear as a major character actor in more than 120 films.
He won the 1950 Tony Award for Best Actor (Drama) for his role in the Broadway play Come Back, Little Sheba, co-starring with Shirley Booth.[3]
In film, Blackmer had a role as the conniving Manhattan warlock Roman Castevet in the guise of one of many overly solicitous elderly neighbors of the pregnant titular character (played by Mia Farrow) in the Academy Award-winning 1968 Roman Polanski film, Rosemary's Baby.
A humanitarian, Blackmer served as the national vice president of the United States Muscular Dystrophy Association. He also helped found the North Carolina School of the Arts.[4] [5] In 1972, he was honored with the North Carolina Award in the Fine Arts category. It is the State of North Carolina's highest civilian award. On his death in 1973, Blackmer was interred in the Chestnut Hill Cemetery in his hometown of Salisbury, North Carolina.
For his contributions to the film industry, Blackmer has a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1625 Vine Street.[6]
Blackmer also appeared in television roles, such as Don't Come Back Alive episode of the 1955 TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents and "The Premature Burial" episode of the 1961 TV series Thriller. Blackmer also guest starred twice in the western TV series Bonanza in the episodes "The Dream Riders" (1961) and "The Late Ben Cartwright" (1968). Among his most notable roles was the character of presidential candidate William Lyons Selby in the Outer Limits episode "The Hundred Days of the Dragon".