Alexander Scourby

Alexander Scourby (November 13, 1913 – February 22, 1985) was an American film, television, and voice actor noted for his deep and resonant voice. He is particularly remembered for his landmark recording of the entire King James Version of the Bible, which has been released in numerous editions.

Biography
Scourby was born in Brooklyn, New York to Greek immigrant parents. He studied journalism briefly at West Virginia University at Morgantown and became interested in campus theater. He started as a Shakespearean actor in the 1930s (his Broadway debut was as the Player King in Hamlet; he appeared in four productions of the play over the years, playing a different role in each), and was active in radio drama in the 1940s.

From the 1950s onward he became known as the narrator of documentaries such as the theatrical film version of Victory at Sea (1954), and remained much in demand into the 1980s, notably on National Geographic specials and finally the series of CBS medical specials entitled The Body Human. Scourby also hosted the PBS series Live from the Met for a time. His last narrating assignment was the documentary Toscanini: The Maestro, in 1985.

He was married to stage and soap opera actress Lori March, with whom he appeared in 1956's Ransom!, starring Glenn Ford and Donna Reed, and in the 1970s on The Secret Storm. They had one daughter, Alexandra. Scourby later created the role of Nigel Fargate on the ABC soap opera All My Children. He made many other appearances on television as well.

Often cast as a smooth villain in the movies, perhaps his most memorable film role was as Lagana, the head mobster, in Fritz Lang's The Big Heat, opposite Glenn Ford and Lee Marvin. Other parts included Rita Hayworth's duplicitous neighbor and escort in Affair in Trinidad (yet again with Ford), and the impatient island governor in The Devil at 4 O'Clock, starring Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra. He also played the role of Old Polo in Giant.

Death
Scourby died in Newtown, Connecticut at the age of 71. His final acting role was in the satirical horror film The Stuff.

History and legal disputes
Scourby was the first person to make a complete recording of the Bible. He originally narrated the King James Version for The American Foundation For The Blind over four years, finishing in 1944. Their original goal was to produce a clean, clear recording for visually impaired listeners. The American Bible Society distributed it as The Talking Bible, a set of 169 records with a running time of 84.5 hours. This recording was eventually released to the general public in 1966 and became a best-seller. It is now part of the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.

Scourby rerecorded the Old Testament in 1972 and the New Testament two years later for the Episcopal Radio and TV Foundation. The actor agreed to a reduced fee of $15,000 provided the proceeds from sales would be used only for non-profit purposes; the recordings were to be distributed primarily to the blind and physically handicapped. When tapes appeared on the general market as the Authorized Alexander Scourby's Latest Narration he sued. A 1990 court ruling posthumously awarded the rights to the 1970s recordings to Scourby. The verdict forced the Foundation, which was not officially part of the Episcopal Church, into bankruptcy. Eventually these recordings were acquired by Word, Inc., then Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Copyright to at least one of Scourby's Bible recordings is now held by a small Ft. Lauderdale company,                              Litchfield Associates. Hendrickson's publishers issued a licensed, DRM-free set of MP3 files containing the entire KJV in 2003 (available to download, here). It lists Littlefield as the rightsholder with 1991 as copyright date.

Scourby and religion
Although Scourby made voice recordings of over 500 different books, he considered the Bible to be his most important. He describes why in the following letter.

Scourby had been baptized as a Greek Orthodox and married in an Episcopalian church.

Poetry recordings
Scourby also made recordings of British and American poetry. One of his most notable was the LP A Golden Treasury of Poetry, recorded for the children's label Golden Records. It featured readings of such poems as Paul Revere's Ride, Gunga Din, The Highwayman, and Annabel Lee.