George Sanders was born on July 3, 1906 to Margaret and Henry Sanders, who were of English ancestry in St. Petersburg, Russia. He had an older brother Tom (September 15, 1904 - April 22, 1967), and a younger sister, Margaret. They fled in 1917 during the Russian Revolution, when George was 11. They went to England, and where George and Tom attended high school at Brighton College, in Brighton, England. He then studied at Manchester University. After graduating in 1928, he worked in a textile mill in Manchester, England. His next job, soon after he woked in a cigarette manufacturing company in Argentina, also in 1928. He soon returned back to London at got another job, as an account exexcutive at L.I.N.T.A.S. an advertising company. There, he met Greer Garson, the secretary, who was also an aspiring actress. She convinced him to try out for acting and he did.
Soon he went in Broadway in London in a part for the play "Conversation Piece". Soon he made his acting debut in British films in the 1929 film "Strange Cargo". Eventually, in 1936, he received a deal with Twentieth Century- Fox, and made his American film debut in "Lloyds of London" as Lord Everett Stacy. He appeared in about 133 films total. Of his films, he was famous for playing Cads in several of his films, which is villians and heels, but in a very sophisticated and elegant manner as a gentleman. He was also well known for his silky-smooth, upper-crust English accent in his films. More of his most notable roles include "Rebecca" (1940) with Laurence Olivier Joan Fontaine, he played a series of spy films called "The Saint" (1939-1941) and then "The Falcon" (1940-1942), where he acted with his real-life brother Tom, who in 1940, also became an actor, who had changed his name to Tom Conway after they flipped a coin to see who would change their last name in order to avoid confusion to each other on the screen. More of his notable film appearences include "Foreign Correspondent" (1940), "Rage in Heaven" (1941) as the lead, opposite Ingrid Bergman and Robert Montgomery, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1945), opposite Angela Lansbury and Hurd Hatfield, "Lured" (1947), with Lucille Ball.
In 1950, he was in the film "All About Eve", with Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, and he played a cold-blooded theatre critic, Addison DeWitt and he won and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
During his long career, he played several roles in films of Rulers, Kings and Noblemen. Some movies he did are "Forever Amber" (1947) as King Charles II, opposite Linda Darnell,"Samson and Delilah" (1949), with Hedy LaMarr, "Ivanhoe" (1952) opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Fontaine, "King Richard and the Crusaders" (1954), and "Solomon and Sheba" (1959) as the evil Adonijah, opposite Yul Brynner and Gina Lollobrigida.
In 1953, he starred in the musical film "Call Me Madam" with Ethel Merman, and his high pitch, singing voice can be heard during s few songs in the film.
In 1956, he starred in the film "Death of a Scoundrel", the only film he appeared with his wife, Zsa-Zsa Gabor, and the second film, after "The Falcon" that he appeared with his brother, Tom Conway. It also starred Yvonne DeCarlo, Victor Jory and George Brent.
In 1957, he presented his TV show "The George Sanders Mystery Theater". Other TV shows he appeared in were in the cartoon Batman as Mr. Freeze, and he appeared in two episodes in 1965 of the TV show "The Man From U.N.C.L.E. "The Gazebo in the Maze Affair" and "The Yukon Affair".
In 1960, he wrote his autobiography, "Memoirs of a Professional Cad".
He continued acting in the 1960s and early 1970s, with another starring role in "Village of the Damned" (1960), he also appeared in two children's movies from Disney, "In Search of the Castaways" (1962) more memorably as Shere Khan the tiger in "The Jungle Book" (1967). He continued acting until 1972, where some of his last films were "The Candy Man" (1969) as a British drug dealer, "The Kremlin Letter" (1970) as a spy, "Endless Night" (1971), "Doom Watch" (1972) and his final film appearance in "Psychomania" (1972).
In 1940, he married his first wife, Susan Larson (b. 1915-), and they divorced in 1949. Then, in 1949, he married his second, and most well-known wife, Zsa-Zsa Gabor (b. 1917-), Hungarian American actress and socialite. Their marriage lasted five years, until 1954. Then, in 1959, he married actress Benita Hume (1906 -1967), until her death from bone cancer in 1967. Last, in 1967, he married Magda Gabor (1915-1997), the sister of Zsa Zsa Gabor and their marriage lasted only six weeks and ended in divorce in early 1968.
In 1967, his brother Tom died, on April 22, aged 62, from cirrhosis of the liver after years of heavy drinking. George had not spoken with him since he began drinking heavily. Later that year, he was devastated by the death of his third wife, Benita. He became somewhat upset and bitter after her death. He also dreaded getting old, and had once told his friend in 1937, actor David Niven that he intended to commit suicide when he got older. He started to drink heavily after the divorce of his fourth and last wife, Magda. Shortly before Benita's death she asked one last favor of him and kept his last promise to her and he moved to Majorca, and island part of Spain and bought a house there and met a Mexican woman named Lorraine Chanel. They dated and he still was in touch with his second wife, Zsa Zsa Gabor, until his death, whom they were very close together. He also was very good friends with actor Brian Aherne. He later wrote a biography about him titled "A Dreadful Man" in 1979. One last biography was written about him in 1990, titled "George Sanders: An Exhausted Life".
In 1972, after the death of Benita, failing health, including two strokes, he became increasingly sick and tired. He was at this point so tired of acting. He was drinking vodka heavily, and was with his ex-wife Zsa Zsa and he was talking about suicide. He had seen a few different psychiatrists before in the past for dealing with certain challenges in his career, such not wanting certian roles and regretting it, the death of his wife Benita, and other reasons. This final time, while in London, Zsa Zsa took him there, the psychiatrist told him they would have to repeat the visit. He never did. He claimed that he was flying to Barcelona to look for a new house. Instead, he went to a small hotel in Castelfelfels, ten miles south of Barcelona. It was April 25, 1972. He was lonely, childless, thoroughly sick of being an actor, and much appalled at the condition of the world, he saw no reason to go on. He then committed suicide. He swallowed the contents of five tubes of Nembutal, washed down with vodka. He lay on his bed for the very last time, and went to sleep forever. He was 65 years old.
He left three notes, one addressed to the manager of the hotel. He explained that he left fifteen hundred dollars in his pocket, enough to pay his expenses, along with a request that he call his sister, Margaret, in London. The manager did as asked and the body was flown to London, where Margaret arranged the funeral.
George left another note to his sister, Margaret, which read:
"Dearest Margoolinka. Don't be sad. I have only anticipated the inevitable by a few years."
The final note, he addressed to the world, which read:
"Dear World, I am leaving because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool. Good luck."
After his body returned to London, Margaret arranged his funeral. He was cremated. His ashes were scattered in the English Channel.