"Long John Silver" Actor Robert Newton 1956 Westwood Village Cemetery

Robert Newton (June 1, 1905 – March 25, 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 and Oliver Reed.

Newton is best remembered for his portrayal of the feverish-eyed Long John Silver in the 1950 film adaptation of Treasure Island, the film that became the standard for screen portrayals of historical pirates. Hailing from the West Country, his exaggeration of his West Country accent is credited with popularising the stereotypical "pirate voice" and he has become the "patron saint" of the annual International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Newton suffered from chronic alcoholism and died in 1956, aged 50, following a heart attack in Beverly Hills, California. He had married four times and had three children: Sally Newton (born 1930), Nicholas Newton (born 1950) and Kim Newton (born 1953). After some court battles, Newton's elder son was placed in the custody of his aunt and uncle.

He was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. Years later, Nicholas Newton scattered his father's ashes in the sea in Mount's Bay, Cornwall, near Lamorna in the south western tip of England, where he had spent his childhood.