
Henry Stephenson
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1871-04-15
Day of Death
1956-04-24 (85 years old)
Place of Birth
Granada, British West Indies
Henry Stephenson
Biography
From Wikipedia
Henry Stephenson Garraway (16 April 1871 – 24 April 1956), sometimes credited as Harry Stephenson, was a British stage and film actor. He portrayed friendly and wise Gentleman in many films of the 1930s and 1940s. Among his roles was Sir Joseph Banks in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and Mr. Brownlow in Oliver Twist.
Stephenson was educated in Rugby in Warwickshire and started acting in his twenties. He appeared on British and American stages and made his Broadway debut in 1901, playing the messenger in A Message from Mars. In the following decades, he appeared in over 30 Broadway plays. Henry Stephenson made his film debut in 1917 and appeared in a few silent films, but made his mark mostly as an elder man in sound films. Between 1931 and 1932, he appeared in the successful Broadway play Cyanara with over 200 performances. He came to Hollywood for the film version of Cyanara, starring Ronald Colman and with Henry Stephenson in a supporting role.
In the same year year, he played the tycoon C.B. Gaerste in Red-Headed Woman and Doctor Alliott in A Bill of Divorcement. The following year, the English-born actor appeared as the intimidating yet warm-hearted Mr. Laurence in Little Women. The tall, white-haired actor specialized in portraying wise, dignified and friendly British gentlemans in supporting roles. He could be "both imposing and benevolent in his patrician portrayals, usually expounding words of wisdom or offering gentlemanly aid." He appeared overall in 90 films from 1917 to 1951, often as a doctor or professor, general, judge or aristocrat. He often played historical figures like Sir Joseph Banks in the oscar-winnig adventure film Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau in Marie Antoinette (1938).
Stephenson worked with film star Errol Flynn in the films Captain Blood, The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Prince and the Pauper, and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex; often as Flynn's paternal friend and superior.
He portrayed Sir Thomas Lancing in Tarzan Finds a Son! in 1939 and playing an entirely different role as Sir Guy Henderson in Tarzan and the Amazons in 1945. He seldom played dark figures, among the exceptions was the snobbish Mr. Bryant in Mr. Lucky in 1943. Stephenson also appeared in literature adaptions, for example as the friendly lawyer Havisham in Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) and as Mr. Brownlow in David Lean's literature adaption Oliver Twist (1948). He made his last film in 1949, but appeared in two TV-series in 1951 before the end of his career. In 1950, after finishing his role of Cardinal Gaspar de Quiroga in the drama play, That Lady, Stephenson retired from the stage.
He married actress Ann Shoemaker. They had one daughter.
Henry Stephenson died in 1956 at the age of 85 years. He was survived by Ann and his daughter.
Known For
Acting
(1949)
Challenge to Lassie
as Sir Charles Loring
(1948)
Oliver Twist
as Mr. Brownlow
(1948)
Julia Misbehaves
as Lord Pennystone
(1948)
Enchantment
as General Fitzgerald
(1947)
Ivy
as Judge
(1947)
Song of Love
as King Albert
(1947)
Dark Delusion
as Evans Biddle
(1947)
The Homestretch
as Don Humberto Balcares
(1947)
Time Out of Mind
as Wellington Drake
(1946)
Night and Day
as Omar Cole
(1946)
Heartbeat
as Minister
(1946)
The Locket
as Lord Wyndham
(1946)
Of Human Bondage
as Dr. Tyrell
(1946)
The Return of Monte Cristo
as Prof. Duval
(1946)
The Green Years
as Blakely
(1946)
Her Sister's Secret
as Mr. DuBois
(1945)
Tarzan and the Amazons
as Sir Guy Henderson, the Archeologist
(1944)
Two Girls and a Sailor
as John Dyckman Brown I
(1944)
The Hour Before the Dawn
as Gen. Hetherton
(1944)
Secrets of Scotland Yard
as Sir Reginald Meade
(1944)
Reckless Age
as J. H. Wadsworth
(1943)
Mr. Lucky
as Mr. Bryant
(1943)
The Mantrap
as Sir Humphrey Quilp
(1942)
This Above All
as General Cathaway
(1942)
Rings on Her Fingers
as Colonel Prentiss
(1942)
Half Way to Shanghai
as Col. Algernon Blimpton
(1941)
The Man Who Lost Himself
as Frederick Collins
(1941)
Lady from Louisiana
as General Anatole Mirbeau
(1940)
Down Argentine Way
as Don Diego Quintana
(1940)
Spring Parade
as Emperor Franz Joseph
(1940)
Little Old New York
as Robert R. Livingston
(1940)
It's a Date
as Capt. Andrew
(1939)
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
as Lord Burghley
(1939)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
as Sir Ronald Ramsgate
(1939)
Tarzan Finds a Son!
as Sir Thomas Lancing
(1938)
Marie Antoinette
as Count de Mercey
(1938)
Suez
as Count Mathieu de Lesseps
(1938)
The Young in Heart
as Felix Anstruther
(1938)
The Baroness and the Butler
as Count Albert Sandor
(1938)
Dramatic School
as Pasquel Sr.
(1937)
The Prince and the Pauper
as Duke of Norfolk
(1937)
The Emperor's Candlesticks
as Prince Johann
(1937)
Conquest
as Count Anastas Walewski
(1937)
When You're in Love
as Walter Mitchell
(1937)
Wise Girl
as Mr. Fletcher
(1936)
Little Lord Fauntleroy
as Havisham
(1936)
The Charge of the Light Brigade
as Sir Charles Macefield
(1936)
Beloved Enemy
as Lord Athleigh
(1936)
Walking on Air
as Mr. Horace Bennett
(1936)
Half Angel
as Prof. Jerome Hargraves
(1936)
Hearts Divided
as Charles Patterson
(1936)
Give Me Your Heart
as Edward, Lord Farrington
(1935)
Captain Blood
as Lord Willoughby
(1935)
Mutiny on the Bounty
as Joseph Banks
(1935)
Reckless
as Colonel Harrison Sr.
(1935)
Rendezvous
as Russian Ambassador Gregory
(1935)
The Perfect Gentleman
as Bishop
(1935)
The Night Is Young
as Emperor Franz Josef
(1935)
Vanessa: Her Love Story
as Barney Newmark
(1935)
O'Shaughnessy's Boy
as Maj. Winslow
(1935)
The Flame Within
as Dr. Jock Frazier
(1934)
Thirty Day Princess
as King Anatol XII
(1934)
Stingaree
as Mr. Hugh Clarkson
(1934)
One More River
as Sir Laurence Mont
(1934)
What Every Woman Knows
as Charles Venables
(1934)
The Richest Girl in the World
as John Connors
(1934)
She Loves Me Not
as Dean Mercer
(1934)
Outcast Lady
as Sir Maurice
(1934)
The Mystery of Mr. X
as Frensham
(1934)
Man of Two Worlds
as Sir Basil Pemberton
(1934)
(1933)
Little Women
as Mr. Laurence
(1933)
Double Harness
as Colonel Sam Colby
(1933)
Blind Adventure
as Major Thorne
(1933)
Tomorrow at Seven
as Thornton Drake
(1933)
If I Were Free
as Hector Stribling
(1933)
My Lips Betray
as De Conti
(1932)
Red-Headed Woman
as Charles B. 'Charlie' / 'C.B.' Gaerste
(1932)
The Animal Kingdom
as Rufus Collier
(1932)
A Bill of Divorcement
as Doctor Alliot
(1932)
Guilty as Hell
as Dr. Ernest S. Tindal
(1932)
Cynara
as John Tring
(1925)
Men and Women
as Arnold Kirke
(1925)
Wild, Wild Susan
as Peter Van Dusen
(1919)
A Society Exile
as Sir Howard Furnival