Henry Stephenson
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- April 15, 1871
- Died
- April 24, 1956
- Birthplace
- Granada, British West Indies
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.
Filmography
Challenge to Lassie 1949
as Sir Charles Loring
Enchantment 1948
as General Fitzgerald
Julia Misbehaves 1948
as Lord Pennystone
Oliver Twist 1948
as Mr. Brownlow
Song of Love 1947
as King Albert
Ivy 1947
as Judge
Dark Delusion 1947
as Evans Biddle
The Homestretch 1947
as Don Humberto Balcares
Time Out of Mind 1947
as Wellington Drake
The Locket 1946
as Lord Wyndham
The Return of Monte Cristo 1946
as Professor Duval
Her Sister's Secret 1946
as Mr. DuBois
Of Human Bondage 1946
as Dr. Tyrell
The Green Years 1946
as Blakely
Night and Day 1946
as Omar Cole
Heartbeat 1946
as Minister
Tarzan and the Amazons 1945
as Sir Guy Henderson, the Archeologist
Reckless Age 1944
as J. H. Wadsworth
Secrets of Scotland Yard 1944
as Sir Reginald Meade
Two Girls and a Sailor 1944
as John Dyckman Brown I
The Hour Before the Dawn 1944
as Gen. Hetherton
Mr. Lucky 1943
as Mr. Bryant
The Mantrap 1943
as Sir Humphrey Quilp
Half Way to Shanghai 1942
as Col. Algernon Blimpton
This Above All 1942
as General Cathaway
Rings on Her Fingers 1942
as Colonel Prentiss
Lady from Louisiana 1941
as General Anatole Mirbeau
The Man Who Lost Himself 1941
as Frederick Collins
Down Argentine Way 1940
as Don Diego Quintana
Spring Parade 1940
as Emperor Franz Joseph
It's a Date 1940
as Capt. Andrew
Little Old New York 1940
as Robert R. Livingston
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex 1939
as Lord Burghley
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 1939
as Sir Ronald Ramsgate
Tarzan Finds a Son! 1939
as Sir Thomas Lancing
Dramatic School 1938
as Pasquel Sr.
Suez 1938
as Count Mathieu de Lesseps
Marie Antoinette 1938
as Count de Mercey
The Young in Heart 1938
as Felix Anstruther
The Baroness and the Butler 1938
as Count Albert Sandor
Wise Girl 1937
as Mr. Fletcher
Conquest 1937
as Count Anastas Walewski
The Emperor's Candlesticks 1937
as Prince Johann
The Prince and the Pauper 1937
as Duke of Norfolk
When You're in Love 1937
as Walter Mitchell
Beloved Enemy 1936
as Lord Athleigh
The Charge of the Light Brigade 1936
as Sir Charles Macefield
Give Me Your Heart 1936
as Edward, Lord Farrington
Walking on Air 1936
as Mr. Horace Bennett
Hearts Divided 1936
as Charles Patterson
Half Angel 1936
as Professor Jerome Hargraves
Little Lord Fauntleroy 1936
as Havisham
Captain Blood 1935
as Lord Willoughby
The Perfect Gentleman 1935
as Bishop
Mutiny on the Bounty 1935
as Joseph Banks
Rendezvous 1935
as Russian Ambassador Gregory
O'Shaughnessy's Boy 1935
as Maj. Winslow
The Flame Within 1935
as Dr. Jock Frazier
Reckless 1935
as Colonel Harrison Sr.
Vanessa: Her Love Story 1935
as Barney Newmark
The Night Is Young 1935
as Emperor Franz Josef
What Every Woman Knows 1934
as Charles Venables
Outcast Lady 1934
as Sir Maurice
The Richest Girl in the World 1934
as John Connors
She Loves Me Not 1934
as Dean Mercer
One More River 1934
as Sir Laurence Mont
Stingaree 1934
as Mr. Hugh Clarkson
Thirty Day Princess 1934
as King Anatol XII
All Men Are Enemies 1934
as Scrope
The Mystery of Mr. X 1934
as Sir Herbert Frensham
Man of Two Worlds 1934
as Sir Basil Pemberton
If I Were Free 1933
as Hector Stribling
Little Women 1933
as Mr. Laurence
My Lips Betray 1933
as De Conti
Blind Adventure 1933
as Major Thorne
Double Harness 1933
as Colonel Sam Colby
Tomorrow at Seven 1933
as Thornton Drake
The Animal Kingdom 1932
as Rufus
Cynara 1932
as John Tring
A Bill of Divorcement 1932
as Doctor Alliot
Guilty as Hell 1932
as Dr. Ernest S. Tindal
Red-Headed Woman 1932
as Charles B. 'Charlie' / 'C.B.' Gaerste
Wild, Wild Susan 1925
as Peter Van Dusen
Men and Women 1925
as Arnold Kirke
The Black Panther's Cub 1921
as Clive, Earl of Maudsley
The Tower of Jewels 1919
as David Parrish
A Society Exile 1919
as Sir Howard Furnival
The Spreading Dawn 1917
as Mr. LeRoy
Credits from TMDB.