Henry Stephenson

Henry Stephenson

  • Birthday: 1871-04-15
  • Deathday: 1956-04-24
  • Place of birth: Granada, British West Indies
  • Also know as: Henry Stephenson Garraway

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.

Filmography

Oliver Twist

1948

As Mr. Brownlow

Conquest

1937

As Count Anastas Walewski

Little Lord Fauntleroy

1936

As Havisham

Mutiny on the Bounty

1935

As Joseph Banks

Tarzan Finds a Son!

1939

As Sir Thomas Lancing

Heartbeat

1946

As Minister

The Prince and the Pauper

1937

As Duke of Norfolk

Challenge to Lassie

1949

As Sir Charles Loring

Down Argentine Way

1940

As Don Diego Quintana

Marie Antoinette

1938

As Count de Mercey

The Charge of the Light Brigade

1936

As Sir Charles Macefield

Beloved Enemy

1936

As Lord Athleigh

The Young in Heart

1938

As Felix Anstruther

Ivy

1947

As Judge

The Locket

1946

As Lord Wyndham

Captain Blood

1935

As Lord Willoughby

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

1939

As Sir Ronald Ramsgate

Mr. Lucky

1943

As Mr. Bryant

Little Women

1933

As Mr. Laurence

Reckless

1935

As Colonel Harrison Sr.

Julia Misbehaves

1948

As Lord Pennystone

Two Girls and a Sailor

1944

As John Dyckman Brown I

Thirty Day Princess

1934

As King Anatol XII

When You're in Love

1937

As Walter Mitchell

The Emperor's Candlesticks

1937

As Prince Johann

The Baroness and the Butler

1938

As Count Albert Sandor

The Mantrap

1943

As Sir Humphrey Quilp

Rendezvous

1935

As Russian Ambassador Gregory

A Bill of Divorcement

1932

As Doctor Alliot

Tarzan and the Amazons

1945

As Sir Guy Henderson, the Archeologist

The Green Years

1946

As Blakely

The Animal Kingdom

1932

As Rufus Collier

This Above All

1942

As General Cathaway

If I Were Free

1933

As Hector Stribling

She Loves Me Not

1934

As Dean Mercer

The Richest Girl in the World

1934

As John Connors

It's a Date

1940

As Capt. Andrew

Guilty as Hell

1932

As Dr. Ernest S. Tindal

The Mystery of Mr. X

1934

As Frensham

Wise Girl

1937

As Mr. Fletcher

Of Human Bondage

1946

As Dr. Tyrell

Half Way to Shanghai

1942

As Col. Algernon Blimpton

Tomorrow at Seven

1933

As Thornton Drake

Blind Adventure

1933

As Major Thorne

Cynara

1932

As John Tring

Stingaree

1934

As Mr. Hugh Clarkson

Vanessa: Her Love Story

1935

As Barney Newmark

Hearts Divided

1936

As Charles Patterson

Give Me Your Heart

1936

As Edward, Lord Farrington

Secrets of Scotland Yard

1944

As Sir Reginald Meade

Double Harness

1933

As Colonel Sam Colby

Dramatic School

1938

As Pasquel Sr.

Outcast Lady

1934

As Sir Maurice

The Night Is Young

1935

As Emperor Franz Josef

O'Shaughnessy's Boy

1935

As Maj. Winslow

What Every Woman Knows

1934

As Charles Venables

Little Old New York

1940

As Robert R. Livingston

Man of Two Worlds

1934

As Sir Basil Pemberton

The Homestretch

1947

As Don Humberto Balcares

Spring Parade

1940

As Emperor Franz Joseph

The Flame Within

1935

As Dr. Jock Frazier

Lady from Louisiana

1941

As General Anatole Mirbeau

Suez

1938

As Count Mathieu de Lesseps

The Hour Before the Dawn

1944

As Gen. Hetherton

Men and Women

1925

As Arnold Kirke

Walking on Air

1936

As Mr. Horace Bennett

Enchantment

1948

As General Fitzgerald

Half Angel

1936

As Prof. Jerome Hargraves

Her Sister's Secret

1946

As Mr. DuBois

Dark Delusion

1947

As Evans Biddle

My Lips Betray

1933

As De Conti

The Perfect Gentleman

1935

As Bishop

The Return of Monte Cristo

1946

As Prof. Duval

Time Out of Mind

1947

As Wellington Drake

Red-Headed Woman

1932

As Charles B. 'Charlie' / 'C.B.' Gaerste

One More River

1934

As Sir Laurence Mont

The Man Who Lost Himself

1941

As Frederick Collins

Reckless Age

1944

As J. H. Wadsworth

Night and Day

1946

As Omar Cole

Song of Love

1947

As King Albert

Wild, Wild Susan

1925

As Peter Van Dusen

A Society Exile

1919

As Sir Howard Furnival

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