Henry Stephenson
Acting • Born 1871-04-15 – Died 1956-04-24
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
88 credits
Oliver Twist
Movie • 1948
Mr. Brownlow
Conquest
Movie • 1937
Count Anastas Walewski
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Movie • 1936
Havisham
Mutiny on the Bounty
Movie • 1935
Joseph Banks
Tarzan Finds a Son!
Movie • 1939
Sir Thomas Lancing
Heartbeat
Movie • 1946
Minister
The Prince and the Pauper
Movie • 1937
Duke of Norfolk
Challenge to Lassie
Movie • 1949
Sir Charles Loring
Down Argentine Way
Movie • 1940
Don Diego Quintana
Marie Antoinette
Movie • 1938
Count de Mercey
The Young in Heart
Movie • 1938
Felix Anstruther
Beloved Enemy
Movie • 1936
Lord Athleigh
The Locket
Movie • 1946
Lord Wyndham
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Movie • 1936
Sir Charles Macefield
Ivy
Movie • 1947
Judge
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
Movie • 1939
Lord Burghley
Captain Blood
Movie • 1935
Lord Willoughby
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Movie • 1939
Sir Ronald Ramsgate
Mr. Lucky
Movie • 1943
Mr. Bryant
Little Women
Movie • 1933
Mr. Laurence
Reckless
Movie • 1935
Colonel Harrison Sr.
When You're in Love
Movie • 1937
Walter Mitchell
Two Girls and a Sailor
Movie • 1944
John Dyckman Brown I
Julia Misbehaves
Movie • 1948
Lord Pennystone
Thirty Day Princess
Movie • 1934
King Anatol XII
A Bill of Divorcement
Movie • 1932
Doctor Alliot
The Baroness and the Butler
Movie • 1938
Count Albert Sandor
The Emperor's Candlesticks
Movie • 1937
Prince Johann
Rendezvous
Movie • 1935
Russian Ambassador Gregory
The Mantrap
Movie • 1943
Sir Humphrey Quilp
Tarzan and the Amazons
Movie • 1945
Sir Guy Henderson, the Archeologist
Red-Headed Woman
Movie • 1932
Charles B. 'Charlie' / 'C.B.' Gaerste
The Animal Kingdom
Movie • 1932
Rufus Collier
The Green Years
Movie • 1946
Blakely
This Above All
Movie • 1942
General Cathaway
If I Were Free
Movie • 1933
Hector Stribling
She Loves Me Not
Movie • 1934
Dean Mercer
The Richest Girl in the World
Movie • 1934
John Connors
It's a Date
Movie • 1940
Capt. Andrew
Half Way to Shanghai
Movie • 1942
Col. Algernon Blimpton
Guilty as Hell
Movie • 1932
Dr. Ernest S. Tindal
The Mystery of Mr. X
Movie • 1934
Sir Herbert Frensham
Wise Girl
Movie • 1937
Mr. Fletcher
Of Human Bondage
Movie • 1946
Dr. Tyrell
Tomorrow at Seven
Movie • 1933
Thornton Drake
Blind Adventure
Movie • 1933
Major Thorne
Cynara
Movie • 1932
John Tring
Stingaree
Movie • 1934
Mr. Hugh Clarkson
Vanessa: Her Love Story
Movie • 1935
Barney Newmark
Hearts Divided
Movie • 1936
Charles Patterson
Give Me Your Heart
Movie • 1936
Edward, Lord Farrington
Secrets of Scotland Yard
Movie • 1944
Sir Reginald Meade
Double Harness
Movie • 1933
Colonel Sam Colby
Dramatic School
Movie • 1938
Pasquel Sr.
Outcast Lady
Movie • 1934
Sir Maurice
The Night Is Young
Movie • 1935
Emperor Franz Josef
A Society Exile
Movie • 1919
Sir Howard Furnival
O'Shaughnessy's Boy
Movie • 1935
Maj. Winslow
What Every Woman Knows
Movie • 1934
Charles Venables
Spring Parade
Movie • 1940
Emperor Franz Joseph
Man of Two Worlds
Movie • 1934
Sir Basil Pemberton
The Homestretch
Movie • 1947
Don Humberto Balcares
Little Old New York
Movie • 1940
Robert R. Livingston
The Flame Within
Movie • 1935
Dr. Jock Frazier
Lady from Louisiana
Movie • 1941
General Anatole Mirbeau
Suez
Movie • 1938
Count Mathieu de Lesseps
Men and Women
Movie • 1925
Arnold Kirke
The Hour Before the Dawn
Movie • 1944
Gen. Hetherton
Walking on Air
Movie • 1936
Mr. Horace Bennett
Enchantment
Movie • 1948
General Fitzgerald
Half Angel
Movie • 1936
Professor Jerome Hargraves
Her Sister's Secret
Movie • 1946
Mr. DuBois
Dark Delusion
Movie • 1947
Evans Biddle
My Lips Betray
Movie • 1933
De Conti
The Perfect Gentleman
Movie • 1935
Bishop
The Return of Monte Cristo
Movie • 1946
Professor Duval
Time Out of Mind
Movie • 1947
Wellington Drake
One More River
Movie • 1934
Sir Laurence Mont
The Man Who Lost Himself
Movie • 1941
Frederick Collins
Reckless Age
Movie • 1944
J. H. Wadsworth
All Men Are Enemies
Movie • 1934
Rings on Her Fingers
Movie • 1942
Colonel Prentiss
Night and Day
Movie • 1946
Omar Cole
Song of Love
Movie • 1947
King Albert
Wild, Wild Susan
Movie • 1925
Peter Van Dusen
The Spreading Dawn
Movie • 1917
Mr. LeRoy
The Tower of Jewels
Movie • 1919
David Parrish
The Black Panther's Cub
Movie • 1921
Clive, Earl of Maudsley