Raymond Huntley
Acting • Born 1904-04-23 – Died 1990-10-19
Biography
Horace Raymond Huntley (23 April 1904 – 15 June 1990) was an English actor who appeared in dozens of British films from the 1930s to the 1970s. He also appeared in the ITV period drama Upstairs, Downstairs as the pragmatic family solicitor Sir Geoffrey Dillon, and other television shows, such as the Wodehouse Playhouse, ('Romance at Droitwich Spa'), in 1975. Born in Kings Norton, Worcestershire (now a suburb of Birmingham) in 1904, Huntley made his stage debut at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre on 1 April 1922, in A Woman Killed with Kindness. His London debut followed at the Court Theatre on 22 February 1924, in As Far as Thought can Reach. He subsequently inherited the role of Count Dracula from Edmund Blake in Hamilton Deane's touring adaptation of Dracula, which arrived at London's Little Theatre on 14 February 1927, subsequently transferring to the larger Duke of York's Theatre. Later that year he was offered the chance to reprise the role on Broadway (in a script streamlined by John L. Balderston); when he declined, the part was taken by Bela Lugosi instead. Huntley did, however, appear in a US touring production of the Deane/Balderston play, covering the east coast and midwest, from 1928-30. "I have always considered the role of Count Dracula to have been an indiscretion of my youth" he recalled in 1989. After Dracula, he made his Broadway debut at the Vanderbilt Theatre on 23 February 1931, in The Venetian Glass Nephew. On returning to the UK, his many West End appearances included The Farmer's Wife (Queen's Theatre 1932), Cornelius (Duchess Theatre 1935), Bees on the Boat Deck (Lyric Theatre 1936) Time and the Conways (Duchess Theatre 1937), When We Are Married (St Martin's Theatre 1940), Rebecca (Queen's Theatre 1940; Strand Theatre 1942), They Came to a City (Globe Theatre 1943), The Late Edwina Black (Ambassadors Theatre 1948), And This Was Odd (Criterion Theatre 1951), Double Image (Savoy Theatre 1956), Any Other Business (Westminster Theatre 1958), Caught Napping (Piccadilly Theatre 1959), Difference of Opinion (Garrick Theatre 1963), An Ideal Husband (Garrick Theatre 1966), Getting Married (Strand Theatre 1967), Soldiers (New Theatre 1968) and Separate Tables (Apollo Theatre 1977). He also starred opposite Flora Robson in the Broadway production of Black Chiffon (48th Street Theatre 1950). Often cast as a supercilious bureaucrat or other authority figure, Huntley was also a staple figure in British films, his many appearances including The Way Ahead, I See a Dark Stranger, Passport to Pimlico and The Dam Busters. In his later years, he became well-known on television as Sir Geoffrey Dillon, the family solicitor to the Bellamys in LWT's popular 1970s drama series Upstairs, Downstairs. Huntley died in Westminster Hospital, London in 1990. In his obituary, the New York Times wrote, "During his long career the actor played judges, bank managers, churchmen, bureaucrats and other figures of authority. He could play them straight if necessary, but in comedy his natural dryness of delivery was exaggerated to the point where the character he was playing invited mockery as a pompous humbug." Source: Article "Raymond Huntley" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Filmography
124 credits
Passport to Pimlico
Movie • 1949
Mr. Wix
The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's
Movie • 1960
Judge Slender
Town on Trial
Movie • 1957
Dr. Reese
Our Man in Havana
Movie • 1960
General
I See a Dark Stranger
Movie • 1946
J. Miller
I'm All Right Jack
Movie • 1959
Magistrate
The Way Ahead
Movie • 1944
Pvt. Herbert Davenport
The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery
Movie • 1966
Sir Horace, the Minister
Carlton-Browne of the F.O.
Movie • 1959
Foreign Secretary Tufton-Slade
Night Train to Munich
Movie • 1940
Kampenfeldt
Laxdale Hall
Movie • 1953
Samuel Pettigrew, M.P.
Room at the Top
Movie • 1958
Mr. Hoylake
Make Mine Mink
Movie • 1960
Inspector Pape
Mr. Denning Drives North
Movie • 1951
Wright
The Last Page
Movie • 1952
Clive Oliver
Doctor at Sea
Movie • 1955
Captain Beamish
So Evil My Love
Movie • 1948
Henry Courtney
The Mummy
Movie • 1959
Joseph Whemple
Rembrandt
Movie • 1936
Ludwick
The Criminals
Movie • 1958
Hector Crawford
Tune On the Old Tax Fiddle
Movie
Mr. Gaunt
The Prisoner
Movie • 1955
The General
School for Secrets
Movie • 1946
Prof. Laxton-Jones
Only Two Can Play
Movie • 1962
Vernon
The Constant Husband
Movie • 1955
J.F. Hassett
The Green Man
Movie • 1956
Sir Gregory Upshott
The Black Torment
Movie • 1964
Colonel John Wentworth
Orders Are Orders
Movie • 1954
Col. Fred Bellamy
Hostile Witness
Movie • 1968
John Naylor
Arthur? Arthur!
Movie • 1969
George Payne
That's Your Funeral
Movie • 1972
Emmanuel Holroyd
The Ghost of St. Michael's
Movie • 1941
Mr Humphries
Bottoms Up!
Movie • 1960
Garrick-Jones
Innocent Meeting
Movie • 1959
Harold Phillips
Broken Journey
Movie • 1948
Edward Marshall
The Teckman Mystery
Movie • 1954
Maurice Miller
They Came to a City
Movie • 1944
Malcolm Stritton
Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It
Movie • 1941
Dr. Kerbishley
Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill
Movie • 1948
Moy-Thompson
Sands of the Desert
Movie • 1960
Bossom
Suspect
Movie • 1960
Sir George Gatting the Minister of Defense
On the Beat
Movie • 1962
Sir Ronald Ackroyd
Destiny of a Spy
Movie • 1969
Supt. Pode
Freedom Radio
Movie • 1941
Rabenau
London Melody
Movie • 1937
Policeman Outside Nightclub
The Adding Machine
Movie • 1969
Smithers
Glad Tidings
Movie • 1953
Tom Forester
Breathless
Movie • 1960
A Journalist (uncredited)
The Yellow Teddy Bears
Movie • 1963
Harry Haliburton
Next to No Time
Movie • 1958
Forbes, Factory Supervisor
The House in the Square
Movie • 1951
Mr. Throstle
Knight Without Armour
Movie • 1937
White Officer
Nurse on Wheels
Movie • 1963
Vicar Walcott
Sleepwalker
Movie • 1984
Old Englishman
Hobson's Choice
Movie • 1954
Nathaniel Beenstock
Follow That Horse!
Movie • 1960
Whom the Gods Love: The Original Story of Mozart and His Wife
Movie • 1936
Langer
The New Lot
Movie • 1943
Barrington
Let's Be Famous
Movie • 1939
Singer in trio (uncredited)
What Happened Then?
Movie • 1934
"Pimpernel" Smith
Movie • 1941
Marx
Geordie
Movie • 1955
Olympic Selector
The Ghost Train
Movie • 1941
John Price
A Voyage Round My Father
Movie • 1984
Judge
Can You Hear Me, Mother?
Movie • 1935
Dolan
Aunt Clara
Movie • 1954
Rev. Maurice Hilton
Trio
Movie • 1950
Mr. Henry Chester
The Last Man to Hang
Movie • 1956
Attorney General
The Dam Busters
Movie • 1955
Official, National Physical Laboratory
The Long Dark Hall
Movie • 1951
Chief Inspector Sullivan
Brothers in Law
Movie • 1957
Tatlock Q.C.
Crooks Anonymous
Movie • 1962
Mr. Wagstaffe
Father Came Too!
Movie • 1964
Mr. Wedgewood
Symptoms
Movie • 1974
Burke
Rotten to the Core
Movie • 1965
Governor
The Day Will Dawn
Movie • 1942
It's Hard to be Good
Movie • 1948
Williams
Hot Millions
Movie • 1968
Bayswater
Dinner at the Ritz
Movie • 1937
Gibout
Waltz of the Toreadors
Movie • 1962
Ackroyd
When We Are Married
Movie • 1943
Albert Parker
When We Are Married
Movie • 1938
Councillor Albert Parker
When We Are Married
Movie • 1951
Councillor Albert Parker
Meet Mr. Lucifer
Movie • 1953
Patterson
A French Mistress
Movie • 1960
Reverend Edwin Peake
The Portland Millions
Movie • 1976
Dr. Tristram
Young Winston
Movie • 1972
Old Officer
Number Three
Movie • 1953
Prof. Brander
That's Your Funeral
TV • 1970
Emanuel Holroyd
Gideon's Way
TV • 1965
Sir Percy Richmond
Upstairs, Downstairs
TV • 1971
Sir Geoffrey Dillon
Interpol Calling
TV • 1959
Schroeder
The Count of Monte Cristo
TV • 1956
Reimer
No Hiding Place
TV • 1959
Ward
Sir Francis Drake
TV • 1961
Doctor Dee
A Time Of Day
TV • 1957
Hancock's Half Hour
TV • 1956
Doctor
Barnaby Rudge
TV • 1960
Justice
TV • 1971
Judge
Justice
TV • 1971
High Court Judge
Crown Court
TV • 1972
Mr. Justice Downes
Brass
TV • 1983
Judge
Victorian Scandals
TV • 1976
Dr Tristram
My Honourable Mrs
TV • 1975
Professor Walter Ramsay
Crown Court
TV • 1972
Mr. Justice Ambleforth
Sykes
TV • 1972
Mr. Gatwick
Softly Softly: Task Force
TV • 1969
Doctor Mancroft
Omnibus
TV • 1967
Self
The Wednesday Play
TV • 1964
Superintendent Willow
The Wednesday Play
TV • 1964
Dr. Hallam Aitkinson
Sunday-Night Play
TV • 1960
The Reader
Sunday-Night Play
TV • 1960
Sir Edward Moss
Sunday-Night Play
TV • 1960
Sir Arthur Hopwood-Lane
Sunday-Night Play
TV • 1960
Herbert Nodes
Sunday-Night Play
TV • 1960
Gilbert Morris
Danger Man
TV • 1960
Clements
Knight Errant Limited
TV • 1959
Dr. Felthorpe
Knight Errant Limited
TV • 1959
Henry Latto
Theatre Night
TV • 1957
Sir Norman Tullis
Theatre Night
TV • 1957
Dr. Rodd
Armchair Theatre
TV • 1956
Sturdee
Armchair Theatre
TV • 1956
Carlo
Armchair Theatre
TV • 1956
Hector Crawford
Armchair Theatre
TV • 1956
Mr. Gaunt