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