Henry Stephenson
Acting
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.
Born: April 15, 1871
Place of Birth: Granada, British West Indies
Known For
Filmography
as Sir Charles Loring
as General Fitzgerald
as Lord Pennystone
as Mr. Brownlow
as King Albert
as Judge
as Evans Biddle
as Don Humberto Balcares
as Wellington Drake
as Lord Wyndham
as Prof. Duval
as Mr. DuBois
as Dr. Tyrell
as Blakely
as Omar Cole
as Minister
as Sir Guy Henderson, the Archeologist
as J. H. Wadsworth
as Sir Reginald Meade
as John Dyckman Brown I
as Gen. Hetherton
as Mr. Bryant
as Sir Humphrey Quilp
as Col. Algernon Blimpton
as General Cathaway
as Colonel Prentiss
as General Anatole Mirbeau
as Frederick Collins
as Don Diego Quintana
as Emperor Franz Joseph
as Capt. Andrew
as Robert R. Livingston
as Lord Burghley
as Sir Ronald Ramsgate
as Sir Thomas Lancing
as Pasquel Sr.
as Count Mathieu de Lesseps
as Count de Mercey
as Felix Anstruther
as Count Albert Sandor
as Mr. Fletcher
as Count Anastas Walewski
as Prince Johann
as Duke of Norfolk
as Walter Mitchell
as Lord Athleigh
as Sir Charles Macefield
as Edward, Lord Farrington
as Mr. Horace Bennett
as Charles Patterson
as Professor Jerome Hargraves
as Havisham
as Lord Willoughby
as Joseph Banks
as Bishop
as Russian Ambassador Gregory
as Maj. Winslow
as Dr. Jock Frazier
as Colonel Harrison Sr.
as Barney Newmark
as Emperor Franz Josef
as Charles Venables
as Sir Maurice
as John Connors
as Dean Mercer
as Sir Laurence Mont
as Mr. Hugh Clarkson
as King Anatol XII
as Sir Herbert Frensham
as Sir Basil Pemberton
as Hector Stribling
as Mr. Laurence
as De Conti
as Major Thorne
as Colonel Sam Colby
as Thornton Drake
as Rufus Collier
as John Tring
as Doctor Alliot
as Dr. Ernest S. Tindal
as Charles B. 'Charlie' / 'C.B.' Gaerste
as Peter Van Dusen
as Arnold Kirke
as David Parrish
as Sir Howard Furnival
as Mr. LeRoy