Henry Stephenson

Harry Stephenson Garraway (16 April 1871 – 24 April 1956) was a British actor. He generally portrayed amiable and wise gentlemen in many films of the 1930s and 1940s. Among his roles were Sir Joseph Banks in Mutiny on the Bounty and Mr. Brownlow in Oliver Twist (1948).

Life and career Stephenson was born to British parents in Grenada, British West Indies, and educated in England. He 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 starring Charles Hawtrey. In the following decades, he performed in more than 30 Broadway plays.

Stephenson made his film debut in 1917 and appeared in a few silent films, but made his mark mostly as an elderly man in sound films. Between 1931 and 1932, he appeared in the Broadway play Cynara Their daughter was the actress Jean Harriet Stephenson. The marriage was later dissolved. He later wed the actress Ann Shoemaker, who had a daughter, Anne Hall, the song lyricist, by a previous marriage. Henry Stephenson died in 1956, aged 85 from nephritis.

Filmography

Henry Stephenson (middle) in Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936); with C. Aubrey Smith (left) and Walter Kingsford (right)

The Spreading Dawn (1917) as Mr. LeRoy (film debut) A Society Exile (1919) as Sir Howard Furnival The Tower of Jewels (1920) as David Parrish The Black Panther's Cub (1921) as Clive, Earl of Maudsley Men and Women (1925) as Arnold Kirke Wild, Wild Susan (1925) as Peter Van Dusen Red-Headed Woman (1932) as Gaerste Guilty as Hell (1932) as Dr. Ernest S. Tindal A Bill of Divorcement (1932) as Dr. Alliot The Animal Kingdom (1932) as Mr. Rufus Collier Cynara (1932) as John Tring Tomorrow at Seven (1933) as Thornton Drake Double Harness (1933) as Colonel Sam Colby Blind Adventure (1933) as Maj. Archer Thorne My Lips Betray (1933) as De Conti Little Women (1933) as Mr. Laurence If I Were Free (1933) as Hector Stribling Man of Two Worlds (1934) as Sir Basil Pemberton The Mystery of Mr. X (1934) as Sir Herbert Frensham All Men Are Enemies (1934) as Scrope Stingaree (1934) as Mr. Hugh Clarkson Thirty Day Princess (1934) as King Anatol XII One More River (1934) as Sir Laurence Mont She Loves Me Not (1934) as Dean Mercer The Richest Girl in the World (1934) as Connors Outcast Lady (1934) as Sir Maurice What Every Woman Knows (1934) as Charles Venables The Night Is Young (1935) as Emperor Franz Josef Vanessa: Her Love Story (1935) as Barney Newmark Reckless (1935) as Col. Harrison The Flame Within (1935) as Dr. Jock Frazier O'Shaughnessy's Boy (1935) as Major Winslow Rendezvous (1935) as Ambassador Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) as Sir Joseph Banks The Perfect Gentleman (1935) as Bishop Captain Blood (1935) as Lord Willoughby Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) as Havisham Half Angel (1936) as Professor Jerome Hargraves Hearts Divided (1936) as Chas. Patterson Walking on Air (1936) as Mr. Horace Bennett Give Me Your Heart (1936) as Edward - Lord Farrington The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) as Sir Charles Macefield Beloved Enemy (1936) as Lord Athleigh When You're in Love (1937) as Walter Mitchell The Prince and the Pauper (1937) as the Duke of Norfolk The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937) as Prince Johann Conquest (1937) as Count Anastas Walewski Wise Girl (1937) as Mr. Fletcher The Baroness and the Butler (1938) as Count Albert Sandor The Young in Heart (1938) as Mr. Anstruther Marie Antoinette (1938) as Count de Mercey Suez (1938) as Count Mathieu de Lesseps Dramatic School (1938) as Pasquel Sr. Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939) as Sir Thomas Lancing The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939) as Sir Ronald Ramsgate The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) as Lord Burghley Little Old New York (1940) as Chancellor Robert L. Livingstone It's a Date (1940) as Capt. Andrew Spring Parade (1940) as Emperor Franz Joseph Down Argentine Way (1940) as Don Diego Quintana The Man Who Lost Himself (1941) as Frederick Collins Lady from Louisiana (1941) as General Anatole Mirbeau Rings on Her Fingers (1942) as Colonel Harry Prentiss This Above All (1942) as General Cathaway Halfway to Shanghai (1942) as Colonel Algernon Blimpton The Mantrap (1943) as Sir Humphrey Quilp Mr. Lucky (1943) as Mr. Bryant Two Girls and a Sailor (1944) as John Dyckman Brown I The Hour Before the Dawn (1944) as Gen. Hetherton Secrets of Scotland Yard (1944) as Sir Reginald Meade Reckless Age (1944) as J. H. Wadsworth Tarzan and the Amazons (1945) as Sir Guy Henderson The Green Years (1946) as Prof. Rattray Blakely Heartbeat (1946) as Minister Night and Day (1946) as Omar Cole Of Human Bondage (1946) as Dr. Tyrell Her Sister's Secret (1946) as Mr. Dubois The Return of Monte Cristo (1946) as Prof. Duval The Locket (1946) as Lord Wyndham Time Out of Mind (1947) as Wellington Drake The Homestretch (1947) as Don Humberto Balcares Dark Delusion (1947) as Dr. Evans Biddle Ivy (1947) as Judge Song of Love (1947) as King Albert Oliver Twist (1948) as Mr. Brownlow Julia Misbehaves (1948) as Lord Pennystone Enchantment (1948) as General Fitzgerald Challenge to Lassie (1949) as Sir Charles Loring (final film)