Henry Stephenson

Henry Stephenson (born Harry Stephenson Garraway; 16 April 1871 – 24 April 1956) was a British actor. He portrayed friendly and wise gentlemen in many films of the 1930s and 1940s. Among his roles were Sir Joseph Banks in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) 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 successful Broadway play Cynara with over 200 performances. He came to Hollywood for the film version of Cynara, starring Ronald Colman and with Stephenson reprising his role of John Tring. In the same year, he played the tycoon C.B. Gaerste in Red-Headed Woman, Leslie Howard's father Rufus Collier in The Animal Kingdom and Doctor Alliot in A Bill of Divorcement. In 1933, he appeared as Mr. Laurence in Little Women. He specialized in portraying wise, dignified and friendly British gentlemen in supporting roles.
He appeared overall in 90 films from 1917 to 1951. He often played historical figures like Sir Joseph Banks in the Oscar-winning 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 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 literary adaptions, for example as the friendly lawyer Havisham in Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) and as Mr. Brownlow in David Lean's film adaptation of Oliver Twist (1948). He made his last film in 1949, but appeared in two television series in 1951 before the end of his career. In 1950, after finishing his role of Cardinal Gaspar de Quiroga in the play That Lady, Stephenson retired from the stage.
Family
He married the Australian-born actress Roxy Barton (1879-1962) on 14 June 1906 at St Marylebone Parish Church in Marylebone in London. Their daughter was the actress Jean Harriet Garraway (1911–2004). The marriage was later dissolved. He married the actress Ann Shoemaker; the couple had one daughter. Henry Stephenson died in 1956, aged 85. He was survived by his wife and his daughters.
Filmography
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)
References
External links
1871 births
1956 deaths
English male film actors
English male silent film actors
English male stage actors
Deaths from pneumonia in California
Burials at Kensico Cemetery
20th-century English male actors
British expatriate male actors in the United States
British expatriates in Grenada