Henry Stephenson

Henry Stephenson, born Harry Stephenson Garraway on 16 April 1871 in Grenada, British West Indies, to British parents, was a stage and screen actor whose career spanned five decades. Educated in England, he began acting in his twenties and built a reputation on both British and American stages before becoming a recognizable character actor in Hollywood films. He died on 24 April 1956 at the age of 85 from nephritis.

Stephenson made his Broadway debut in 1901 in A Message from Mars, starring Charles Hawtrey, in which he played the messenger. Over the following decades he appeared in more than 30 Broadway productions, among them The Dear Fool, Lady Patricia, Justice, and Information Please. Between 1931 and 1932 he performed in Cynara, a run that exceeded 200 performances. His final stage appearance came in 1950, when he completed the role of Cardinal Gaspar de Quiroga in That Lady before retiring from the stage.

His film career began in 1917 with appearances in several silent pictures, though it was in sound films that he established himself most prominently. From 1931 onward he worked steadily in Hollywood, appearing in more than 90 films through 1951. In 1932 alone he reprised his stage role of John Tring in the film version of Cynara opposite Ronald Colman, played the tycoon C.B. Gaerste in Red-Headed Woman, portrayed Rufus Collier — Leslie Howard's father — in The Animal Kingdom, and appeared as Doctor Alliot in A Bill of Divorcement. The following year he played Mr. Laurence in Little Women.

Stephenson became closely associated with portrayals of dignified, wise British gentlemen in supporting roles, frequently embodying historical figures. He played Sir Joseph Banks in the Oscar-winning Mutiny on the Bounty in 1935 and Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, in Marie Antoinette in 1938. He also appeared in literary adaptations, including the role of the lawyer Havisham in Little Lord Fauntleroy in 1936 and Mr. Brownlow in David Lean's Oliver Twist in 1948. Departures from his customary type were rare; one exception was the snobbish Mr. Bryant in Mr. Lucky in 1943.

He appeared alongside Errol Flynn in four films — Captain Blood, The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Prince and the Pauper, and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex — typically cast as Flynn's paternal ally and superior. He also appeared in two Tarzan films, portraying Sir Thomas Lancing in Tarzan Finds a Son! in 1939 and Sir Guy Henderson in Tarzan and the Amazons in 1945. After completing his last film in 1949, Stephenson appeared in two television series in 1951 before ending his performing career entirely.

On 14 June 1906, Stephenson married Australian-born actress Roxy Barton at St Marylebone Parish Church in London. The couple had a daughter, actress Jean Harriet Stephenson, before the marriage was dissolved. He subsequently married actress Ann Shoemaker, who had a daughter, Anne Hall, a song lyricist, from a prior marriage.