Henry Stephenson

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 CB Gaerste in RedHeaded Woman and Doctor Alliott in A Bill of Divorcement The following year the Englishborn actor appeared as the intimidating yet warmhearted Mr Laurence in Little Women The tall whitehaired 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 oscarwinnig adventure film Mutiny on the Bounty 1935 and Florimond Claude Comte de MercyArgenteau 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 Flynns 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 Leans literature adaption Oliver Twist 1948 He made his last film in 1949 but appeared in two TVseries 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