James Stephenson

Born: 1889-04-13 in Selby, Yorkshire, England, UK

Died: 1941-07-29

Known For: Acting

Biography

British stage actor James Stephenson made his film debut quite late in life, at the age of 49, in 1937, making four pictures that year. Warner Bros. got a glimpse of this distinguished gent and signed him to a contract where he indulged himself in urbane villainy. Proving a reliable support in such films as Boy Meets Girl (1938), You Can't Get Away with Murder (1939), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), and the classic adventure The Sea Hawk (1940), he was entrusted by director William Wyler and mega-star Bette Davis to play the sympathetic role of the family attorney Howard Joyce in The Letter (1940). It was the role of a lifetime and he didn't let them down for he earned an Oscar nomination in the process. Stephenson was soon on a roll, playing the titular sleuth in Calling Philo Vance (1940) and was first-billed in the above-average "B" movie Shining Victory (1941) when he died suddenly in 1941 of a heart attack at the rather young age of 53. Date of Death: 29 July 1941, Pacific Palisades, California (heart attack)

Filmography

1941

Flight from Destiny as Dr. Lawrence 'Larry' Stevens
International Squadron as Squadron Leader Charles Wyatt
Shining Victory as Dr. Paul Venner

1940

The Sea Hawk as Abbott
The Letter as Howard Joyce
Calling Philo Vance as Philo Vance
Murder in the Air as Joe Garvey
A Dispatch from Reuters as Carew
South of Suez as Inspector Thornton
River's End as McDowell
Wolf of New York as Hiram Rogers

1939

Beau Geste as Major Henri de Beaujolais
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex as Sir Thomas Egerton
The Old Maid as Jim Ralston
Confessions of a Nazi Spy as British Military Intelligence Agent
Devil's Island as Col. Armand Lucien
Espionage Agent as Dr. Anton Rader
The Adventures of Jane Arden as Dr. George Vanders
The Monroe Doctrine as Senor De La Torre
Sons of Liberty as Colonel Tillman
On Trial as Gerald Trask
Torchy Blane in Chinatown as Dr. Mansfield
We Are Not Alone as Sir William Clintock
Secret Service of the Air as Jim Cameron
King of the Underworld as Bill Stevens
Wanted by Scotland Yard as Fingers

1938

Heart of the North as Stephen Gore
Boy Meets Girl as Major Thompson
Cowboy from Brooklyn as Prof. Landis
Nancy Drew… Detective as Challon
White Banners as Thomas Bradford
When Were You Born as Phillip Corey
The Dark Stairway as Inspector Clarke
Mr. Satan as Tim Garnett