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

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

1940

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

1939

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

1938

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