James Stephenson
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)
Known For
Credits
- 1941 · International Squadron as Squadron Leader Charles Wyatt
- 1941 · Shining Victory as Dr. Paul Venner
- 1941 · Flight from Destiny as Dr. Lawrence 'Larry' Stevens
- 1940 · The Letter as Howard Joyce
- 1940 · South of Suez as Inspector Thornton
- 1940 · A Dispatch from Reuters as Carew
- 1940 · The Sea Hawk as Abbott
- 1940 · River's End as McDowell
- 1940 · Murder in the Air as Joe Garvey
- 1940 · Calling Philo Vance as Philo Vance
- 1940 · Wolf of New York as Hiram Rogers
- 1939 · We Are Not Alone as Sir William Clintock
- 1939 · The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex as Sir Thomas Egerton
- 1939 · The Monroe Doctrine as Senor De La Torre
- 1939 · Espionage Agent as Dr. Anton Rader
- 1939 · The Old Maid as Jim Ralston
- 1939 · Beau Geste as Major Henri de Beaujolais
- 1939 · Sons of Liberty as Colonel Tillman
- 1939 · Confessions of a Nazi Spy as British Military Intelligence Agent
- 1939 · Wanted by Scotland Yard as Fingers
- 1939 · On Trial as Gerald Trask
- 1939 · The Adventures of Jane Arden as Dr. George Vanders
- 1939 · Secret Service of the Air as Jim Cameron
- 1939 · Torchy Blane in Chinatown as Dr. Mansfield
- 1939 · King of the Underworld as Bill Stevens
- 1939 · Devil's Island as Col. Armand Lucien
- 1938 · Heart of the North as Stephen Gore
- 1938 · Nancy Drew… Detective as Challon
- 1938 · Boy Meets Girl as Major Thompson
- 1938 · Cowboy from Brooklyn as Prof. Landis
- 1938 · White Banners as Thomas Bradford
- 1938 · When Were You Born as Phillip Corey
- 1938 · Mr. Satan as Tim Garnett
- 1938 · The Dark Stairway as Inspector Clarke
- 1937 · The Man Who Made Diamonds as Ben
- 1937 · You Live and Learn as Sam Brooks
- 1937 · Transatlantic Trouble as Lewis