Raymond Huntley
Horace Raymond Huntley (23 April 1904 – 15 June 1990) was an English actor who appeared in dozens of British films from the 1930s to the 1970s. He also appeared in the ITV period drama Upstairs, Downstairs as the pragmatic family solicitor Sir Geoffrey Dillon, and other television shows, such as the Wodehouse Playhouse, ('Romance at Droitwich Spa'), in 1975. Born in Kings Norton, Worcestershire (now a suburb of Birmingham) in 1904, Huntley made his stage debut at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre on 1 April 1922, in A Woman Killed with Kindness. His London debut followed at the Court Theatre on 22 February 1924, in As Far as Thought can Reach. He subsequently inherited the role of Count Dracula from Edmund Blake in Hamilton Deane's touring adaptation of Dracula, which arrived at London's Little Theatre on 14 February 1927, subsequently transferring to the larger Duke of York's Theatre. Later that year he was offered the chance to reprise the role on Broadway (in a script streamlined by John L. Balderston); when he declined, the part was taken by Bela Lugosi instead. Huntley did, however, appear in a US touring production of the Deane/Balderston play, covering the east coast and midwest, from 1928-30. "I have always considered the role of Count Dracula to have been an indiscretion of my youth" he recalled in 1989. After Dracula, he made his Broadway debut at the Vanderbilt Theatre on 23 February 1931, in The Venetian Glass Nephew. On returning to the UK, his many West End appearances included The Farmer's Wife (Queen's Theatre 1932), Cornelius (Duchess Theatre 1935), Bees on the Boat Deck (Lyric Theatre 1936) Time and the Conways (Duchess Theatre 1937), When We Are Married (St Martin's Theatre 1940), Rebecca (Queen's Theatre 1940; Strand Theatre 1942), They Came to a City (Globe Theatre 1943), The Late Edwina Black (Ambassadors Theatre 1948), And This Was Odd (Criterion Theatre 1951), Double Image (Savoy Theatre 1956), Any Other Business (Westminster Theatre 1958), Caught Napping (Piccadilly Theatre 1959), Difference of Opinion (Garrick Theatre 1963), An Ideal Husband (Garrick Theatre 1966), Getting Married (Strand Theatre 1967), Soldiers (New Theatre 1968) and Separate Tables (Apollo Theatre 1977). He also starred opposite Flora Robson in the Broadway production of Black Chiffon (48th Street Theatre 1950). Often cast as a supercilious bureaucrat or other authority figure, Huntley was also a staple figure in British films, his many appearances including The Way Ahead, I See a Dark Stranger, Passport to Pimlico and The Dam Busters. In his later years, he became well-known on television as Sir Geoffrey Dillon, the family solicitor to the Bellamys in LWT's popular 1970s drama series Upstairs, Downstairs. Huntley died in Westminster Hospital, London in 1990. In his obituary, the New York Times wrote, "During his long career the actor played judges, bank managers, churchmen, bureaucrats and other figures of authority. He could play them straight if necessary, but in comedy his natural dryness of delivery was exaggerated to the point where the character he was playing invited mockery as a pompous humbug." Source: Article "Raymond Huntley" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Known For
Credits
- 1984 · Sleepwalker as Old Englishman
- 1984 · A Voyage Round My Father as Judge
- 1976 · The Portland Millions as Dr. Tristram
- 1976 · Victorian Scandals as Dr. Tristram
- 1975 · My Honourable Mrs as
- 1974 · Symptoms as Burke
- 1972 · That's Your Funeral as Emmanuel Holroyd
- 1972 · Crown Court as Mr. Justice Downes
- 1971 · Upstairs, Downstairs as
- 1971 · Upstairs, Downstairs as Sir Geoffrey Dillon
- 1971 · Justice as Judge
- 1971 · Justice as High Court Judge
- 1970 · That's Your Funeral as
- 1969 · Destiny of a Spy as Supt. Pode
- 1969 · Arthur? Arthur! as George Payne
- 1969 · The Adding Machine as Smithers
- 1968 · Hostile Witness as John Naylor
- 1968 · Hot Millions as Bayswater
- 1966 · The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery as Sir Horace, the Minister
- 1965 · Rotten to the Core as Governor
- 1965 · Gideon's Way as Sir Percy Richmond
- 1964 · The Black Torment as Colonel John Wentworth
- 1964 · Father Came Too! as Mr Wedgewood
- 1963 · The Yellow Teddy Bears as Harry Haliburton
- 1963 · Nurse on Wheels as Vicar Walcott
- 1962 · On the Beat as Sir Ronald Ackroyd
- 1962 · Waltz of the Toreadors as Ackroyd
- 1962 · Crooks Anonymous as Wagstaffe
- 1962 · Only Two Can Play as Vernon
- 1961 · Sir Francis Drake as Doctor Dee
- 1960 · The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's as Judge Slender
- 1960 · Suspect as Sir George Gatting the Minister of Defense
- 1960 · Barnaby Rudge as
- 1960 · Sands of the Desert as Bossom
- 1960 · A French Mistress as Reverend Edwin Peake
- 1960 · Make Mine Mink as Inspector Pape
- 1960 · Follow That Horse! as
- 1960 · Bottoms Up! as Garrick-Jones
- 1960 · Breathless as A Journalist (uncredited)
- 1960 · Our Man in Havana as General
- 1959 · No Hiding Place as
- 1959 · Interpol Calling as Schroeder
- 1959 · I'm All Right Jack as Magistrate
- 1959 · The Mummy as Joseph Whemple
- 1959 · Innocent Meeting as Harold Phillips
- 1959 · Carlton-Browne of the F.O. as Foreign Secretary Tufton-Slade
- 1958 · Room at the Top as Mr. Hoylake
- 1958 · The Criminals as Hector Crawford
- 1958 · Next to No Time as Forbes, Factory Supervisor
- 1957 · A Time Of Day as
- 1957 · Brothers in Law as Tatlock Q.C.
- 1957 · Town on Trial as Dr. Reese
- 1956 · The Green Man as Sir Gregory Upshott
- 1956 · The Last Man to Hang as Attorney General
- 1956 · Hancock's Half Hour as
- 1956 · The Count of Monte Cristo as
- 1955 · Geordie as Olympic Selector
- 1955 · Doctor at Sea as Capt. Beamish
- 1955 · The Dam Busters as Official, National Physical Laboratory
- 1955 · The Constant Husband as J.F. Hassett
- 1955 · The Prisoner as The General
- 1954 · Aunt Clara as Rev. Maurice Hilton
- 1954 · The Teckman Mystery as Maurice Miller
- 1954 · Orders Are Orders as Col. Fred Bellamy
- 1954 · Hobson's Choice as Nathaniel Beenstock
- 1953 · Meet Mr. Lucifer as Patterson
- 1953 · Glad Tidings as Tom Forester
- 1953 · Laxdale Hall as Samuel Pettigrew, M.P.
- 1952 · The Last Page as Clive Oliver
- 1951 · When We Are Married as Councillor Albert Parker
- 1951 · Mr. Denning Drives North as Wright
- 1951 · The House in the Square as Mr. Throstle
- 1951 · The Long Dark Hall as Chief Inspector Sullivan
- 1950 · Trio as Mr. Henry Chester
- 1949 · Passport to Pimlico as Mr. Wix
- 1948 · It's Hard to be Good as Williams
- 1948 · Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill as Moy-Thompson
- 1948 · So Evil My Love as Henry Courtney
- 1948 · Broken Journey as Edward Marshall
- 1946 · School for Secrets as Prof. Laxton-Jones
- 1946 · I See a Dark Stranger as J. Miller
- 1944 · They Came to a City as Malcolm Stritton
- 1944 · The Way Ahead as Pvt. Herbert Davenport
- 1943 · When We Are Married as Albert Parker
- 1943 · The New Lot as Barrington
- 1942 · The Day Will Dawn as
- 1941 · 'Pimpernel' Smith as Marx
- 1941 · Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It as Dr. Kerbishley
- 1941 · The Ghost Train as John Price
- 1941 · The Ghost of St. Michael's as Mr Humphries
- 1941 · Freedom Radio as Rabenau
- 1940 · Night Train to Munich as Kampenfeldt
- 1939 · Let's Be Famous as Singer in trio (uncredited)
- 1938 · When We Are Married as Councillor Albert Parker
- 1937 · Dinner at the Ritz as Gibout
- 1937 · Knight Without Armour as White Officer
- 1937 · London Melody as Policeman Outside Nightclub
- 1936 · Rembrandt as Ludwick
- 1936 · Whom the Gods Love: The Original Story of Mozart and His Wife as Langer
- 1935 · Can You Hear Me, Mother? as Dolan
- 1934 · What Happened Then? as
- Future · Tune On the Old Tax Fiddle as Mr. Gaunt